Campephilus p. principalis (Ivory-billed Woodpecker)

[Melanie]

Spectrograms of Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) kent sounds from seven expeditions show 587 Hertz as a pattern

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.07.592969v2

[Sebbe]

Extinct and endangered (‘E&E’) birds in the ornithological collection of Le Beffroi Musée Boucher de Perthes-Manessier, Abbeville, France.

IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER Campephilus p. principalis EDGE score: 4.21
Picus principalis Linnaeus, 1758
2021.0.1429—mount, adult male. No information. Front toes of right leg damaged; left side of the body and crown have lost some feathers. Voisin & Voisin (1991) mentioned illegible inscriptions on the base of the pedestal, which could not be checked because the stand has been painted since.

Remarks.—Subspecies endemic to the south-east USA. Recent observations in Arkansas (Fitzpatrick et al. 2005), Florida (Hill et al. 2006) and Louisiana (Collins 2011) are controversial, hotly debated (Dalton 2010, Lynch 2011) but still being reported (Latta et al. 2023, plus references therein). Number of mature individuals estimated at 1–49; population trend unknown. Despite the number of reports, including supposed photographic evidence and sound-recordings, there are no undisputed sightings since 1944, and this subspecies is generally believed to have survived until no later than the 1960s. The subspecies bairdii was last definitely reported in March 1988 (Kirkconnell et al. 2020).

Voisin & Voisin (1991, fide Greenway 1958) reported that specimens are known in only 11 museums worldwide, but noted that a few more could probably be added. Hume (2017) mentioned that many specimens are held in museums worldwide, but did not report a total. Kirkconnell et al. (2020) listed a total of 32 specimens of bairdii in European, North American and Cuban museums.

bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-british-ornithologists-club/volume-144/issue-3/bboc.v144i3.2024.a6/Extinct-and-endangered-EE-birds-in-the-ornithological-collection-of/10.25226/bboc.v144i3.2024.a6.full#bibr86

[Sebbe]

Echo of extinction: The Ivory-billed Woodpecker's tragic legacy and its impact on scientific integrity.

Among the current surge in extinction rates, exceeding between 100 and 1000 times the prehuman background rate, a multitude of species quietly fade away, largely escaping the notice of our collective awareness. The extinction of only a select few species has the power to captivate public attention, stir emotions, and ignite debates comparable to the case of the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Reports purporting a rediscovery of this long-extinct species periodically surface and find their way into peer-reviewed journals, attracting worldwide attention from the public media. This phenomenon persists despite a glaring lack of evidence supporting such an exceptional claim, in disconnect with principles of population biology or even common sense, thereby risking erosion of public trust in the foundations of nature conservancy and the integrity of scientific methodologies in general. The tragic fate of this iconic species therefore holds significance beyond ecology, providing deep insights into extinction and conservation while highlighting the need for refinement of scientific rigor and standards of evidence in the peer review process and beyond.

academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/74/11/740/7808594?searchresult=1