Campephilus p. principalis (Ivory-billed Woodpecker)

[Melanie]

Periodic and transient motions of large woodpeckers

Michael D. Collins (Nature, 2 October 2017)

Abstract

Two types of periodic and transient motions of large woodpeckers are considered. A drumming woodpecker may be modeled as a harmonic oscillator with a periodic forcing function. The transient behavior that occurs after the forcing is turned off suggests that the double knocks of Campephilus woodpeckers may be modeled in terms of a harmonic oscillator with an impulsive forcing, and this hypothesis is consistent with audio and video recordings. Wingbeats are another type of periodic and transient motion of large woodpeckers. A model for the flap rate in cruising flight is applied to the Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) and the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). During a brief transient just after taking off, the wing motion and flap rate of a large woodpecker may not be the same as in cruising flight. These concepts are relevant to videos that contain evidence for the persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13035-6

[surroundx]

Collins, Michael D. (2018). Using a Drone to Search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Drones 2(1): 11.

[surroundx]

Robbins, Mark B. (2018). The Status and Distribution of Birds in Missouri. Lawrence, Kansas: University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute. viii + 332 pp.

[surroundx]

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Club created after the ‘rebirth’ of this species

tribaltribune.org/ivory-billed-woodpecker-club-created-after-the-rebirth-of-this-species/

[surroundx]

Kodikara, Saritha et al. (2020). Inferring Extinction Year using a Bayesian Approach. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. doi: doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13408 [Abstract]

[surroundx]

Collins, Michael D. (2020). Application of image processing to evidence for the persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis). Scientific Reports 10: 14616.

[Melanie]

US to declare ivory-billed woodpecker and 22 more species extinct

www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/sep/29/us-bird-species-ivory-billed-woodpecker-extinct

[Melanie]

It may be extinct, but the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker isn't over yet

phys.org/news/2021-11-extinct-story-ivory-billed-woodpecker-isnt.html

[Melanie]

The neverending debate whether the IBWP still exists or not continues:

www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/13/ivory-bill-woodpecker-not-extinct-researchers-say

[Melanie]

Multiple lines of evidence indicate survival of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in Louisiana

Abstract

The history of decline of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is long, complex, and controversial. The last widely accepted sighting of this species in continental North America was 1944. Reports of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have continued, yet in 2021 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed declaring the species extinct. We draw on 10 years of search effort, and provide trail camera photos and drone videos suggesting the consistent presence of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers at our study site. Data indicate repeated re-use of foraging sites and core habitat. We offer insights into behaviors of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker that contribute to difficulty in finding this species. We discuss results with regard to the value of accumulated evidence, and what repeated observations may indicate for continued survival of this iconic species.

Free download www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.06.487399v1.full.pdf

[surroundx]

Troy, Jeff R. and Jones, Clark D. (2022). The ongoing narrative of Ivory-billed Woodpecker rediscovery and support for declaring the species extinct. Ibis. doi:10.1111/ibi.13144

[Melanie]

This bird is extinct, the government says. Not everyone is so sure.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/19/ivory-billed-woodpecker-extinct/

[ada]

Dec 19, 2022 19:40:31 GMT Melanie said:

This bird is extinct, the government says. Not everyone is so sure.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/12/19/ivory-billed-woodpecker-extinct/

Well, I think everyone wants them to be there. But the fact is taht with drones, high-quality modern color cameras we aren't able to produce anything of even remotely similar quality evidence as the photos people did in the 1930s with their antiquated black-and-white devices.

At this point, my hopes for this one are rather low.



I think the wetlands of the southern US need to be protected, but the protection should stand on its own merits, rather than being based on claims of a "maybe possibly not extinct" bird.
If large areas of the haitat become protected AND the bird still exists, its numbers should be able to grow to a level where spotting them becomes as easy in the 1930s.

So protecting the land should be done with the additional benefit of supporting a possible rediscovery... instead of waiting for a rediscovery to support establishing protected areas.

