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Researched by :
Anthony Fisher

Class :
7H

Teacher :
Mr. Fitzgerald

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 CONTENTS
Pg. 1 – Ivory Billed Woodpecker Title Page
Pg. 2 – Contents Page
Pg. 3 – Classification
Pg. 4 – Scientific Name and What It Means
Pg. 5 – Reproduction and How It Gives Birth
Pg. 6 – Reproduction and How It Gives Birth
Pg. 7 – Gestation Period
Pg. 8 – Life Patterns
Pg. 9 – Food Eaten
Pg. 10 – Hunting Patterns
Pg. 11 – Predator
Pg.12 – Reason for Most Deaths
Pg. 13 – Does It Get Eaten
Pg. 14 – Is It Endangered
Pg. 15 – Preferred Living Environment and
Information on Its Natural Habitat
Pg. 16 – Location
Pg. 17 – Special Features and Abilities
Pg. 18 – Description
Pg. 19 – How Long Has It Been On Earth
Pg. 20 – What It Evolved From
Pg. 21 – Is It Found To Be a Pet
Pg. 22 – Who Discovered It and Where
Pg. 23 – What Countries Did It Come From
Pg. 24 – What Countries Has It Been Introduced
To
Pg. 25 – Has There Been Impact on Its Survival
Pg. 26 – Life Span In the Wild
Pg. 27 – Life Span In Captivity
Pg. 28 – Extra Information
Pg. 29 – Bibliography

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 CLASSIFICATION

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Cordata

Class: Aves

Order: Piciformes

Family: Picidae
Picina 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.

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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17
 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 James
Audubon

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/camp
ephilus+principalis

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

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http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/acco
unts/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/discoveri
es/2005

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