Extinct Woodpecker Found Alive in Arkansas

Posted on April 28, 2005

USA Today reports that a rare woodpecker, the ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to have been extinct for decades has been found in Arkansas. A man kayaking down the Cache River in eastern Arkansas made the amazing find. Later researchers from Cornell University came out and confirmed his discovery.

The species is one of six North American bird species thought to have become extinct since 1880. Indians believed the bird's bill had magical powers. Its habitat was largely eliminated between 1880 and the 1940s because of logging. The last official ivory-bill sighting was in 1944 in northern Louisiana.
"My first thought was 'My God. It's the largest pileated woodpecker I've seen in my life," said Sparling, 49. Ivory-billed woodpeckers are a little larger than an average crow, with a wing span of about 19 inches.

Bird experts say the only find more remarkable would be finding a Dodo bird. Frank Gill, of the US National Audubon Society, told the BBC: "This is huge, just huge. It is kind of like finding Elvis." The BBC's article about the discovery can be found here.

ANIMALS
BIRDS
EXTINCT SPECIES