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		On the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker On the Trail of the Ivory-bill   First Postcard   Second Postcard   Third Postcard   Fourth Postcard The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Ivory-bill Chat How You Can Help

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Support our efforts to conserve this critical habitat for the ivory-billed woodpecker. Donate now! Photos from the Big Woods Scott Simon, director of the Arkansas chapter of The Nature Conservancy Photo © Emily Whitted/TNC See a larger version of this photo Artist David Allen Sibley (right) and Elliot Swarthout, head of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge Ivory-bill search team Photo © Emily Whitted/TNC See a larger version of this photo Artist David Allen Sibley (right) and Elliot Swarthout, head of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge Ivory-bill search team Photo © Emily Whitted/TNC See a larger version of this photo View the next ivory-billed woodpecker postcard >>

By Phillip Hoose
Senior Conservation Planner, The Nature Conservancy;
Author of The Race To Save the Lord God Bird
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Postcard #3: A Honkin' Big Woodpecker

Cache River, Eastern Arkansas
May 4, 2005 — 4:00 PM

After we pull the canoe out, we meet up with Scott Simon, director of The Nature Conservancy's Arkansas chapter.

Together, we drive down to a river landing along the Cache, to look at a visitor display which presents information about the ivory-bill, its habitat and conservation efforts.

Another truck pulls up and we are met by a local man carrying a digital camera. He says that he has a picture of a “honkin’ big woodpecker” that lives on his land. Is it an ivory-bill?

We pass around the camera and each of us squints at the image, framing the tiny screen with our hands to block the sunlight. It clearly shows a large woodpecker with its head and shoulders about halfway out of a hole in a tree. A red crest extends down to the bill. The bill is short and the upper mandible is pale gray in the sun. There is a white line over the eye.

It's a pileated woodpecker, not an ivory-bill.

Handing the camera back, Scott informs the landowner, telling him that while his woodpecker isn’t an ivory-bill, a pileated is a great and special bird that anyone should be proud to have on their land.

While the man may have been disappointed, Scott thinks it's encouraging that so many folks in the general rediscovery area are looking, freshly awakened to the birdlife around them. This can only lead to a heightened appreciation of the conservation effort, and perhaps to additional reports of the ivory-bill.

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For more information about the ivory-billed woodpecker and the Big Woods of Arkansas:

• How to Tell an Ivory-bill from a Pileated
  Find out how to tell the difference between these two types of woodpeckers with this site from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
• Found: The Ivory-billed Woodpecker
  Learn about the timeline of the search for the ivory-bill, The Nature Conservancy's conservation efforts in the Big Woods of Arkansas, meet the search team, and more!
• Chat: Phillip Hoose Chats About the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
  Phillip Hoose, author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, discusses the recent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
• Online Excerpt: The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
  Read a three-page excerpt of Phillip Hoose's award-winning book about the ivory-billed woodpecker, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.
• How You Can Help: Donate Online
  Support our efforts to conserve the critical habitat of the Big Woods for the ivory-billed woodpecker and other species.
• News Room: Ivory-billed Woodpecker News
  See ivory-billed woodpecker photos, maps of the habitat of the ivory-bill, and other news and information about the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.