An ancient Ohio connection to a storied bird …
“Evidence from southern Ohio archaeological sites is all that remains of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Leg bones and a partial beak bone have been found at three sites in Ross, Scioto, and Muskingum counties. These remains suggest that the ivory-billed woodpecker lived in Ohio between the twelfth and sixteenth centuries.
(The presence of ivory-bills' remains in kitchen middens has been used to infer that some Native American groups would hunt and eat the bird.)
“There is some debate about whether the bones show a population living in Ohio, or merely trade of bird parts with Native Americans living further south. Most trade involved skins and skulls or beaks, so some scientists believe the leg bones found in refuse pits are strong evidence the birds actually lived in Ohio. The date of their disappearance from the state is unknown, however. There is no proof that they lived in Ohio during historic times.”
(“Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Pre-Settlement History.” Ohio History Central.)
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was a striking black and white bird, larger than a crow. The male had a tell-tale red crest while the females had a black crest. They looked very much like the pileated woodpecker except that they were larger, had a white bill rather than a dark colored bill, and had large white patches on the rear of the wings, which were visible in flight and appear as a white, lower back when perched. The bird possessed brilliant yellow eyes which were described as being full of emotion and focus.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was known to mate for life and showed signs of affection with its mate by clasping their beaks together. At the time of their existence, they had no natural predators except man.
During the birds' verified existence, it was believed to have a range from North Carolina, all the way to Western Texas. Some reports also claim that the bird made its home in Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, and Mississippi as well. It was most often seen though in locations that consisted of thick old growth forests with hardwood swamps or dense pine forests with an abundance of dead trees.
Ivory-bills required huge tracts of land with large swaths of old-growth forest to survive. The loss of that land and the beetle-housing trees the birds depend on is seen as the biggest contibuting factor to their demise.
The woodpecker may have last inhabited old-growth forests and swampland in the North American southeast, a habitat spanning from Louisiana down to Florida with the largest population being found in the state of Arkansas.
The Lord God Bird
The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) was one of the largest woodpeckers in the world and was the largest in the United States.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was an “unmistakable” bird before its extinction, said Congaree Park (Central South Carolina) Ranger Jon Manchester. It was the third-largest woodpecker in the world, with a wingspan of nearly 3 feet.
“It’s enormous,” Manchester said, “so they called it the Lord God Bird, because if you were lucky enough to get a glimpse of one in the wild, you were (like), ‘Lord God, that’s a big bird.’”
Extinct?
The National Audubon Society described the power of the bird’s following: “Perhaps no other bird has sparked as much debate among North American birders as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.”
The bird has cultivated a near cult following for itself, as birders amateur and professional alike search across swamps of the American South for a glimpse at the disappearing bird, whose last confirmed sighting was in 1944 (with a debated discovery in 2005).
The Science History Institute relates …
“What about that 2005 sighting Arkansas swamp, the one that got all the publicity? Unfortunately, it’s probably bogus.
“The whole thing started with a New Age hippie. She supposedly saw an ivory-billed – and I’m not making this up – after consulting a psychic, who helped her divine the bird’s energy field. Had she at least gotten a picture? Um, no. Her camera failed.
“People nevertheless ran with her story. Sightings multiplied, and some people even took videos. But they’re laughably grainy; they make the Zapruder film look high-def. And in every sighting, the bird is always masked behind a tree, or beating its wings off in the distance.”
(Sam Kean. “The Death of the Lord God Bird.” Distillations. Episode 27. Science History Institute. May 11, 2021.)
Since then searchers have desperately shared and debated potential sightings, but have turned up little more than spirited debate among the ornithological community.
So, as of late September 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has made its position known: The agency has proposed officially removing the Ivory-billed Woodpecker from the endangered species list and declaring the iconic woodpecker extinct.
(Andrew Del-Colle. “Ivory-billed Woodpecker to Be Officially Declared Extinct in U.S.” Audubon Magazine. September 29, 2021.)
Some adamantly believe a handful of the large, red-crested birds could still be out there, living in remote patches of the South only to occasionally reveal themselves in blurry videos, pixelated images, and ambiguous audio recordings of their distinctive kent calls (Call is a nasal tooting and kent often described as the sound of a “tin trumpet” or of blowing on a clarinet mouthpiece.) and double-knock tapping (Tapping or drumming is rapidly pecking on a resonant object to create a pattern of sound.)
