Les Jones

Science > More Evidence of Extant Ivory-billed Woodpeckers

In April researchers published accounts of ivory-billed woodpecker sightings in Arkansas, along with some grainy photos from a video camera. When the original paper was published, I was skeptical. The history of ivory-billed woodpecker sightings followed the pattern of sightings for flying saucers, Bigfoot, and the Lock Ness monster - eyewitness accounts with no substantial physical evidence. I wasn't the only one who was skeptical.

Other skeptics have been swayed by additional evidence, including audio recordings of the Arkansas birds.

The doubters had prepared an article for a scientific journal questioning whether the bird had really been found. They now plan to withdraw the article, according to ornithologist Richard Prum of Yale University, one of the doubters.

Prum said Tuesday he was particularly convinced by the Cornell researchers' two recordings of a series of nasally sounds that the ivory bills make and an exchange of double-rap sounds between two birds. He said the sounds matched recordings made in the 1930s in Louisiana.

"It's really on the basis of the new evidence that we've become convinced that the ivory-billed woodpecker exists," Prum said in a telephone interview.

So it looks like there is more physical evidence to support the theory that the ivory-billed is extant. That's good news.