The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is a most likely extinct woodpecker native to the forests of the Southeastern United States and Cuba. We say most likely because sporadic reports of sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker have continued into the 21st century. Some call this bird the Holy Grail of all bird. Why? Probably because finding either nowadays is a myth.
First some good news, Happy Belated International Women’s day! Jennifer and Amber tell everyone their favorite female scientist. Hint: Amber’s went into space and Jennifer’s got no credit for helping for discovering the meaning of life.
Habitat destruction and hunting have ravaged populations of the ivory-billed woodpecker so that the species is listed as critically endangered by some groups, and as "definitely or probably extinct" by others. The last universally accepted sighting of an American ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Louisiana in 1944, and the last universally accepted sighting of a Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in 1987.
No attempts to study the ivory-billed woodpecker were done until the population had been severely reduced by deforestation and hunting. Humans probably could have saved this species in the 1930s, but the Singer Sewing Company and Chicago Mill and Lumber Company destroyed its last known habitats in America.
Listen now to learn about the bird that humans could have saved if we weren’t the worst.
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