Ivory-billed Woodpecker to Be Officially Declared Extinct in U.S.
After decades of debate and searching, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing the bird along with 22 other species from the endangered species list.
Perhaps no other bird has sparked as muchdebate among North American birdersas theIvory-billed Woodpecker.For some, this regalspeciesthat once reigned over the hardwood bottomland of America's south is surely extinct, pushed out by logging, development, and hunting in the early 20th century. Others, however, adamantly believeahandfulof the large,red-crested birds couldstill be out there, livinginremote patches of thesouth only tooccasionally reveal themselves inblurry videos, pixelatedimages, and ambiguousaudio recordings of their distinctive kent calls and double-knock tapping.
As of today, the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service (FWS) has made its position known: officiallyremoving the Ivory-billed Woodpecker from the endangered species list anddeclaring the iconic woodpeckerextinct. The "Lord God Bird"is among 23 species being proposed for removal.Of them, 11are birds, including the Bachman's Warbler, a tiny, drab inhabitant of southeastern forests last spotted in 1988, and the Bridled White-eye, a small, olive, warbler-like bird once found on Guam.
Hawaii alone is set to see eight avian species delisted: theKauai Akialoa, Kauai Nukupuu, Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, Large Kauai Thrush, Maui ākepa, Maui Nukupuʻu, Molokai Creeper, and Po`ouli.Habitat removal,introduced speciesٲ,APP change, andavian malariahave allwreaked havocon the islands' bird populations.
"These species extinctions highlight the importance of the ESA and efforts to conserve species before declines become irreversible,"the agencysaid in the announcement. But before any of the species permanently lose their endangered status,the proposed rule will first be submitted to the on September 29th. From there, a public comment period will take place through November29, after which a finaldecision will be made.
Of all the species listed in today's announcement, theIvory-billis sure to make the biggest waves throughout the ornithological world. Though the news isn't a total shock.The service launchedafive-year review of the species status in May of 2018 that it ended up concludingearly in June2019.The review's recommendation of delisting the species wasfirst includedin the agency's officialplans for 2020.
As the FWS notice details, the last generally agreed upon confirmed sighting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was in 1944 on the Singer Tract innortheast Louisiana. That sighting was made by artistDon Eckelberry, who was on assignment for the APP and was able toHistorically, Cubahosted a population of anIvory-billed Woodpecker subspecies,but the last confirmed sighting of thatbird was in 1986.
"Despite decades of extensive survey efforts throughout the southeastern U.S. and Cuba, it has not been relocated," the FWS statement reads."Primary threats leading to its extinction were the loss of mature forest habitat and collection."
Whilethe Singer Tract accountis considered the last accepted North Americansighting,there has been no shortage of reportsin the almost 80 years since.Many of themwere easily debunked or DzԳٰDZ, but others have been more credible,with just-compelling-enough evidence to spur hopeand extensive follow-up searches. The mostfamous of these possibly validsightings came from DavidLuneau, while kayakingdown the Bayou De View in eastern Arkansas in April 2004.
The video has been a source of contentionamong ornithologists.Still, itand other reports from northern Floridawereenough for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to launch from 2006-2010acrosseight southeastern states covering523,000 acres.That surveyresulted in enough evidence to help keep the bird listed as endangered. In onevideo produced by theeffort,a bird resembling alarge woodpecker and sporting what some believe arethe Ivory-bill'stelltale outer white wing covertscan be seen darting from the back of a tree off into the distance.
John Fitzpatrick, the former directorofCornell's Lab of Ornithology who helped organizethe search, thinksthe Ivory-billed Woodpecker could still existand disagrees with theplans to declare the bird extinct. "My opinion is it's premature, especially when included with so many other species for which the evidence of truly being extinct is overwhelming,"Fitzpatrick, now retired and a director emeritus at Cornell,says. "I and many others continue to respect the evidence in eastern Arkansas."
But other experts, including David Sibley, never found theLuneau video convincing and still don't.Jerome Jackson,an ornithologist who specializesin studying the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and wrote the book In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker,co-authored a paperthat disputed the validity of the Luneau sighting. "I don’t think the Luneau video was an Ivory-billed at all," Jackson says. "I think it was a Pileated Woodpecker."
As for today's announcement, Jackson isn't critical of the FWS's planto declare the bird extinct and calls it"simplyabureaucratic decision" that was to be expected."It doesn’t mean that it really is," he says."But the odds are really highly in favor of it being extinct. And the reason why I say that is there simply isn’t enough contiguous habitat to support Ivory-billeds left."
Indeed, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers require hugetracts of land with largeswaths of old-growth forest to survive. The loss of that land and the beetle-housing trees the birds depend onis seenas the biggest contibuting factor to their demise. But by keeping the bird's status in place, Fitzpatrick says, we are at least conserving the land that it needs while continuing thesearch. And in the meantime,other species that also depend on this habitat will benefit.
"There aren’t a lot of costs for the current status," he says."Clearly this is a bird at the edge of existence, but my view is that that’s the right way to call it now—at the edge of existence. Nothing is really accomplished by calling it extinct."