Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Ivory-billed Woodpecker


We have received our fair share of phone calls detailing Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings ever since news reports of the Arkansas sightings. An article in last month's National Geographic (photo by Joel Sartore) describes this phenomenon and both sides of the debate regarding the existence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The article also describes other areas in the Southeast that are being searched, including the Congaree National Park and the Santee River below Lake Marion. Although Four Holes Swamp as a whole likely lacks sufficient dead and dying trees to provide adequate prey items for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the virgin, old-growth portion of the swamp protected by The Francis Beidler Forest is ideal (though undersized) habitat.

Wouldn't it be appropriate for a pair of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers to set up home at the Audubon sanctuary in FBF?

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