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Researched by :Anthony Fisher

Class :7 H

Teacher :Mr. Fitzgerald

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CONTENTSPg. 1 – Ivory Billed Woodpecker Title PagePg. 2 – Contents PagePg. 3 – ClassificationPg. 4 – Scientific Name and What It MeansPg. 5 – Reproduction and How It Gives BirthPg. 6 – Reproduction and How It Gives BirthPg. 7 – Gestation PeriodPg. 8 – Life PatternsPg. 9 – Food EatenPg. 10 – Hunting PatternsPg. 11 – PredatorPg.12 – Reason for Most DeathsPg. 13 – Does It Get EatenPg. 14 – Is It EndangeredPg. 15 – Preferred Living Environment and

Information on Its Natural HabitatPg. 16 – LocationPg. 17 – Special Features and AbilitiesPg. 18 – DescriptionPg. 19 – How Long Has It Been On EarthPg. 20 – What It Evolved FromPg. 21 – Is It Found To Be a PetPg. 22 – Who Discovered It and WherePg. 23 – What Countries Did It Come FromPg. 24 – What Countries Has It Been Introduced

ToPg. 25 – Has There Been Impact on Its SurvivalPg. 26 – Life Span In the WildPg. 27 – Life Span In CaptivityPg. 28 – Extra InformationPg. 29 – Bibliography

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CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cordata

Class: Aves

Order: Piciformes

Family: PicidaePicina Woodpeckers

Genera: Campephilus

Species: C. Principalis

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SCIENTIFIC NAME AND WHAT IT MEANS

The scientific name for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is:

Campephilus Principalis

The scientific name means chief lover of caterpillars.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was given the name “Principalis” because it was believed to be the largest woodpecker but there are at least two others, one from Mexico and one from South East Asia that are bigger.

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REPRODUCTION AND HOW IT GIVES BIRTH

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker is thought to pair for life. They usually travel together, and will mate every year between January and May.

Before they have their young birds, the parents need to make a nest. They usually make their nests in dead trees, about 8 – 15 metres above the ground.

Usually two to five eggs are laid, and they are incubated for three to five weeks. Both of the parents are involved with taking care of the eggs, and they both sit on the eggs. The male takes sole responsibility of taking care of the eggs at night.

Both parents will feed the newly born chicks for months, and after about five weeks after their birth, they learn to fly, and even after that, the parents still feed them for about another two months. The young usually leave their parents after a year.

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The family will usually split up around late fall or early winter.

Little is known on this subject and much information is assumed, taken from related Pileated species of woodpeckers. There is no information on the age at first breeding or diseases.

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GESTATION PERIOD

The gestation period is thought to be between 3-5 weeks.

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LIFE PATTERNS

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker does not live in a group. The male Ivory Billed Woodpecker only has one other female woodpecker mate.

Each pair needs about 16-25 kilometres in area so that they can find enough food for themselves and their young.

The call of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is a nasal “toot” like a toy horn. It is referred to by scientists as a “Kent call”.

It also makes a double knock by striking it’s beak against the tree or wood.

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FOOD EATEN

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The Ivory Billed Woodpecker usually eats the larvae of wood boring beetles, but the Ivory Billed Woodpecker will also eat seeds, fruits, and other insects.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker uses its large beak to peel of the bark from dead trees to find insects to eat.

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HUNTING PATTERNS

It is thought that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker roosted in a tree cavity until late morning when it came out and preened and stretched before leaving for the feeding area. By late afternoon it would fly back towards the roost site where it would enter by dusk. It is thought that they may have finished feeding by midday but there is no definite information on this.

There is no evidence of migration. It is suggested that the species was nomadic, moving to areas that may have recently killed trees, thus providing them with their food.

PREDATORS

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The only known predators are humans but there is a possibility that Racoons, Rat Snakes, Great Horned Owls, Barred Owls, Cooper’s Hawks, and Stygian Owls could also be predators of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.

Hunter

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REASON FOR MOST DEATHS

The reason for the most deaths of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is Humans, as Humans were cutting down a lot of trees, and the Ivory Billed Woodpecker had nowhere to live, or did not have a lot of food.

In Cuba, for example the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was hung outside homes to prevent witchcraft.

As the Ivory Billed Woodpecker became rare they were then hunted by collectors.

DOES IT GET EATEN?

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There is no conclusive information but possibly Racoons, Rat Snakes, Great-Horned Owls, Barred-Owls, Cooper’s Hawks and Stygian Owls may take Ivory Billed Woodpeckers, but given the size of the woodpeckers, and where they roost it would not happen regularly.

IS IT ENDANGERED?