According to Auburn University biological sciences professor and researcher Geoffrey Hill, the bird’s inclusion on the list was premature. “This will be the third time that ivory-billed woodpeckers have been named as extinct,” he said. “The recent declaration that the birds are extinct is simply the follow-up to that 2004 discovery – the end of round three. I think this cycle will continue.”
Hill, the university’s curator of birds, contends that the woodpecker is simply effective at eluding researchers and conservationists. “These birds were systematically hunted until all vulnerable individuals were dead,” said Hill. “The few birds that remained were very good at staying away from people. They still are.”
(WTVY Staff. “Auburn researcher, curator of birds refutes claim that ivory-billed woodpeckers are now extinct.” WSFA 12 News. Oct. 06, 2021.)
In June 2006, an anonymous reward of $10,000 was made public to anyone who could offer legitimate information and proof of the existence of the woodpecker either by its nest, roost, or feeding site. Then, in 2008, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology offered
a larger $50,000 reward to anyone who could lead a biologist to a living specimen of this same bird.
(Lindsay Dodgson. “25 animals that scientists want to bring back from extinction.” Business Insider. January 20, 2017.)
Cornell Lab of Ornithology's multi-million-dollar search for the lost woodpecker led to several follow-up sightings, a blurry video, and a firestorm of media announcing that the Ivory-bill had been rediscovered. But when the team failed to find indisputable evidence, the throngs of searchers recoiled and the Ivory-bill was tucked back into the drawer with all the other museum specimens of bygone birds.
(Editors. The Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Heads to Cuba.” Audubon Magazine. April 11, 2016.)
Sam Kean of the Science History Institute ruminates …
“The big question, then, is why? Why do people believe it exists? Confirmation bias certainly plays a role. Psychologically, people see what they want to see, and they grasp at any possible clue as proof. We all do it, birders included.
“But if this was just a birding story, no one would care. There’s something deeper at work – the hope of a paradise lost and regained. The hope that, if we can just find the ivory-billed again, maybe that means humans aren’t all money-grubbers after all, trading pristine forests for cash. We’ll get once last chance to right an old wrong. As one skeptic said, it’s “faith-based ornithology.”
“Even today, people still search for the ivory-billed – including people who know deep down it’s gone. In a way, I actually find that touching. That’s such a deeply human act. The head knows it’s defeated, yet the heart pushes on.
“At this point, the ivory-billed woodpecker might as well be Bigfoot – a myth. But like all myths, this one has power. It’s a story of greed and hope, of near-misses and psychological delusions. Above all, it’s a story of two species in conflict – a charismatic bird whose ghost still haunts the forests, and the featherless primate with an urgent need to keep those ghosts alive.”
(Sam Kean. “The Death of the Lord God Bird.” Distillations. Episode 27. Science History Institute. May 11, 2021.)
Collected by scientists between 1869 and 1914, the world’s largest archive, more than 60 specimens, resides at Harvard University. The birds were doomed in large part by unchecked logging. Photograph by JOEL SARTORE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PHOTO ARK
History And Lore
For centuries, this iconic Ivory-billed woodpecker has inspired our minds, imaginations, and hearts through paintings, carvings, poetry, scientific research, and books.
Known by Native Americans before Europeans arrived in America, the Ivory -billed Woodpecker was regarded highly for its courage. Its long bill would be harvested and used as decoration in huts, as jewelry for warriors, and in trade between tribes. Large numbers of skulls of the bird have been found in archaeological digs which show that any item which came from the bird was highly regarded.
“The bills of these birds (Ivory-billed Woodpecker) are much valued by the Cannola Indians, who made coronets of 'em for their Princes and great warriors, by fixing them round a wreath, with their points outward. The Northern Indians having none of these birds in their cold country, purchase them of the Southern People at the price of two, and sometimes three, buck-skins a bill.”
(Mark Catesby. Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. Royal Society. 1731.)
In 1712, Englishman Mark Catesby arrived in North America to begin work on a guide which collected information on native plants and wildlife. During this time, Catesby encountered the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and soon after gave the bird the name, “largest white-bill wood-pecker.”
