Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Active Motif, Inc.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 17 March 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5767, p. 1555
DOI: 10.1126/science.1122778
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Technical Comments

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

David A. Sibley,1* Louis R. Bevier,2 Michael A. Patten,3 Chris S. Elphick4

We reanalyzed video presented as confirmation that an ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in Arkansas (Fitzpatrick et al., Reports, 3 June 2005, p. 1460). None of the features described as diagnostic of the ivory-billed woodpecker eliminate a normal pileated woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus). Although we support efforts to find and protect ivory-billed woodpeckers, the video evidence does not demonstrate that the species persists in the United States.

1 Post Office Box 1031, Concord, MA 01742, USA.
2 Department of Biology, Colby College, Waterville, ME 04901, USA.
3 Oklahoma Biological Survey, Sutton Avian Research Center and Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA.
4 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 North Eagleville Road, U-43, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: sibleyart{at}yahoo.com

Read the Full Text

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)