Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

The Ivory-Billed woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world.

She is second only to one woodpecker that was found in Mexico, but the woodpecker in Mexico is considered to be extinct. The ivory bill is around twenty inches in length, but is often mistaken or the smaller pileated woodpecker. The main way to tell them apart is the white on the wing feathers.The ivory has the white on the trailing wing feathers and when folded makes what appears to be a saddle on its back. The males will have a scarlet chest, while the females are going to have a black crest. The pileated on the other hand both have a scarlet crest. The ivory will have a thick bone that it uses for its bill. This will continue up into the skull and will continue to grow the birds entire life.

The ivory-billed woodpecker used to have a large range that would take it from the swamps of the Southeast all the way to Western Texas. Some reports were found in Kentucky. James Audubon himself even reported seeing the Ivory-billed near the place that the Ohio and Mississippi rivers joined together.

The Ivory bills would hvae a wide variety of communications with vocal, kent, kent, kent and a BAM-bam, double rap of their bills on the wood. The would be their communicating. However, the would be seen flying like an arrow in the trees. They would not have the slower flight of a pileated when in air. They would have very stiff wing feathers which will allow you to hear them as well.

The Ivory billed is mainly seen mating for life. The females will typically lay three white eggs per clutch. The duty of incubating will be shared between the parents. The young will typically leave the parents territory when the season is over. The ivory billed is estimated to cover six square miles of forest that has not been cut. They will make their nesting holes about forty feet above the ground with oval openings into the tree itself.

The main source of food for the Ivory-billed is beetles. The beetle mainly bore into the bark of trees to get the sap underneath. However, with the long beaks the ivory billed can pry this apart and expose the larvae. This will then leave the tree space open for other birds to get the insects themselves. They have few natural predators to be found.