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The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
History of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
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Few who traveled through the forests of the southeastern United States in the 19th century failed to marvel at the ivory-billed woodpecker. Experts and casual travelers alike described its impressive plumage, its loud cry ("Kent, kent, kent!") and busy tap-tap ("BAM-bam!") on the trees. By the time naturalists began to recognize that the bird was disappearing along with the forests it called home, it seemed too late to save the ivory-bill.
- 1820
- Naturalist John James Audubon and his apprentice, Joseph Mason, shoot and collect numerous ivory-billed woodpeckers along the Ohio, Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. Audubon describes the tenacity of the bird, saying, “They sometimes cling to the bark with their claws so firmly, as to remain cramped to the spot for several hours after death.”
- 1837
- Audubon travels to Texas, where he sees many ivory-bills. He writes, “I found [ivory-bills] very abundant along the finely wooded margins of that singular stream called ‘Buffalo Bayou’ in … Texas, where we procured several specimens.”
- 1870s
- Laws protecting much of the southern forests (including the Big Woods of Arkansas) in the United States are dropped, and timber companies begin to buy and clear critical ivory-billed woodpecker habitat.
- 1890s
- Specimens of the rare ivory-billed woodpecker become increasingly popular with collectors as populations of the bird continue their rapid decline.
- 1893
- Johannes Gundlach publishes the first of his two-volume Ornitologia Cubana, providing the first detailed description of the ivory-bill’s behavior, appearance and habitat in Cuba.
- 1898
- After the end of the Spanish-American War, the United States takes control of Cuba’s land and economy. As much of Cuba’s forests are cleared for sugar cane, the habitat of the ivory-bill is restricted deeper into Cuba’s remote forests.
- 1907
- President Theodore Roosevelt, on a hunting trip to northeastern Louisiana, sees three ivory-billed woodpeckers. He notes: “Their brilliant white bills contrasted finely with the black of their general plumage. They were noisy but wary, and they seemed to me to set off the wildness of the swamp as much as any of the beasts of the chase.”
Roosevelt is further awestruck by the magnificent trees of the primeval forest: “In stature, in towering majesty, they are unsurpassed by any trees of our eastern forests; lordlier kings of the green-leaved world are not to be found until we reach the sequoias and redwoods of the Sierras,” he writes.
- 1924
- Cornell ornithologist Arthur A. Allen and his wife, Elsa, discover a pair of ivory-bills near the Taylor River in Florida. Even at this early date, many ornithologists had already considered the species to be extinct.
Wrote Arthur Allen: “I have just enjoyed one of the greatest experiences of my life, for I have found that which they said could not be found — the ivory-billed woodpecker. Once a fairly common bird in many parts of Florida, it is supposed to have followed the Carolina Parakeet into extinction. Those who know most about Florida birds held out little hope of my ever seeing one alive, but after a month’s search I have found a pair of them and they are very much alive.”
Tragically, two local taxidermists hear of Allen’s discovery and shoot both ivory-bills — legally.
- 1932
- Mason D. Spencer, an attorney and state legislator from Tallulah, Louisiana, shoots an ivory-billed woodpecker in the Singer Tract swamp forests of Madison Parish to prove to state wildlife officials that the birds still exist in the area.
“I have just enjoyed one of the greatest experiences of my life, for I have found that which they said could not be found – the ivory-billed woodpecker. It is good to know that they are not yet entirely extinct.”
Arthur A. Allen
Founder, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
1924
- 1935
- A team of Cornell scientists – including Arthur A. Allen, Peter Paul Kellogg, George Miksch Sutton, and James T. Tanner – locates three ivory-billed woodpecker nests in the Singer Tract. The researchers spend several days closely monitoring one of the nests and produce the first motion pictures and sound recordings ever obtained of the species.
- 1937
- Cornell ornithologist James Tanner spends a large portion of the next three years living in the Singer Tract, collecting information about the ivory-billed woodpecker. Tanner uses the data for his Cornell doctoral dissertation, which later is published by the Audubon Society.
