Ivory-billed woodpecker
Campephilus principalis
L 18″
Habitat: Cooke (1888) and Bent (1939) described the largest of the North American woodpeckers as rare, shy, and found only in the heaviest timber in virgin cypress and bottomland forest of the South. Tanner (1942) described ivory-billed woodpecker habitat as heavily forested and usually flooded alluvial land bordering rivers, made up of oaks, cypress, and green ash. The most recent sightings (between 5 and 10 pairs) have been made in bottomland hardwoods that have been cut over but still have some large, mature trees (Dennis 1967). They are included on the national “Endangered species” list.
Nest: Nest cavities of this species have been recorded in almost every species of tree occurring within the ivory-bill’s habitat (Greenway 1958). The squarish holes (Dennis 1967) are high, 16 to 65 feet, and in the trunks of living or dead trees (Greenway 1958, Forbush and May 1939).
Food: Ivory-billed woodpeckers could be of economic importance except for their small numbers (Greenway 1958). The woodboring larvae making up a third of their diet (Beal 1911) are injurious to trees (Pearson 1936), and are most abundant in areas where recently dead and dying trees are numerous because of flooding, fire, insect attacks, or storms. The birds stay as long as there are abundant larvae (Dennis 1967). They also eat fruit of magnolia and pecan trees (Beal 1911).