The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is an animal of fable--perhaps still with us, perhaps extinct. James John Audobon knew it as fact; he spotted on the lower Mississippi River, and in the states of the Old South. He thought the bird spectacular. If it still exists, it surely is: it's the largest woodpecker in the United States, some 50cm in length. The male has a bright red crown, and both the male and female have a distinct ivory bill. The most recent alleged spottings of the ivory bill have been in Arkansas (2004) and Florida (2005). Bird-watchers still go to Arkansas, in search of the elusive bird. It may very well, however, already be extent: the American Birding Association lists it as "definitely or probabaly extinct".

The Fish and Wildlife Service have a page dedicated to the bird: http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill/

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