A Little Bit More
Although the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has never officially been considered extinct, the discovery of a living Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extraordinary! It’s still too early to tell whether this is an individual bird or whether there are others, but it has certainly given scientists and bird-lovers everywhere something to cheer about. Time and good observations will tell whether this is a lone survivor or whether there is a small population living and breeding in the swamps of Arkansas.
Many people over the decades have claimed to have seen one, but haven’t been believed by ornithologists (OR-nih-THOL-oh-jists, or bird specialists). It’s just too easy to confuse it with a similar bird, the Pileated (PIE-lee-ate-ed or PILL-ee-ate-ed) Woodpecker. But in 2004 a reputable birder filed a very persuasive report, triggering widespread interest in a thorough search. During the following year, many scientists, including Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Dr. Kevin McGowan and his son Jay, looked for the woodpecker. According to McGowan, of the total of 7 sightings made by birders during that year, only one person saw the bird perched on a tree trunk where it could be seen clearly. The other six observers saw the bird as it flew by, but the experts agree - the bird DOES exist!
Following the sightings, each observer was grilled by other experts as to what he or she saw, so they could be sure it wasn’t a Pileated Woodpecker. Although all of the observers stated that the bird had lots of white in its wing (typical of the Ivory-billed), it was the lone mention of a “black face” that had McGowan convinced. Although both the Ivory-billed and Pileated have white on their head, the Pileated has much more white. So the blackish head, in combination with certain white feathers on the wing, made one viewer’s observation very solid and helped clinch the identification.
The discovery raises an interesting question regarding extinct and endangered animals and plants. Can we really say that an animal is extinct or endangered when it has just been shown that an animal like the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, that many believed was extinct, is actually alive? Could many of our extinct animals simply be tucked away in some far corner of the world? A scientist never says never, but that’s EXTREMELY doubtful.
We need to look at the circumstances of this discovery. The area where the woodpecker has been re-discovered is an enormous area of swampy bottomland forest that is separate from surrounding farmland. Although this area had been lumbered in the past and hunters and fishermen have been using this area right along, it is not heavily used. The rare woodpecker can easily be misidentified as a Pileated Woodpecker, a common species. The Ivory-billed Woodpecker has been extremely fortunate to have had a sanctuary of suitable habitat all of these years where it has been able hold on to survival away from most human activities. And we may still be looking at a dying species. Ivory-bills are believed to live for decades. There are no confirmed sightings of both male and female, so we could be looking at the last bird. Or we could be looking at one of fifty birds. At this point, there’s no way to tell.
Scientists are the first to admit that we know very little about our natural world and we have a lot of catch-up work to do if we’re to understand about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker’s needs. Having the Ivory-billed Woodpecker among the living is a special chance to turn back the clock on this one species – maybe!
Activities
Count ‘em
Objectives: See just how many endangered species there are
Materials: Access to internet
Everyone has heard about endangered species but they’re probably not aware of just how many animals and plants are in this category. Seeing the number and/or names of all of these plants and animals is quite sobering. Here’s an exercise that the students can do to see for themselves just how many different species we may lose if conservation action is not taken on their behalf. I think this exercise has merit for adults too!
Good site for endangered species information:
World animals listed as endangered:
U.S. Plants listed as endangered:
Site with specific info on select endangered species:
Key Concepts
Environmental Issues, Identification
Questions
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