Ahoy Comics new Project: Cryptid series has been digging deep for some obscure monsters, and we’re here for it. In issue #2, Alex Segura and Steve Bryant look at something decidedly less monstrous, that we at least know did exist at some point — the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. AIPT Science asked cryptozoology expert Benjamin Radford what the search means, for the bird itself, and for cryptids in general.
The world of cryptozoology embraces a broad spectrum of monsters and alleged beasties. The line between folklore and science can be thin, with some creatures (like mermaids) likely inspired at least in part by real-but-mistaken sightings of real animals (like dugongs). While these days few people believe in the literal existence of dragons, a great many people hold sincere beliefs in elves, fairies, djinn, and other magical creatures.
And while marquee names like Bigfoot and Nessie catch tabloid headlines, cryptozoology also includes the study of otherwise real and normal (but “out-of-place”) animals (such as mysterious black cats) and those widely believed to be extinct, like the thylacine and the coelacanth, as we discussed a few years ago on my podcast Squaring the Strange.
Which brings us to the curious case of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the current survival of which remains an open question, despite decades of dedicated research. The last widely accepted sighting of Campephilus principalis in North America was in 1944. Unverified reports continued—some 200 since then—from bird enthusiasts, game wardens, and ornithologists, yielding several photographs and videos. While not as frustratingly ambiguous as the plague of plentiful “blobsquatches” claimed to be Bigfoot, this evidence has nevertheless failed to settle the matter.
A little different from the real bird. Courtesy of AHOY Comics.
The woodpecker was the subject of a 2009 documentary film by Scott Crocker titled Ghost Bird. In an interview, Crocker told me that the Ivory-bill:
“has captured the imagination of people the world over for a very long time. There are stamps from the Ukraine and Tanzania with this bird on them. Fast food chains in Australia have included Ivory-billed toys in their endangered species happy meals. This is all a function of just how iconic the bird is.”
Nevertheless, Crocker noted:
“Ivory-bills originally populated the hardwood swamps and river bottoms of the southeast, but Native Americans traded their feathers and bills as far away as Colorado. Their heads were also sold as watch fobs and souvenirs to people traveling the Mississippi by riverboat. But it wasn’t until after the Civil War that the economically depressed South began to aggressively harvest its extensive thousand-year old cypress and tupelo forests [for lumber].”
That was the beginning of the end for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, as this logging fragmented their habitat, though some still tried to profit from the birds’ legend. “While some locals were quick to capitalize on the publicity selling Ivory-bill burgers, haircuts and T-shirts, the influx of birders and their fat wallets never quite materialized,” Crocker said. “The world’s only Ivory-billed Woodpecker gift shop has closed.”
A chance sighting in Arkansas’s Cache River National Wildlife Refuge of a presumed extinct woodpecker led to a 2005 scientific expedition that seemingly confirmed that the birds still live. A blurry video clip showed the bird’s distinctive size and markings. “The bird captured on video is clearly an Ivory-billed Woodpecker,” said John Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. “Amazingly, America may have another chance to protect the future of this spectacular bird and the awesome forests in which it lives.”
Part of the confusion stems from the fact that a second bird of similar size and shape, the Imperial woodpecker, is also presumed extinct. There were no known photographs of it until some old movie footage of one flying off a tree came to light. So there’s legitimate and understandable skepticism about the blurry photos and eyewitness sightings (sound familiar?). The potential discovery spawned international headlines and an article in the prestigious journal Science.
Yet after nearly two decades of searching, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker’s existence remains unproven. Not a single bird has been found. A discovery once touted worldwide as a hopeful environmental miracle turned into a complex and fascinating tale of environmentalism, anecdotal evidence, and scientific debate.
