Uitgestorven vogel blijkt nog te leven

quote:

'Extinct' woodpecker found alive

The spectacular ivory-billed woodpecker, which was declared extinct in 1920, has been found alive in North America, Science magazine reports.
The news has stunned ornithologists worldwide, with some comparing the discovery to finding the dodo.

Researchers began an intense year-long search after a tip-off before finally capturing the bird on video.

The find has ignited hope that other "extinct" birds may be clinging on to survival in isolated places.

'Finding Elvis'

"This find is so significant that it is really difficult to describe," Alistair Gammell of the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds (RSPB) told BBC News. "We sadly won't rediscover the dodo, but it is almost on that level."

Frank Gill of the National Audubon Society added: "This huge, just huge. It is kind of like finding Elvis."

The "stunning" red, white and black woodpecker was formerly distributed across the south-eastern United States and Cuba.

The bird carves out a narrow niche for itself by drilling in mature trees, and logging and forest clearance for agriculture began to impinge on its environment.

By 1920 it was assumed extinct, although there was one more confirmed sighting in North America of a lonely unpaired female, above the remnants of an over-cut forest.

Since then, decades of searches yielded nothing and hope gradually faded away.

Now, finally, the bird has been seen again in the Big Woods of eastern Arkansas.

The discovery was first made on 11 February 2004 by Gene Sparling of Hot Springs, Arkansas, who was kayaking in a reserve in Big Woods. He saw an unusually large red-crested woodpecker fly towards him and land on a nearby tree.

He said the creature did not look quite like anything he had seen before, so he contacted Cornell University's Living Bird magazine.

After a team of experts interviewed him, they felt they might be onto something special.

A second chance

John Fitzpatrick, of Cornell University in the US, headed the search party, which included Tim Gallagher, editor of Living Bird.

Within a month, Dr Gallagher had seen the ivory-billed woodpecker for himself.

Describing the moment he first set eyes on it, he said: "Just to think this bird made it into the 21st Century gives me chills.

"It's like a funeral shroud has been pulled back, giving us a glimpse of a living bird, rising Lazarus-like from the grave."

The team finally went on to capture the bird on video, which allowed them to confirm its identity.

Among the world's largest woodpeckers, the ivory-bill is one of six North American bird species suspected or known to have gone extinct since 1880.

"This provides hope for [other] species classified as potentially extinct," said Stuart Butchart of BirdLife International.

It also offers an extra incentive to protect the habit of the ivory-bill, as well as other birds.

"Amazingly America may have another chance to protect the future of this spectacular bird and the awesome forests in which it lives," Mr Fitzpatrick said.

"It is the most beautiful bird we could imagine rediscovering. It is a magical bird.

"For those of us who tenaciously cling to the idea that man can live alongside fellow species, this is the most incredible ray of hope."