Not entirly sure if this has already been discussed, I'm a tad new n_n';
**edit*** since I couldn't find the original link to where I researched this based from, heres this link (don't kill me, X_x I seriously lost the
link) --->
www.birdingamerica.com... <--this is a nice informatice site that has many accounts of peoples
encounters with these birds <3 )
anyway, I've recently come across video recordings and what not about the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, a bird supposedly extinct, but recently it has
been rediscovered, and is clearly not completly gone.
I've had the info on my comp for a while, but heres the basics of what I do have: In February of 2004, a kayaker caught sight of an ivory-billed
woodpecker in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, an encounter that led to an extensive scientific search for the bird. Most had long given up
hope for the ivory-bill, which had lost its habitat to intensive logging. But in Arkansas’ Mississippi Delta, a swath of the Big Woods remains.
The Search Is On
That first sighting in 2004 launched a year-long search by the Big Woods Conservation Partnership, led by The Nature Conservancy and the Cornell
Laboratory of Ornithology.
Since then, the partnership's researchers have collected evidence they believe confirms the existence of the magnificent ivory-bill. The bird has
been spotted more than a dozen times by a team of experts and searchers. Seven credible sightings, along with other evidence – including video and
possible recordings of the bird’s distinctive double knock – have convinced scientists that in the woods of this swampy refuge, the ivory-bill
woodpecker survives.
"The bird captured on video is clearly an ivory-billed woodpecker," said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Hope for the Future
"Finding the ivory-bill in Arkansas validates decades of great conservation work in the past and represents an incredible story of hope for the
future," said Scott Simon, director of The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas. "For over 20 years, many agencies, conservation organizations, hunters
and landowners have aggressively worked to conserve and restore the bottomland hardwood and swamp ecosystem. Now we know we must work even harder to
conserve this critical habitat — not just for the ivory-billed woodpecker, but for the black bears and many other rare species of these unique
woods."
I'd love to know if anyone else has been lucky enough to see one of these wonderful little ghosts of the forests XD
(heres a pic, if you're curious)
[edit on 22-2-2006 by Senaru]