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Originally published in Science Express on 28 April 2005
Science 3 June 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5727, pp. 1460 - 1462
DOI: 10.1126/science.1114103
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Reports

Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America

John W. Fitzpatrick,1* Martjan Lammertink,1,2 M. David Luneau, Jr.,3 Tim W. Gallagher,1 Bobby R. Harrison,4 Gene M. Sparling,5 Kenneth V. Rosenberg,1 Ronald W. Rohrbaugh,1 Elliott C. H. Swarthout,1 Peter H. Wrege,1 Sara Barker Swarthout,1 Marc S. Dantzker,1 Russell A. Charif,1 Timothy R. Barksdale,6 J. V. Remsen, Jr.,7 Scott D. Simon,8 Douglas Zollner8

The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), long suspected to be extinct, has been rediscovered in the Big Woods region of eastern Arkansas. Visual encounters during 2004 and 2005, and analysis of a video clip from April 2004, confirm the existence of at least one male. Acoustic signatures consistent with Campephilus display drums also have been heard from the region. Extensive efforts to find birds away from the primary encounter site remain unsuccessful, but potential habitat for a thinly distributed source population is vast (over 220,000 hectares).

1 Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
2 Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Mauritskade 61, 1092 AD Amsterdam, Netherlands.
3 Department of Engineering Technology and Department of Information Technology, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA.
4 Department of Communications, Oakwood College, Huntsville, AL 35896, USA.
5 107 Stillmeadow Lane, Hot Springs, AR 71913, USA.
6 Birdman Productions, Post Office Box 1124, 65 Mountain View Drive, Choteau, MT 59422, USA.
7 Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
8 The Nature Conservancy, Arkansas Chapter, 601 North University Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jwf7{at}cornell.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Mid-Pleistocene divergence of Cuban and North American ivory-billed woodpeckers.
R. C Fleischer, J. J Kirchman, J. P Dumbacher, L. Bevier, C. Dove, N. C Rotzel, S. V Edwards, M. Lammertink, K. J Miglia, and W. S Moore (2006)
Biol Lett 2, 466-469
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Comment on "Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America".
D. A. Sibley, L. R. Bevier, M. A. Patten, and C. S. Elphick (2006)
Science 311, 1555a
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) Persists in Continental North America".
J. W. Fitzpatrick, M. Lammertink, M. D. Luneau Jr., T. W. Gallagher, and K. V. Rosenberg (2006)
Science 311, 1555b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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