In 1794, Scottish immigrant Alexander Wilson came to America to study, document, and paint the native birds of North America. Wilson also came across an Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and while originally intending to shoot and kill the bird to study, he instead wounded it. After making the decision to not put the bird out of its misery, Wilson tried to nurse it back to health and keep it as a pet. This would turn out to be much harder than he had anticipated.
Here is the account …
“Wilson spoke of how he kept the large woodpecker uncaged in his room at a local inn while attempting to mend its wound. While there, the bird nearly destroyed every piece of furniture within the space, put holes in almost every wall, and nearly broke through every inch of the ceiling in a desperate effort to escape.
“Realizing that the giant bird would eventually find a way out of the room if he did not do something to stop it, Wilson reluctantly tied the bird to the large wooden table in the room. Doing so would prove to be the wrong choice though as the woodpecker focused all its anger on destroying the table and chose to stop eating during this time of destruction. Because of this, it is reported to have died three days after being brought to the inn.”
(Adam Benedict. “Cryptid Profile: The Ivory Billed Woodpecker.” pinebarronsinstitute.com.
In 1820, famed naturalist John James Audubon and his apprentice shot and collected many Ivory -billed specimens along the Mississippi River region in order to accurately portray and describe them in his paintings and writings. Later, in 1837, Audubon is reported to have once again encountered a thriving population along the Buffalo Bayou in Texas.
In the 1890’s, bird collectors began stepping up their efforts to kill the bird in order to harvest the bodies of the woodpecker for not only personal home display, but also for sale as well. This unfortunate trend of searching and killing continued on well into the late 1930s.
A surprise though came in 1907, when nature-loving President Theodore Roosevelt is reported to have come across an Ivory-billed Woodpecker while on a hunting trip in Louisiana. This came as quite the shock to many as a majority of wildlife experts believed the bird to be almost extinct at this point as no sightings of the bird had been made in several years.
Later that same year, Arthur A. Allen (founder of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology) and his wife Elsa spotted a male and female pair of nesting woodpeckers while in the swamps of Florida. Not wanting to possibly disturb the pair any more than they already had, the Allen’s removed themselves from the area with hopes of returning within a few days. Sadly though, upon hearing the news of the discovery, two taxidermists legally got a permit, went out to the area where the birds were nesting, and shot the pair in order to have them stuffed and sold.
(Adam Benedict. “Cryptid Profile: The Ivory Billed Woodpecker.” pinebarronsinstitute.com.
Sam Kean considers the destruction of the Singer Tract in northeast Louisiana – reportedly the bird's last refuge (owned by the Singer sewing machine company and leased to Chicago Mill and Lumber) – to be the demise of the woodpecker.
The area was ordered to be clear-cut by Chicago Mill owner James Griswold, who used 500 Nazi prisoners of war and their free labor to do the job in the 1940s.
At first, the Nazis were happy to cut timber – working outdoors beat sitting inside a barbed-wire prison camp. But before long, the Germans began grumbling.
The result as reported by the Science History Institute …
“And what was the worthwhile lumber used for? Not vital war material. Oh, no. The forest was wiped out...to make tea chests for British officers. The Nazis were disgusted. To destroy one of the last stands of untouched forest in North America, just so the Brits could have fresh Earl Grey? Even they had more ethics than that.”
(Sam Kean. “The Death of the Lord God Bird.” Distillations. Episode 27. Science History Institute. May 11, 2021.)
I'll leave this entry with some simple reflection – a quote and a song – of the species and the environment.
“There's something enchanting and disturbing about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's story. Enchanting because the bird is cloaked in mystery. It bears a palpable scent and sense of deep wood and deep time. It speaks of cool air, tall trees, green moss, light filtering through leaves, and fierce cries as animals hunt in the great forest. Disturbing because the great forest is gone, destroyed by men and machines in an instant of an eon, and with it the glory of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.”
(Peter Hodge. “Legend - the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.” StormBird Blog. August 08, 2013.)
Lord God Bird
By Sufjan Stevens
In the delta sun, down
in Arkansas
It's the great god bird with its altar call
On the great bayou where they saw it fall
It's the great god bird down in Arkansas
And the hunters beware, or the fishers fall
And paradise might close from its safe flight flawed
It's the great god bird through it all
And the watchers beware, lest they see it fall
And paradise might laugh when at last it falls
And the sewing machine, the industrial god
And it's the great god bird with its altar call
Yes, it's the great god bird with its altar call
Yes, it's the great god bird through it all
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