- 1939
- Based on his research, interviews, and explorations of likely habitat across the South, James Tanner estimates that only 22 ivory-billed woodpeckers still exist in the United States.
- 1941
- The National Audubon Society launches a campaign to preserve the Singer Tract as a refuge for ivory-billed woodpeckers.
- 1941
- Tanner and his wife, Nancy, see several ivory-billed woodpeckers at the Singer Tract. This is the last time he visits the area until the 1980s, when the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge officially opens.
- 1943
- National Audubon Society researcher Richard Pough (who later became the first president of The Nature Conservancy) is sent to the Singer Tract to determine how many ivory-bills remain. Although he searches for several weeks, he finds only one lone female ivory-bill in a small stand of trees, surrounded by devastation from logging.
- 1944
- The National Audubon Society sends artist Don Eckelberry to the Singer Tract to document the last known ivory-billed woodpecker. With Jesse Laird, who had assisted James Tanner in his earlier field work, Eckelberry observes and sketches the bird. This is the last time until 2004 that two knowledgeable observers together observe an ivory-billed woodpecker in the United States.
- 1948
- John V. Dennis and Davis H. Crompton find three ivory-billed woodpeckers in the eastern mountains of Cuba.
- 1957
- U.S. biologist George Lamb and his wife, Nancy, locate thirteen ivory-bills on Cuban property owned by U.S. corporations. He makes recommendations to conserve the land. The Cuban Revolution two years later ends ties between Cuban and U.S. scientists, and conservation efforts end.
- 1966
- Olga Hooks Lloyd, a Texas birdwatcher, reports seeing an ivory-bill in the Neches River swamp in the Big Thicket area of east Texas. Later in the year, John V. Dennis follows up on her sighting and reports observing a female ivory-bill along a nearby bayou, but he fails to get a photograph or a sound recording.
- 1968
- In late February, John V. Dennis records what may be the kent calls of an ivory-billed woodpecker, although it is too foggy for him to see the bird making the calls. Subsequent sound analyses are inconclusive, and researchers are unable to rule out the possibility that the call notes might be an example of mimicry by a blue jay. James Tanner spends two weeks searching in the area but finds no evidence of ivory-bills.
- 1968
- Cuban biologist Orlando Garrido reports seeing the ivory-billed woodpecker.
- 1986
- Several Cuban and international scientists report brief glimpses of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Cuba, but they fail to obtain photographs or sound recordings.
- 1987
- Cuban scientists report seeing a female ivory-bill in the mountains of Cuba. It is the last certain sighting of the bird.
- 1999
- David Kulivan, a forestry student at Louisiana State University, reports seeing a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers in the Pearl River region of Louisiana. The sighting leads to renewed efforts to find the bird.
- 2002
- An expedition to find the ivory-billed woodpecker is launched in the Pearl River region, but no ivory-bills are found. Although the search team does find large nest cavities and peeled bark on trees, suggesting the possible presence of ivory-billed woodpeckers in the area, there are no definite sightings of the bird. Twelve autonomous recording units (ARUs) installed by researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology fail to detect any ivory-bill calls or double-knocks.
- 2004
- Phil Hoose of The Nature Conservancy publishes The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, detailing the fascinating 200-year history of the ivory-billed woodpecker and its habitat.
Gene Sparling of Hot Springs, Arkansas, spots an ivory-billed woodpecker while kayaking through the Cache River NWR in east Arkansas. When confirmed by a subsequent sighting two weeks later by Bobby Harrison of Oakwood College and Tim Gallagher of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a search is launched, resulting in numerous eyewitness accounts as well as video evidence showing that the ivory-billed woodpecker still lives.
- 2005
- The search team announces to the public its discovery that the ivory-billed woodpecker still exists. The journal Science publishes a paper detailing the discovery of the ivory-bill.
Source:
Hoose, Phillip. The Race to Save the Lord God Bird. FSG/Kroupa. ISBN 0-374-36173-8.
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