Ivory-billed Woodpecker Similar Species Comparison
Main SpeciesIvory-billed Woodpecker
Male
Very large woodpecker with heavy, straight, pale bill. White lines down black back, with large white panels showing in the folded wings. Males had a red crest.
© Arthur A. Allen / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, April 13, 1935Female
Very large woodpecker with heavy, straight, pale bill. White lines down black back, with large white panels showing in the folded wings. Females had a black crest.
© Arthur A. Allen / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, April 13, 1935Adult male and female
Pairs worked together to excavate nest holes, and typically used a different nest hole each year.
© Arthur A. Allen / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, April 13, 1935Male
Very large woodpecker with heavy, straight, pale bill. White lines down black back, with large white panels showing in the folded wings. Males had a red crest.
© Arthur A. Allen / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, April 13, 1935Male
Occurred in extensive stands of large trees, particularly in and around swamps. Fed on beetle larvae in recently dead trees and excavated large, oval holes for nesting.
© Arthur A. Allen / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, April 13, 1935Adult male
Very large woodpecker with heavy bill; moved quickly and forcefully by hitching along trunks. This video (which has no sound) was recorded from the species' last stronghold, in Lousiana, in the 1930s.
© Arthur A. Allen / Macaulay LibraryLouisiana, April 13, 1935Similar SpeciesPileated Woodpecker
Male
Pileated Woodpeckers have a smaller, dark or silvery bill than Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. They also have a white (not black) throat. A perched pileated lacks the large white back of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.
© David Turgeon / Macaulay LibraryQuebec, February 09, 2017Don't miss a thing! Join our email list
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