Search for Rare Woodpecker Is Fruitless

Searchers who launched a special effort to find an ivory-billed woodpecker, long believed to be extinct, said Wednesday they did not see one of the birds but did find some encouraging signs.

The team, which spent a month in the wilds, found evidence that at least one of the birds might live in the Pearl River wildlife management area, about 50 miles north of New Orleans.

Ivory-billed woodpeckers--sometimes called the Holy Grail of bird-watching--were the biggest woodpeckers in North America, with a 30-inch wingspan. They have been rare since the late 1800s. John James Audubon noted in the 1840s that they were heavily hunted for their skins.

The search team members saw what they described as excellent habitat and many trees from which bark had been stripped in a pattern associated with ivory-billed woodpeckers. The group also saw possible nesting cavities, and four team members heard a series of raps like those the bird is said to have used for signals.

However, they never saw one of the birds or heard its call.

“Were we in a time and place where there were known to be ivory-billed woodpeckers, I myself would say the signs and signals were definitive,” said biologist Peter McBride, a search team member. “Since we are not in such a time and place, I think we must be very careful about saying these are signs of the ivory-billed woodpecker.”

The team recommended further searches, perhaps in November or December. Searching in winter is easier, when trees are bare.

The search was inspired by the claim of David Kulivan that he saw a pair of the birds in the swamps in 1999 when he was a forestry student.

Most reported sightings turn out to be pileate woodpeckers, which are almost as big and have similar markings but no ivory bill.