page_title: Ivory-billed woodpecker
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Ivory-billed woodpecker / Description
caption_attribution_description: Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, male (above, with detail of bill), and female (below) lithograph or engraving/etching, hand colored. Note. Iris is shown as dark brown in illustration--this is likely an error--other illustrations from living birds show it is nearly white.
context_page_description: The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world, at roughly 51 centimetres long and 76 centimetres in wingspan. It is native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southeastern United States and Cuba. Habitat destruction and, to a lesser extent, hunting has reduced populations so thoroughly that the species is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and the American Birding Association lists the ivory-billed woodpecker as a class 6 species, a category it defines as "definitely or probably extinct". The last universally accepted sighting of an American ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Louisiana in 1944. However, sporadic reports of sightings and other evidence of the birds' persistence have continued ever since. In the 21st century, reported sightings and analyses of audio and visual recordings have been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as evidence that the species persists in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida.
context_section_description: The ivory-billed woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in the United States. The closely related imperial woodpecker (C. imperialis) of western Mexico is the largest woodpecker in the world. The ivory-billed has a total length of 48 to 53 cm (19 to 21 in), and based on scant information, weighs about 450 to 570 g (0.99 to 1.26 lb). It has a typical 76 cm (30 in) wingspan. Standard measurements attained included a wing chord length of 23.5–26.5 cm (9.3–10.4 in), a tail length of 14–17 cm (5.5–6.7 in), a bill length of 5.8–7.3 cm (2.3–2.9 in), and a tarsus length of 4–4.6 cm (1.6–1.8 in).
  The plumage of the ivory-billed woodpecker is predominated a shiny black-purple.  There are white lines extending from the cheeks down the neck meeting on the back.  The ends of the inner primary feathers are white, as well as the whole of the outer secondary feathers.  This creates extensive white on the trailing edge of both the upper- and underwing. The underwing is also white along its forward edge, resulting in a black line running along the middle of the underwing, expanding to more extensive black at the wingtip.  Ivory-bills have a prominent crest, although in juveniles it is ragged. The bird is somewhat sexually dimorphic, as seen in the picture to the right, as the crest is black along its forward edge, changing abruptly to red on the side and rear in males, but solid black in females, as well as juvenile males.  When perched with the wings folded, birds of both sexes present a large patch of white on the lower back, roughly triangular in shape.  Like all woodpeckers, the ivory-billed woodpecker has a strong and straight bill and a long, mobile, hard-tipped, barbed tongue.  In adults, the bill is ivory in color, while it is chalky white in juveniles.  Among North American woodpeckers, the ivory-billed woodpecker is unique in having a bill whose tip is quite flattened laterally, shaped much like a beveled wood chisel.
  These characteristics distinguish them from the smaller and darker-billed pileated woodpecker. The pileated woodpecker normally is brownish-black, smoky, or slaty black in color. It also has a white neck stripe, but the back is normally black. Pileated woodpecker juveniles and adults have a red crest and a white chin. Pileated woodpeckers normally have no white on the trailing edges of their wings and when perched, normally show only a small patch of white on each side of the body near the edge of the wing. However, pileated woodpeckers, apparently aberrant individuals, have been reported with white trailing edges on the wings, forming a white triangular patch on the lower back when perched.
  The bird's drum is a single or double rap. Four fairly distinct calls are reported in the literature and two were recorded in the 1930s. The most common, a kent or hant, sounds like a toy trumpet often repeated in a series. When the bird is disturbed, the pitch of the kent note rises, it is repeated more frequently, and it is often doubled. A conversational call, also recorded, is given between individuals at the nest, and has been described as kent-kent-kent. A recording of the bird, made by Arthur A. Allen, can be found here.
caption: The contrast in plumage of the male (above) and female (below)
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