Recent research by Steven C. Latta et al. and published May 18, 2023, in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal Ecology and Evolution revisited the controversy. The team analyzed evidence collected over a decade (2012 to 2022) from eyewitness reports, drone footage, acoustic recordings, trail cameras, and more. Over half a million hours of footage were reviewed. The researchers concluded that:
“Repeated observations by reliable observers, and suggestive audio, support the possible presence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The appearance in trail camera photographs and drone videos of woodpeckers with characteristics consistent with those of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker is also suggestive … We conclude that multiple lines of compelling evidence suggest that Ivory-billed Woodpeckers persist in our Louisiana study site. Cumulatively, our visual observations, audio files, trail camera photographs, and drone videos, suggest the intermittent but repeated presence of multiple individual birds with field marks and behaviors consistent with those of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.”
The study has implications that go beyond the Ivory-billed Woodpecker itself, of course. Similar claims have been made about the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger. It looked something like a large, striped dog with an oversize mouth. The last known thylacine died in a zoo in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart on September 7, 1936; rumor has it his name was Ben.
Still, people occasionally see and report thylacines to this day. Like Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster, there remain a handful of believers who think the Tasmanian tiger still exists, though on the verge of extinction. Some people in Tasmania regard stories of an existing thylacine the way they would reports of Bigfoot or unicorns — tall tales and pipe dreams that draw deluded and gullible searchers. Others are less sanguine, and believe that there must be a creature out there somewhere.
The possible, tantalizing rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was trumpeted by cryptozoologists as proof that animals thought long extinct may still exist. This logic is extended to suggest that mysterious creatures such as Bigfoot may also remain to be found. Yet there’s a huge difference between a population of tens of thousands of giant, unknown, manlike creatures for which no hard evidence exists, and finding a surviving member of a relatively small species long known to exist, such as this woodpecker or the coelacanth.
What the Ivory-bill can teach us — extinct or not
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker investigation is almost as interesting for what it did not find: Bigfoot. The search for the woodpecker involved decades of investigation including many months of intensive field research in the woods of rural Arkansas. One common response to why Bigfoot evidence is so sparse is that few people are out actively looking or listening. Here is a perfect counter-example: knowledgeable researchers with sophisticated equipment in the field for extended periods of time. Arkansas is well-known as Bigfoot territory, and even touts one famous local creature, the Fouke Monster (there are other mysterious monsters said to roam the area as well, including Dogmen).
Yet no reports of unidentified creatures or vocalizations emerged from the team’s voluminous recordings and observations. That they were not specifically looking for Bigfoot is irrelevant; new discoveries often occur when searchers are looking for one quarry but find others. Surely so many trained eyes and ears, with so much equipment, could not have failed to notice hairy, manlike giants living in and roaming through the woods.
In the winter of 2005, Cornell scientists and researchers renewed the search, scouring thousands of acres using GPS equipment, binoculars, digital video cameras, and cell phones. Tree-mounted digital cameras capable of taking photos every 12 seconds include all the gizmos a zoologist could want, including time lapse, motion detection, infrared, and high-definition. High-tech, multidirectional audio units able to record sounds up to 200 meters away should be suitable for capturing both distinctive woodpecker taps and the oft-reported (but never verified) Bigfoot vocalizations.
Surely such a sustained, well-equipped scientific effort in an area famous for Bigfoot sightings should have—but notably didn’t—yield some evidence for whatever elusive creatures may lurk in the Arkansas woods. Of course, though no evidence of Bigfoot was found, that didn’t deter believers. But it did remove the excuse that no sustained, well-equipped search teams have spent long periods of time deep in Bigfoot territory.
Can conservationists and ornithologists take heart that there’s (possibly) good evidence that (at least some) Ivory-bills (probably) are still around? Maybe. But, like any rare animal—including, presumably, Bigfoot—there must be a breeding population to sustain them. As a practical matter, if there’s one of them, or even a dozen, there are none.
Every February, to help celebrate Darwin Day, the Science section of AIPT cranks up the critical thinking for SKEPTICISM MONTH! Skepticism is an approach to evaluating claims that emphasizes evidence and applies the tools of science. All month we’ll be highlighting skepticism in pop culture, and skepticism *OF* pop culture.
AIPT Science is co-presented by AIPT and the New York City Skeptics.
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