Back From Extinction
This is amazing – I could read about this stuff all day long. The ivory-billed woodpecker has been believed to be extinct since the 1940’s, when the last recorded sighting took place in a Louisiana forest. The birds are huge, with a 30-inch wingspan, and are nearly 20 inches tall. It’s no surprise then, that they need a significant amount of space to thrive, so thanks to logging, hunting, and surprisingly enough forest fire supression, (they need burned out trees in order to find their food – beetle larvae,) their numbers declined steadily. By 1938, roughly 22 remained and no nests were ever found again. It appeared this great, exotic bird was gone for good.
There were a few sightings of similar birds since then, smaller versions with different colorations called pilated woodpeckers. But in 1999, a student claimed to have been out in a remote Louisiana bayou where he saw a pair for a full fifteen minues. Now, the bird’s survival be confirmed as a recently released video shows the giant bird, whitish-yellow beak, red plumage, and all. Fantastic.
They were never extinct, just in hiding as they prepared to release MegaPecker which will destroy everything in it’s path. Scientists already know about it, but the public doesn’t because the Christian Coalition doesn’t like to use the word “pecker”. Inside sources suggest that the Coalition will eventually allow the word to be used after agreeing that if they have to admit there is a giant pecker on the rampage, at least it’s an ivory one as opposed to a big black one.
-C
Yeah… that Ebony Superpecker never quite caught on in our collective conscience, did it? Poor bird.