January 25, 2017: Audubon: Possible Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Footage Breathes Life Into Extinction Debate
The Old News
Announced April 28, 2005Following a sighting on February 11, 2004, by amateur birder Gene Sparling, there have been at least fifteen sightings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker by a research team in the the Big Woods of Arkansas' Mississippi River Delta. Prior to these sightings, the last confirmed sightings in the United States were over 60 years ago.
- Science's announcement, with the full article in PDF format.
- Carl Zimmer's Reports of My Extinction Are Greatly Exaggerated: Includes maps of the bird's original range and its habitat range today.
- NPR's Morning Edition: Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Rediscovered in Arkansas: Report by Christopher Joyce, NPR science correspondent who joined the search. Includes audio and photographs, and their report on the 2002 Louisiana search.
- Rediscovering the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Cornell Lab of Ornithology's special section on the bird, the search, and their findings.
- The Ivory-billed Woodpecker has Returned!: The Nature Conservancy's special section with information about the Ivory-bill, the Big Woods habitat, the search, and the searchers.
- The Big Woods Conservation Partnership: Formed on April 7, 2004 to conserve 200,000 acres of forest habitat and rivers in the Big Woods over the next 10 years.
- The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Authored by Tim Gallagher, who, with Bobby Harrison, rushed to interview Gene Sparling in February, 2004. On February 27, they followed him into the bayou and the rest is very recent history.
Gallagher is an award-winning writer and photographer and editor of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Living Bird magazine. He's been tracking down clues to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's existence for years. Now he shares the journey. An excellent read. Published May, 2005. 288 pages.
- The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
Award-winning book by Phillip Hoose, covers the last two-hundred years of the bird's history. While written for a young adult audience, it's a good read for all. Published in August, 2004. 208 pages.
- In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
Written by Jerome A. Jackson, who has been obsessed with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and has personally searched for the bird in the southeastern U.S. and Cuba. Despite it all, he never gave up hope. Published in August, 2004. 256 pages.
