This is a piece of sad news for us.
The ivory-billed woodpecker, along with 22 more species has been declared extinct by the U.S. government. Possible reasons behind the avian’s disappearance are too much development, water pollution, logging, competition from invasive species, birds killed for feathers, and animals captured by private collectors.
Cornell University bird biologist John Fitzpatrick believes that the declaration was too early after the time, effort, and millions of dollars spent on preservation efforts and searches for the splendid woodpecker. “A bird this iconic, and this representative of the major old-growth forests of the southeast, keeping it on the list of endangered species keeps attention on it, keeps states thinking about managing habitat on the off chance it still exists,” Fitzpatrick said.
Image credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology via AP; AP Photo/Haven Daley
#Birds #Extinction #IvoryBilledWoodpecker