Status Unchanged—Ivory-billed Woodpecker

To their credit, the American Birding Association’s Checklist Committee (ABA’s CLC) has—for the time being—discounted all of the recent evidence provided to support claims of the persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in the ABA Area. This excerpt is from the annual report of the ABA’s CLC for 2007 (Pranty et al. 2007):

We apologize for the confusing statement in our previous report (Pranty et al. 2006) that we had not “decided” whether to vote on the recent reports of Ivory-billed Woodpecker persistence in the ABA Area. The CLC will evaluate the claims and counter-claims of Ivory-billed persistence in the ABA Area, but we may wait another year or two before we do so, either after formal surveys in some areas cease, or at least after another year or two of data have been gathered. We have received copies of the deliberations of the Arkansas Bird Records Committee, which voted in September 2006 to accept the claim (see Fitzpatrick et al. 2005 [.pdf], 2006; Rosenberg et al. 2005) that at least one Ivory-billed Woodpecker persists in the “Big Woods” of Arkansas, but some of the Arkansas votes were cast before alternative hypotheses were published (Jackson 2006, Sibley et al. 2006, Jones et al. 2007). To date, the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee has not accepted any claims of recent occurrences along the Choctawhatchee River (see Hill et al. 2006) or elsewhere in the state. In the opinion of the CLC, none of the data presented to date proves the continued persistence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker in the ABA Area. For now, we will continue to treat the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as a Code 6 species that definitely or probably is extinct.

Citations:

Fitzpatrick, J. W., M. Lammertink, M. D. Luneau, T. W. Gallagher, B. R. Harrison, G. M. Sparling, K. V. Rosenberg, R W. Rohrbaugh, E. C. H. Swarthout, P. H. Wrege, S. B. Swarthout, M. S. Dantzker, R. A. Chariff, T. R. Barksdale, J. V. Remsen, S. D. Simon, and D. Zollner. 2005. Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in continental North America. Science 308:1460-1462.

Fitzpatrick, J. W., M. Lammertink, M. D. Luneau, T. W. Gallagher, B. R. Harrison, G. M. Sparling, K. V. Rosenberg, R W. Rohrbaugh, E. C. H. Swarthout, P. H. Wrege, S. B. Swarthout, M. S. Dantzker, R. A. Chariff, T. R. Barksdale, J. V. Remsen, S. D. Simon, and D. Zollner. 2006. Clarifications about current research on the status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in Arkansas. Auk 123:587-593.

Hill, G. E., D. J. Mennill, B. W. Rolek, T. L. Hicks, and K. E. Swiston. 2006. Evidence suggesting that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers (Campephilus principalis) exist in Florida. Avian Conservation and Ecology 1(3):2-11.

Jackson, J. A. 2006. Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis): hope, and the interface of science, conservation, and politics. Auk 123:1-15.

Jones, C. D., J. R. Troy, and L. Y. Pomara. 2007. Similarities between Campephilus woodpecker double-raps and mechanical sounds produced by duck flocks. Wilson Journal of Ornithology 119:259-262.

Pranty, B., J. L. Dunn, S. Heinl, A. W. Kratter, P. E. Lehman, M. W. Lockwood, B. Mactavish, and K. J. Zimmer. 2006. Annual report of the ABA Checklist Committee: 2006. Birding 38:20-24.

Pranty, B., J. L. Dunn, S. Heinl, A. W. Kratter, P. E. Lehman, M. W. Lockwood, B. Mactavish, and K. J. Zimmer. 2007. Annual report of the ABA Checklist Committee: 2007. Birding 39:24-31.

Rosenberg, K. V., R. W. Rohrbaugh, and M. Lammertink. 2005. An overview of Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) sightings in eastern Arkansas in 2004-2005. North American Birds 59:198-207.

Sibley, D. A., L. R. Bevier, M. A. Patten, and C. S. Elphick.. 2006. Comment on “Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) persists in continental North America.” Science 311:1555a.