Latta Steven C, Michaels Mark A, Michot Thomas C, Shrum Peggy L, Johnson Patricia, Tischendorf Jay, Weeks Michael, Trochet John, Scheifler Don, Ford Bob
Project Principalis, National Aviary, Allegheny Commons West Pittsburgh Pennsylvania USA.
Project Principalis Yorktown Heights New York USA.
Ecol Evol. 2023 May 18;13(5):e10017. doi: 10.1002/ece3.10017. eCollection 2023 May.
The history of the decline of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is long and complex, but the status of the species since 1944, when the last widely accepted sighting in continental North America occurred, is particularly controversial. Reports of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have continued, but none has reached the threshold of quality for general acceptance by ornithologists or the birdwatching public. In 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened for public comment a proposal to declare the species extinct. Here, we present evidence suggesting the presence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker at our study site, based on a variety of data collected over a 10-year search period, 2012-2022. These data are drawn from visual observations, ~70,000 h of recordings by 80-100 acoustic recording units, ~472,550 camera-hours by as many as 34 trail cameras, and ~1089 h of video drawn from ~3265 drone flights. Using multiple lines of evidence, the data suggest intermittent but repeated presence of multiple individual birds with field marks and behaviors consistent with those of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. Data indicate repeated reuse of foraging sites and core habitat. Our findings, and the inferences drawn from them, suggest that not all is lost for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and that it is clearly premature for the species to be declared extinct.
象牙喙啄木鸟数量减少的历史漫长而复杂,但自1944年北美大陆最后一次被广泛认可的目击事件以来,该物种的状况尤其具有争议性。关于象牙喙啄木鸟的报告仍在继续,但没有一份达到鸟类学家或观鸟公众普遍接受的质量标准。2021年,美国鱼类和野生动物管理局就宣布该物种灭绝的提议征求公众意见。在此,我们基于2012年至2022年这10年的搜索期内收集的各种数据,展示了象牙喙啄木鸟在我们研究地点存在的证据。这些数据来自视觉观察、80至100个声学记录单元约70000小时的录音、多达34台追踪相机约472550小时的摄像以及约3265次无人机飞行获取的约1089小时视频。通过多条证据线,数据表明存在多只个体鸟间歇性但反复出现,其野外特征和行为与象牙喙啄木鸟一致。数据显示觅食地点和核心栖息地被反复利用。我们的发现以及从中得出的推论表明,象牙喙啄木鸟并非一切都已失去,宣布该物种灭绝显然为时过早。