“Extinct” Ivory-billed Woodpeckers Found!
Drawing on years of field research, a team of biologists has revealed trail camera photos and drone videos that show the consistent presence of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers at their study site within extremely remote swampy forests in Louisiana. Their evidence also indicates repeated re-use of foraging sites and core habitat. Declared “extinct” last year by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, this new information is revealing and offers hope that a few Ivory-billed Woodpeckers still exist in bottomland hardwood forests in Louisiana.
Led by Steve Latta, the director of conservation at the National Aviary, each of the team of field researchers observed at least one Ivory-billed Woodpecker and periodically heard their calls while investigating the area. According to reporting by The Guardian, Latta himself saw an Ivory-billed Woodpecker fly upward in front of him, showing the distinctive white edges to its wings. “It flew up at an angle and I watched it for about 6 to 8 seconds, which was fairly long for an Ivory-billed Woodpecker sighting,” he revealed. “I was surprised. I was visibly shaking afterwards. You realize you’ve seen something special that very few people have had the opportunity to see.”
The insight that Latta considered 6 to 8 seconds as a fairly long sighting underlines the reason why it has been all but impossible to get a photograph of an Ivory-bill during any of the extremely rare sightings during recent decades. Read more
