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

Abstract

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).

Problems of citation analysis: A study of uncited and seldom‐cited influences

“…It is not odd that they receive few citations, and none in Thomson Reuters-monitored journals; it would be odd if they were heavily cited and/or cited in such journals. The only report of this type that has received great attention in recent years is the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker published in Science (Fitzpatrick et al, 2005), and the only reason it was published there is because the ivory-billed woodpecker is "the Holy Grail of birdersthe one sighting every birder fantasizes about" (Jackson, 2004, p. 1). If the rediscovery had been of Agalinis caddoensis (Caddo purple false-foxglove), a plant discovered and collected in 1913 in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, by Francis Whittier Pennell, Curator of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and never found again, it would never have found its way into Science or any other "top" journal (D.T.…”

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

“…Fitzpatrick et al list five features to support their conclusion that the bird in the video is an ivory-billed woodpecker: (i) size, (ii) wing pattern at rest, (iii) wing pattern in flight, (iv) white plumage on dorsum, and (v) black-whiteblack pattern presumed to be a perched bird (1). Our analysis of the digital video and deinterlaced video frames (10) demonstrates that this conclusion rests on mistaken interpretations of the bird_s posture, that several features visible in the video contradict identification as a typical ivory-billed woodpecker, and that other features support identification as a pileated woodpecker.…”

“…The conclusion by Fitzpatrick et al (1) that the species persists is based on several observations, sound recordings that resemble ivory-billed woodpecker calls and double raps, and a short video recording. The recent sight records (1,4) were all very brief and most involved a single observer, matching the pattern of reported observations over the past few decades (5)(6)(7)(8). Although such observations provide strong impetus for continued searching and habitat protection, they cannot be taken to confirm the species_ presence because they do not provide independently verifiable evidence.…”

Timeless standards for species delimitation

“…At what point does a novice become an authority? The 2005 report that the ivory billed woodpecker, Campephilus principalis-thought to be extinct for decades-was alive deep in Arkansas woods (Fitzpatrick et al, 2005) was made by an experienced team of ornithologists who felt that grainy video footage was good enough to document their discovery. The footage was later thought to be of a pileated woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus (Sibley et al 2006).…”