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Ivory-billed Woodpecker

A species of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and Allies, Also known as Good God Bird, Lord-to-god, Lord God
Scientific name : Campephilus principalis Genus : Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and Allies

Ivory-billed Woodpecker, A species of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and Allies
Also known as:
Good God Bird, Lord-to-god, Lord God
Botanical name: Campephilus principalis
Genus: Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and Allies
Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Photo By Veronika_Andrews , used under CC0 /Cropped and compressed from original

Description

The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world at roughly 51 centimetres (20 in; 1.67 ft) long and 76 centimetres (30 in; 2.49 ft) in wingspan; it is the largest woodpecker where it occurs in the United States and Cuba. The closely related imperial woodpecker (C. imperialis), of western Mexico, is the largest woodpecker in the world. The ivory-billed has a total length of 48 to 53 cm (19 to 21 in), and based on scant information, weighs about 450 to 570 g (0.99 to 1.26 lb). Its wingspan is typically 76 cm (30 in). Standard measurements obtained include a wing chord length of 23.5–26.5 cm (9.3–10.4 in), a tail length of 14–17 cm (5.5–6.7 in), a bill length of 5.8–7.3 cm (2.3–2.9 in), and a tarsus length of 4–4.6 cm (1.6–1.8 in). The plumage of the ivory-billed woodpecker is predominated by a shiny black or purple tint. There are white lines extending from the cheeks down the neck, meeting on the back. The ends of the inner primary feathers are white, as well as the whole of the outer secondary feathers. This creates extensive white on the trailing edge of both the upper- and underwing. The underwing is also white along its forward edge, resulting in a black line running along the middle of the underwing, expanding to more extensive black at the wingtip. Some birds have been recorded with more extensive amounts of white on the primary feathers. Ivory-bills have a prominent crest, although in juveniles it is ragged. The bird is somewhat sexually dimorphic, as seen in the picture to the right, as the crest is black along its forward edge, changing abruptly to red on the side and rear in males, but solid black in females, as well as juvenile males. When perched with the wings folded, birds of both sexes present a large patch of white on the lower back, roughly triangular in shape. Like all woodpeckers, the ivory-billed woodpecker has a strong and straight bill and a long, mobile, hard-tipped, barbed tongue. In adults, the bill is ivory in color, while it is chalky white in juveniles. Among North American woodpeckers, the ivory-billed woodpecker is unique in having a bill whose tip is quite flattened laterally, shaped much like a beveled wood chisel. Its flight is strong and direct, and has been likened to that of a duck. These characteristics distinguish Ivory-billeds from the smaller and darker-billed pileated woodpecker. The pileated woodpecker normally is brownish-black, smoky, or slaty black in color. It also has a white neck stripe, but the back is normally black. Pileated woodpecker juveniles and adults have a red crest and a white chin. Pileated woodpeckers normally have no white on the trailing edges of their wings and when perched, normally show only a small patch of white on each side of the body near the edge of the wing. However, pileated woodpeckers, apparently aberrant individuals, have been reported with white trailing edges on the wings, forming a white triangular patch on the lower back when perched. The bird's drum is a single or double rap. Four fairly distinct calls are reported in the literature and two were recorded in the 1930s. The most common, a kent or hant, sounds like a toy trumpet often repeated in a series. When the bird is disturbed, the pitch of the kent note rises, it is repeated more frequently, and it is often doubled. A conversational call, also recorded, is given between individuals at the nest, and has been described as kent-kent-kent. A recording of the bird, made by Arthur A. Allen, can be found here.
Size
41 - 81 cm
Life Expectancy
20-30 years
Nest Placement
Cavity
Clutch Size
1 - 5 eggs
Feeding Habits
Ivory-billed Woodpecker primarily consumed large larvae of Cerambycidae, Buprestidae, and Elateridae beetles, supplemented by smaller bark beetle larvae. Ivory-billed Woodpecker foraged in dead trees within disturbed stands, removing bark or excavating wood for larvae. Additionally, their diet included various fruits and nuts, such as hickory, pecan, and persimmons.
Habitat
Ivory-billed Woodpecker's habitat included extensive forested wetlands, old-growth stands rich in tree diversity, and lowland forests with a mix of bald cypress swamps and hardwoods. These birds required large territories, with an estimated range of 6 square miles per pair, thriving in environments that blended dry and wet conditions, and were conducive to foraging in newly dead trees. By the 1930s, they favored mature forests with open canopies adjacent to pine uplands and wetland edges.
Nest Behavior
Both sexes of ivory-billed Woodpecker shared nest excavation duties, annually creating new holes. Egg-laying and incubation periods remain undocumented, but like many woodpeckers, parental care was likely collaborative.
Nest Characteristics
Ivory-billed Woodpecker nests were oval cavities in dead or partially dead trees, often below broken branches at heights of 15-70 feet. Materials around the nest entrance were stripped, with sizes of 4-5 inches wide and 5-6 inches tall, potentially 2 feet deep.
Dite type
Insectivorous

General Info

Feeding Habits

Bird food type

Behavior

Ivory-billed Woodpecker's flight is notably graceful, often involving long, swooping glides, as per Audubon, or steady wingbeats for strong, direct travel as observed by Tanner in the 20th century. Evidence suggests ivory-billed Woodpecker exhibits a degree of sociality, occasionally gathering in notable numbers and sharing foraging grounds. These birds are believed to pair monogamously, showing year-round fidelity. A singular courtship report details mutual preening and a unique bill-holding gesture, indicative of the species' complex social interactions and mating rituals.

Species Status

Heavy logging activity exacerbated by hunting by collectors devastated the population of ivory-billed woodpeckers in the late 19th century. It was generally considered extremely rare, and some ornithologists believed it extinct by the 1920s. In 1924, Arthur Augustus Allen found a nesting pair in Florida, which local taxidermists shot for specimens. In 1932, a Louisiana state representative, Mason Spencer of Tallulah, killed an ivory-billed woodpecker along the Tensas River and took the specimen to his state wildlife office in Baton Rouge. As a result, Arthur Allen, fellow Cornell Ornithology professor Peter Paul Kellogg, PhD student James Tanner, and avian artist George Miksch Sutton organized an expedition to that part of Louisiana as part of a larger expedition to record images and sounds of endangered birds across the United States. The team located a population of woodpeckers in Madison Parish in northeastern Louisiana, in a section of the old-growth forest called the Singer tract, owned by the Singer Sewing Company, where logging rights were held by the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company. The team made the only universally accepted audio and motion picture recordings of the ivory-billed woodpecker. The National Audubon Society attempted to buy the logging rights to the tract so the habitat and birds could be preserved, but the company rejected their offer. Tanner spent 1937-1939 studying the ivory-billed woodpeckers on the Singer tract and travelling across the southern United States searching for other populations as part of his thesis work. At that time, he estimated there were 22-24 birds remaining, of which 6-8 were on the Singer tract. The last universally accepted sighting of an ivory billed woodpecker in the United States was made on the Singer tract by Audubon Society artist Don Eckelberry in April 1944, when logging of the tract was nearly complete. The ivory-billed woodpecker was listed as an endangered species on 11 March 1967, by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It has been assessed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources., and is categorized as probably or actually extinct by the American Birding Association. A 2019 five-year review by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that the ivory-billed woodpecker be removed from the Endangered Species List due to extinction, but the species has not yet been delisted.
Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Photo By Veronika_Andrews , used under CC0 /Cropped and compressed from original
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