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In 2004, searchers recorded a brief video clip showing what many scientists believe to be the ivory-billed woodpecker, long considered extinct.
But four years and many search parties later, no additional proof of the bird's existence has emerged.
Now an interested citizen has offered up a $50,000 reward to anyone who can point researchers to the ivory bill. The reward will go to a non-paid searcher who provides video, photographs or other compelling evidence that leads scientists to a live ivory bill.
"We have to produce some undisputed evidence of the bird — a feather or a clear photograph — to convince the scientific community that the ivory bill is out there," says Allan Mueller, avian conservation project manager for The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas.
While numerous sightings and observations of the bird have been reported since 2004, none have provided the proof that scientists need to definitively claim the bird exists.
A Mission to Find the "Holy Grail" of Birds
From December 2008 through April 2009, three full-time searchers and 26 volunteers will comb Arkansas' Big Woods — where the 2004 sighting occurred — for evidence of roosting, nesting or foraging.
The Nature Conservancy, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission have funded annual searches like this one for the past three years, surveying some 20 percent of the Big Woods. But funded searching for the "holy grail" of birds could come to a close after this season.
"This is our fourth year of organized searching. We really need to get the picture. While this is an important effort, some positive result is needed to assure continued funding," says Mueller.
Mueller and other conservationists hope the $50,000 reward will help intensify this year's search effort and result in the evidence needed. The reward could motivate people who know and frequent the Big Woods — particularly hunters and anglers, who are among the most active conservationists in the area today.
And landowners and recreationists shouldn't worry that discovery of an ivory bill will lead to the shutting down of wildlife refuges or the takeover of privately owned land, says Mueller. State and federal agencies have committed to maintaining public access and landowner rights.
Rediscovery Offers Hope for the Future
The second-largest woodpecker in the world, the majestic ivory bill was believed to be extinct for more than 60 years, the victim of habitat destruction of southern old-growth forests.
For birders and conservationists, it became a mythical creature, a rare and awe-inspiring animal from days' past. But recent sightings ignited a passionate hope for the bird's survival.
And this hope has translated into direct conservation results. Since the 2004 sighting, thousands of acres have been protected, some of which have been added to the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in the Big Woods.
In a time when dozens of species are going extinct every day, the discovery of a Lazarus species offers hope for the future of our natural world. And the return of the ivory bill could just be the most inspiring conservation victory of all.
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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Mark Godfrey/TNC (Cache River National Wildlife Refuge); Photo © Mark Godfrey/TNC (carving of an ivory-billed woodpecker); Poster courtesy of Allan Mueller/TNC.
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