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Southeast Region U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Ivory-billed Woodpecker -- Recovery starts here ...

Cache River NWR scene

Fast Facts --

In the early 1900s, conservationists warned of the impending extinction of the Ivory-billed woodpecker.

From 1937 to 1939, James Tanner, a young doctoral student at Cornell University, researched the Ivory-billed woodpeckers of the Singer Tract.

Prior to the 2004 discovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker at Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, this was the last authenticated sighting of the bird in the United States.


Much of the information comes from “Hope Is The Thing With Feathers: A Personal Chronicle of Vanished Birds” by Christopher Cokinos.

News Releases

Official press releases and advisories from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service --

Partners Press Releases --
See what our partners are saying about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Texas A&M University and the University of California, Berkeley -- Computer scientists join in search for ivory-billed woodpecker (pdf)

Greenwire -- NASA joins search for Ark. ivory-billed woodpecker (pdf file)

NASA -- NASA Laser Casts Its Light Searching for 'Extinct' Woodpecker -- August 2, 2006

National Audubon Magazine

Audubon Arkansas -- June 10, 2005 (pdf) or (Word)

US Army Corps of Engineers -- Memphis District

Big Woods Conservation Partners -- visit their press room

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

The Nature Conservancy -- listing of IBW releases

Duck Unlimited

Cornell University


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