The largest woodpecker in North America, the ivory-billed woodpecker (see images) historically ranged from the Carolinas to Texas and up the Mississippi River to the lower Ohio River. It was last seen (with widely accepted documentation) in 1944 in Louisiana after the last extensive tract of virgin bottomland forest was cut.

Since then, sporadic reports of the “Lord God bird” (named for the response of people seeing one nearby) have surfaced, but no credible evidence such as photos or physical remains have been produced.

Then, two decades ago, various observations by Tim Gallagher (editor of Living Bird magazine), some backwoodsman, and a local college professor were taken seriously.

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology sent a field team to the White River site in Arkansas to attempt further documentation. Despite careful analysis of their best photo obtained and testimony by knowledgeable ornithology students, the bird’s existence there was still not widely accepted by the scientific community. Gallagher’s popular book about his experiences chasing the bird, titled The Grail Bird, was published in 2006.

PHOTO PROVIDED This 1935 photo shows the ivory-billed woodpecker.

The ivory-billed woodpecker is indeed the “Holy Grail” of rare birds in North America and on the wish list of most birders. Twenty inches long with a 30-inch wingspan, it is among the largest of woodpeckers in the world: those of the genus Campephilus (“grub loving”). Only the imperial woodpecker of Mexico (probably now extinct) among Western Hemisphere woodpeckers is larger. The nearly-as-large pileated woodpecker of North America is a similar-looking bird that is relatively common throughout the U.S. It is the bird usually seen by hopeful observers of the ivorybill. The feet and claws of the ivorybill are also much larger than those of the pileated. If so, I would not want to be mistaken by either bird as a grub-laden tree trunk to land on!

Enter Steve Latta. Steve served with me two decades ago on the ornithology committee of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey, which advises state natural-resource agencies on the status of species under their jurisdiction.

As the lead conservationist at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, Steve became interested in the plight of the nearly extinct ivorybill and acquired funding to look for and obtain evidence of its continued existence in Louisiana bottomland forests.

After a 10-year effort, he has done just that! His peer-reviewed paper with nine co-authors, published last year in the scientific journal Ecology and Evolution. This link — www.cnn.com/2023/10/16/us/ivory-billed-woodpecker-not-extinct-yet-climate/index.html — provides trail-camera, sound-recording and video evidence using drones on multiple individual ivorybills in their forested study site.

Colorful, closeup photos of the bird, which we see in many slick birding/wildlife magazines, were not obtained by the research team. But field marks and behavior that identify these birds, such as black leading and white trailing wing feathers in flight and large white saddles/triangles in perching birds, were obtained.

Why have closeup photos of these birds not been obtained in the eight decades since the last clearly documented bird? Two possible reasons.

The nearly extinct bird has only survived the chainsaw, shotgun and human disturbance by staying as far away from man as possible. And try to canoe through some of its prime habitat: mosquito-infested swamps with shallow-water obstacles requiring frequent fords while carrying heavy cameras and equipment to get to wary birds that take flight suddenly if encountered!

This decade-long research effort has led the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to indefinitely postpone plans to declare the bird extinct and remove it from the endangered species list. Let’s let conservation efforts and the maturation of its grub-laden cypress, tupelos and sweet gum trees encourage its recovery.

And let’s thank Pennsylvania-based Steve Latta and his team for advancing those conservation efforts for this magnificent icon of southeastern riverbottom forests. Visit www.aviary.org to learn more about bird conservation at Pittsburgh’s National Aviary.

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Bob Ross is an ecologist retired from the USGS research lab near Wellsboro. He remains active in the local birding community and has traveled extensively throughout the American tropics.

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BIRD LORE is produced by the Lycoming Audubon Society (serving Lycoming and Clinton Counties), Seven Mountains Audubon (serving Union, Snyder, Northumberland and Columbia Counties) and Tiadaghton Audubon Society (serving Tioga and Potter Counties). Information about these National Audubon Society chapters can be found at lycomingaudubon.blogspot.com or https://sevenmountainsaudubon.org/ and tiadaghtonaudubon.blogspot.com.