Species BirdsIvory-billed Woodpecker

Ivory-billed Woodpecker

Campephilus principalis

Very rareBird
Illustration of Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker was the largest woodpecker in North America and possibly the largest in the world, and may now be extinct — it was last confirmed in the United States in 1944 before possible sightings in Arkansas in 2004 triggered a massive, inconclusive search. The male had a striking ivory bill and brilliant red crest; both sexes had a large white wing patch visible at rest. Its loss would be a tragic consequence of logging the bottomland forests of the American South.

Habitat
Old-growth bottomland hardwood forests
Diet
Wood-boring beetle larvae from recently dead trees
How common
Very rare

Recent Ivory-billed Woodpecker sightings near you

Live, research-grade observations from iNaturalist. Allow location to center the map on you.

Spot a Ivory-billed Woodpecker? Identify it instantly.

Point Huck at any plant or animal and get an instant ID, rarity, and field notes — building your personal nature collection as you go.

Get Huck — free

More birds

Acorn Woodpecker
Acorn Woodpecker
Melanerpes formicivorus
American Avocet
American Avocet
Recurvirostra americana
American Bittern
American Bittern
Botaurus lentiginosus
American Black Duck
American Black Duck
Anas rubripes
American Coot
American Coot
Fulica americana
American Crow
American Crow
Corvus brachyrhynchos
American Flamingo
American Flamingo
Phoenicopterus ruber
American Golden-Plover
American Golden-Plover
Pluvialis dominica