Why U.S. officials aren’t ready to call this phantom woodpecker extinct

Nobody has seen one in nearly 80 years. Or at least those who have spotted it have trouble convincing others of what they saw: a red-crowned bird so awe-inspiring it’s nicknamed the Lord God Bird.

Now fuzzy photos and videos taken in recent years by professional biologists and amateur birdwatchers have prompted U.S. officials to hold off declaring the ivory-billed woodpecker extinct for now.

For years, many presumed the phantom-like bird had vanished for good, even as disputed sightings by others fuel hope it is still out there.

In 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing the ivory-billed woodpecker from the Endangered Species Act list, arguing the bird no longer needed protection because none were left. The last uncontested sighting was in 1944.

But on Monday, agency officials said they are giving themselves more time to consider all the evidence before making that decision final. It is unclear when the agency will make a final determination on the status of the ivory bill.

“This bird is iconic, and it represents for us and for much of the public fragility, it represents conservation, and it represents hope for endangered species around the world,” said Steven Latta, an ornithologist at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh who says he has seen an ivory bill with his own eyes.

But other bird experts insist it is time to face facts. For all the effort to find the bird, no one has emerged with a conclusive proof, they say. The video is too grainy, and the photos are too blurry. Ivory bills are easily mistaken for related woodpeckers with similar black-and-white plumage.

“It’s just a waste of resources to keep a bird on the list when it’s extinct,” said Brett Hartl, government affairs director for the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, noting scientists have already spent significant sums looking for the bird. “The only ones who seem to see the ivory-billed woodpecker are the ones who want it to exist.”

Fish and Wildlife is looking through the recordings and testimonials submitted by the public, with an eye toward “clear video or photographic evidence of the presence of the ivory-billed woodpecker that can be repeatedly interpreted the same way by independent observers,” the agency said last year.

Agency spokeswoman Christine Schuldheisz acknowledged there is “substantial disagreement among scientists knowledgeable about the species.”

Among the recordings submitted to wildlife officials is a drone video taken by Latta’s team in October 2022 of two putative ivory bills swooping onto a tree branch high in the canopy.

In May, Latta and his colleagues published this and other footage, including trail camera and audio recordings, in a peer-reviewed paper in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

“It should be enough to convince reasonable people,” said Mark Michaels, one of the co-authors.

But he added the climate around the ivory bill is “polarizing.” He wondered if even a National Geographic-quality photo would be enough to convince many detractors. Some people even think ivory bill photos from the 1930s were faked, he noted.

“The internet has fueled this conspiracy-minded way of thinking about this species,” Michaels said.

One thing is for sure: The bird underwent a rapid decline in the 19th century after loggers cut down the old-growth forests in which it foraged and roosted. After the last 1940s sighting, the bird lived on as legend, serving as an inspiration for the artists behind Woody Woodpecker and singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens.

Yet every so often, someone came forward saying they saw the bird. In the 1960s, it was an ornithologist in Texas. In 2004, it was a kayaker in Arkansas, eventually culminating in a paper in the journal Science. Every new supposed sighting led to a new round of debate about the bird’s existence.

If the bird persisted, Hartl said, there would be a carcass, a nest, even a feather. “How come every picture is blurry, out of focus?”

There are plenty of other birds that are certainly gone.

On Monday, wildlife officials finalized their decision to declare 21 other species extinct, including Bachman’s warbler in the South, the bridled white-eye in Guam and eight other birds in Hawaii in addition to number of fish and mussel species.

The agency had been considering declaring a Hawaiian herb in the mint family extinct, but new surveys suggested it could still be out there.

As for the ivory bill, it may not matter what the government has to say. Believers will continue to search for their spectacular bird.

“I understand, and our team understands, that some people want higher quality photographs,” said Latta, who plans to return to the woods this month to look for the woodpecker.

“That’s fine. We’re out there.”