Mysterious Creatures : A Guide to Cryptozoology

The IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER (Campephilus
principalis), presumed extinct in the United States since
the 1960s. (© 2002 ArtToday.com, Inc., an IMSI
Company)
Ivory-bil l s near Interl achen, Fl orida, on April 4
and 15, 1969; on June 11, he found a distinctive,
bl ack-and-white feather that he identified
as bel onging to an Ivory-bil l .
In May 1971, a pair of Ivory-bil l s was al -
l egedl y seen and one of them photographed by
an amateur birder in the Atchafal aya River area,
Louisiana. However, some have said the photo
shows a mounted museum specimen.
In 1987, Jerome Jackson heard a bird respond
to his Ivory-bil l recordings north of
Vicksburg, Mississippi, but he did not see it.
On April 1, 1999, zool ogy student David
Kul ivan saw a pair of Ivory-bil l s at cl ose range in
the Pearl River Wil dl ife Management Area,
Louisiana. Members of an expedition to the area
in the winter of 2002 heard and recorded the
bird’s distinctive rapping but made no sightings;
however, Cornel l University ornithol ogists confirmed
in June 2002 that the sounds were made
by distant gunshots.
In Cuba—In 1948, John V. Dennis and
Davis Crompton discovered a popul ation in the
Cuchil l as del Toa Range, and in 1956, George
Lamb found six groups there. Since the 1959
Cuban Revol ution, the status of the species is
uncertain.
In 1985, Lester L. Short found indirect evidence
of the Ivory-bil l in the Cupeyal Reserve,
and on April 16, 1986, he saw a mal e Ivory-bil l
in fl ight at a distance of onl y 18 feet.
Giral do Al ayón and Al berto Estrada found
traces in Ojito de Agua in 1986. On the afternoon
of March 16, 1987, the l ast positive record
of the species was recorded in the Cuchil l as del
Toa Mountains by Al ayón and Aimé Pasada
when they saw a femal e woodpecker fl ying at a
distance of about 600 yards.
Members of a 1988 National Geographic expedition,
which incl uded Ted Parker and
Jerome Jackson, coul d not find the species, al -
though one individual might have been
gl impsed. Unsuccessful searches were conducted
in 1991, 1992, and 1993, but in 1998
and 1999, new evidence indicating the bird’s
presence was discovered in the Sierra Maestra.
Present status: A major decl ine, associated
with the cutting of l owl and hardwood forests,
began in the United States around 1885 and
continued until the 1920s. Considered extinct
in the United States by the 1960s and in Cuba
by 1990.
Possible explanation: The Pil eated woodpecker
(Dryocopus pileatus) is sl ightl y smal l er and much
more common in the United States. It has a
dark bil l and an undul ating fl ight pattern.
Sources: John V. Dennis, “A Last Remnant
of Ivory-Bil l ed Woodpeckers in Cuba,” Auk 65
(1948): 497–507; John V. Dennis, “Return of
the Ivory-Bil l ,” Animals 10 (March 1968):
492–497; “An Ivory-Bil l ed Woodpecker,”
Pursuit, no. 7 (Jul y 1969): 49; John V. Dennis,
“The Ivory-Bil l ed Woodpecker, Campephilus
principalis,” Avicultural Magazine 85 (1979):
75–84; “Ivory-Bil l ed Woodpecker Found Al ive
in Cuba,” ISC Newsletter 5, no. 2 (Summer
1986): 3–5; Martjan Lammertink, “No More
Hope for the Ivory-Bil l ed Woodpecker,”
Cotinga, February 1995, at http://www.
neotropical birdcl ub.org/feature/ivory.html ;
IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER 253