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Related: About this forumBack from the dead? Elusive ivory-billed woodpecker not extinct, researchers say
In terms of elusiveness, it is the Bigfoot or Loch Ness monster of the bird world, so rare and undetectable that the US government declared it extinct last year. But the ivory-billed woodpecker is, in fact, still alive and pecking in the forests of Louisiana, a team of researchers has claimed.
A series of grainy pictures and observations of the bird, which had its last widely accepted sighting in 1944, show that the scrupulously furtive woodpecker is still holding on in the swampy forests of the US south, according to the teams new research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed.
A three-year quest to find the woodpecker involved scientists trudging through an undisclosed portion of Louisiana woodland to observe the bird and take audio recordings. Unmanned trail cameras, set up to take pictures on a time lapse, and a drone were used to capture photos of the creature.
Steve Latta, the director of conservation at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh who led the effort, said each member of the team had encounters with the ivory-billed woodpecker and often heard its call, which has been described like hearing a child puff into a tin trumpet.
Latta himself saw the bird fly upwards in front of him, showing the distinctive white edges to its wings. It flew up at an angle and I watched it for about six to eight seconds, which was fairly long for an ivory-billed woodpecker, he said. I was surprised. I was visibly shaking afterwards. You realize youve seen something special that very few people had the opportunity to see.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/13/ivory-bill-woodpecker-not-extinct-researchers-say
hauckeye
(635 posts)SCantiGOP
(13,873 posts)My area of the country had some of the last populations 100 years ago, and every few years one is sighted, just like Bigfoot.
Scientists say it would be impossible for a population big enough to reproduce to stay hidden for almost 80 years.
SWBTATTReg
(22,156 posts)be surprised that the critter is still around. The birdlife in the Ozarks is simply amazing, w/ all of its streams, rivers, lakes, and isolation in a lot of parts of the Ozarks which extends southwards into AR and OK.
LuvLoogie
(7,021 posts)I just don't.
livetohike
(22,157 posts)the late 70s wishing and hoping to see one. Ill be 70 soon. Still hoping .
NickB79
(19,258 posts)Functionally extinct if the genome has become too linear.