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The Ivory Billed Woodpecker is critically endangered. It is also thought to be extinct, but on rare occasions, the Ivory Billed Woodpecker has been seen by people.

In June 2006, a $US10,000.00 reward was set for any information regarding the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.

During 1920, it was thought to be extinct, but then a pair was found in Florida, but they were then shot for specimens.

PREFFERED LIVING ENVIRONMENT AND INFORMATION ON ITS NATURAL

HABITAT

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The Ivory Billed Woodpecker likes living in dead trees, usually in pine forests or thick hardwood swamps in the river drainages in the south of the USA. A subspecies also lived in Cuba. It usually lives at a height of 8-21 metres.

After the Civil War, the timber industry deforested many trees in the southern areas of America and South America, leaving almost no space for the Ivory Billed Woodpeckers to live in. The area went from about 24 million acres of habitat to 4.4 million scattered acres at second growth forest. The birds need virgin forests with lots of old, dead or dying trees to provide them with food and shelter. When the forests were destroyed, so were the birds.

Location

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SPECIAL FEATURES AND ABILITIES

A group of Woodpeckers has many collective nouns like, “a decent of Woodpeckers”, “a drumming of Woodpeckers” and “a gattling of woodpeckers”.

The English name of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker refers to the colours of its bill which is actually made of bone covered with keratin. The bird’s bill keeps growing throughout its life because it keeps on wearing it down.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker has no jawbone or teeth and no vertebrae in its tail.

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DESCRIPTION

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker is the third largest, and rarest, Woodpecker in the world, and the largest in the United States.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker has a total length of 20 inches, around 50cm and it weighs around 570 grams. The Ivory Billed Woodpecker has a wingspan of 30 inches. The Ivory Billed Woodpecker is a shiny blue-black colour, and it has white markings on its neck and its back, and also on the wings. The male has a large red crest with black on the forward facing part while the female has a black crest. Both have an ivory coloured bill.

Eyes are clear lemon yellow with legs and feet grey.

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HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN ON EARTH?

It is thought that the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was probably never very common, and DNA testing on remains in museums suggests that the Cuban and North American Ivory Billed Woodpecker and the Imperial Woodpecker diverged sometime in the Mid-Pleistocene revolution. This was a period of global cooling and lowered sea levels.

WHAT IT EVOLVED FROM

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No material seems to be available on what the Ivory Billed Woodpecker evolved from but the related birds are the Acorn Woodpecker, Black-backed Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, White-Headed Woodpecker and the Red-bellied Woodpecker.

White Headed

Woodpecker

IS IT FOUND TO BE A PET?

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker is not a pet.

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They are nearly extinct in the world and they need 16-25 kilometres in the area to support one pair.

WHO DISCOVERED IT AND WHERE?

I cannot conclusively find who and where the Ivory Billed Woodpecker was discovered but

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the first noted names are for a naturalist, John James Audubon and his apprentice, Joseph Manson, in 1820 shooting and collecting numerous Ivory Billed Woodpeckers along the Ohio, Arkansas and Mississippi rivers.

John JamesAudubon

WHAT COUNTRIES DID IT COME FROM?

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There has not been any evidence of Ivory Billed Woodpeckers outside of America.

Evidence suggests that ancestors of the Ivory Billed Woodpeckers arrived from South America or Central America since these were the regions where Campephilus Woodpeckers were most abundant. It seems possible they may have come through Mexico and around the Gulf Coast to the south eastern states and then to Cuba or from the Yucatán Peninsula to Cuba then to the south eastern states.

WHAT COUNTRIES HAS IT BEEN INTRODUCED TO?

None to date.

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HAS THERE BEEN IMPACT ON its SURVIVAL?

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There has been a lot of impact on the Ivory Billed Woodpeckers survival, as it is now critically endangered, and could possibly be extinct.

LIFE SPAN IN THE WILD

The life span in the wild for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is not known, but it is estimated to live for about 10-20 years.

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LIFE SPAN IN CAPTIVITY

The life span in captivity is not known, as there are none in captivity.

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EXTRA INFORMATION

In 1938, there was only about 20 individual Ivory Billed Woodpeckers left in the world.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker is also known as the Grail Bird, Good God Bird and the Lord God Bird because of people’s reactions when they see it.

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Our knowledge of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker is limited because there have been few studies done on the species.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The sites that I used to gather information for my assignment on the Ivory Billed Woodpecker are listed below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory-billed_Woodpecker

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/campephilus+principalis

http://www.fws.gov/ivorybill/

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http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Campephilus_principalis.html

http://www.pecfn.ca/newsletters/jan2008.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/04/0428_050428_extinctwoodpecker.html

http://www.nature.org/ivorybill/about/history.html

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2005

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