Ivory-billed Woodpecker Search Team to Present Findings, Celebrate Conservation Efforts

'Hope Takes Flight' Event Set for Nov.4

Atlanta—The power of conservation will be celebrated as The Nature Conservancy presents the behind-the-scenes story of the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker at its “Hope Takes Flight” luncheon on Friday, November 4.

Long-time Nature Conservancy member President Jimmy Carter, honorary chair of the event, will present remarks by video.

Long-thought extinct, the ivory-billed woodpecker was recently rediscovered in the Big Woods region of northeastern Arkansas some 60 years after in was last sighted. As the Search Team prepares to reignite its investigation for the bird in late November, two key members of the team will be in Atlanta to present a detailed account of their findings.

Ivory-billed woodpecker event in Atlanta, Georgia

“This was a landmark rediscovery,” said Scott Simon, state director of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas and key strategist for the protection of the ivory-billed woodpecker's habitat. “Finding the ivory-bill in Arkansas validates decades of great conservation work and represents an incredible story of hope for the future. We look forward to the Search Team’s findings and its next steps.”

The event will feature a detailed account and video footage of the discovery from Gene Sparling, a naturalist and entrepreneur, who first spotted the bird while kayaking along that Cache River. In addition, Simon will detail conservation efforts critical to the ivory-bill's survival.

More than 20 years ago, The Nature Conservancy and its partners began work to protect the bird's habitat in a 550,000-acre corridor of Arkansas floodplain forests. And, in Georgia, The Nature Conservancy has helped protect more than 220,000 acres of native habitat throughout the state, including more than 79,000 acres in the Altamaha River watershed - the last remaining habitat in Georgia suitable for the ivory-billed woodpecker. The old growth floodplain forests of the Altamaha and Savannah rivers and the primitive wetland of the Okefenokee Swamp were once home to the bird, last sighted there in the 1930s.

About the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
The largest woodpecker in North America, the ivory-billed woodpecker is known through lore as a bird of beauty and indomitable spirit. The species vanished after extensive clearing destroyed millions of acres of virgin forest throughout the South between the 1880s and mid-1940s. Although the majestic bird has been sought for decades, until now there was no firm evidence that it still existed. The elusive woodpecker became know as the “Lord God Bird” as it elicited gasps of "Lord, God, what a bird.”

The Search Team’s findings include multiple sightings of the elusive woodpecker, frame-by-frame analyses of brief video footage and possible audio recordings of the bird’s distinctive double-rap drumming display. The evidence was gathered during an intensive year-long search involving more than 50 experts and field biologists working together as part of the Big Woods Conservation Partnership, led by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University and The Nature Conservancy.

About the Event
Register online for "Hope Takes Flight" event or by calling toll-free (866) 622-7787, ext. 4410. Please register before Oct. 24.

The program will be held at the Emory Conference Center Hotel and costs $25 (lunch included). For more information about the event, contact Mimi Bittick at (404) 253-7208 or email mbittick@tnc.org.