[Melanie]

The ongoing narrative of Ivory-billed Woodpecker rediscovery and support for declaring the species extinct

Abstract

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis was considered extinct by many until, in 2005, researchers announced its rediscovery in continental North America and released video evidence obtained from the state of Arkansas. This claim garnered worldwide media attention and sparked renewed interest in searching for and conserving the bird. Audio recordings from the same region, including sounds closely resembling the territorial double raps of Campephilus woodpeckers, were also released. Both the video and audio evidence, however, were challenged in several journal articles, though these critiques did not receive as much attention. We estimated that over 578 000 h were collectively spent searching for the species across the southeastern USA from 2004 to 2021, but these efforts failed to yield indisputable proof of the species' persistence. More than US$ 20.3 million in federal and state government funding was spent on the bird from 2005 to 2013, a sharp increase in expenditures from the years before the rediscovery announcement. Regardless of whether or not it was a reallocation of funds from other taxa, this money, along with other associated resources (e.g. time and human effort), would have undoubtedly benefited other underfunded threatened and endangered taxa had it not been spent on the woodpecker. Given the published criticisms and counterevidence, as well as the lack of definitive proof that the species still exists, it appears that this endeavour was driven largely by the narrative of rediscovery advanced by prominent researchers in ornithology, rather than the actual evidence, and that this probably helped to perpetuate the use of poor-quality evidence in subsequent claims of the species' persistence. In 2021, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed an extinction declaration for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Based on available information, this decision seems logical, and would close this chapter on one of the biggest losses to North American avifauna in modern history.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ibi.13144

[Melanie]

‘Iconic’ bird was feared extinct for decades — until appearing on Louisiana trail cam

news.yahoo.com/iconic-bird-feared-extinct-decades-164405962.html

[thomassn]

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ece3.10017

Multiple lines of evidence suggest the persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in Louisiana

The link shows some interesting photos and video clips. I have also added a PDF version.cloud.tapatalk.com/s/646aafc281ef9/Ecology%20and%20Evolution%20-%202023%20-%20Latta%20-%20Multiple%20lines%20of%20evidence%20suggest%20the%20persistence%20of%20the%20Ivory%E2%80%90billed%20Woodpecker%20.pdf

[Melanie]

I don't think that these messages are reliable. These are by people who want to read their names in the press but these "Big Foot" news are nothing more than annoyable.

[Melanie]

Ivory-billed woodpecker isn’t extinct (again)

earthsky.org/earth/ivory-billed-woodpecker-isnt-extinct/

[Melanie]

Extinct or elusive? Why birders aren’t giving up on the ivorybill.

news.yahoo.com/extinct-elusive-why-birders-aren-103742553.html?

[surroundx]

Update on the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Scandal

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is an elusive bird that has repeatedly been feared extinct only to be rediscovered during the past hundred years. The most recent rediscovery, which took place in Arkansas, was announced in an article that was featured on the cover of Science in 2005. Despite published reports of sightings in Florida and Louisiana in the years that followed, the issue became controversial when nobody managed to obtain a clear photo and critics attacked relatively weak video evidence that was presented in the original article. The issue began to develop into a science scandal when the critics used specious arguments to delay the publication of the strongest evidence, which consists of three videos that were obtained during encounters with birds that were identified in the field as Ivory-billed Woodpeckers and that show field marks, body proportions, flights, and other behaviors that are consistent with that species but no other species of the region. The scandal culminated in a decision by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to declare the species extinct in 2021, which was made without addressing the strongest evidence. An update is given here on recent developments. The decision to declare the species extinct was based on a five-year review of evidence for persistence. During an interview, it came to light that the person who performed the review was unaware of basic facts about the strongest evidence. Evidence that was obtained at another site in Louisiana [Latta et al., “Multiple lines of evidence suggest the persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in Louisiana,” Ecology and Evolution (2023)] is discussed and compared with the strongest evidence. Videos obtained with a drone on a sunny day often show white markings that do not correspond to actual field marks. It is demonstrated that a video that was purported to show an Ivory-billed Woodpecker on the basis of apparent white markings is apparently a Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). The bird in that video appears to have black trailing edges on the dorsal surfaces of the wings, which are consistent with the Pileated Woodpecker, not the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The wingbeat frequency and an upward swooping landing also seem to be consistent with the Pileated Woodpecker but are not consistent with historical accounts of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker or flights appearing in videos that contain the strongest evidence.

www.worldscientific.com/doi/pdf/10.1142/S2591728523500214