A resolvable controversy in avian conservation

Abstract

Twenty years of squandering an opportunity to save an iconic species from extinction are summarized. In 2005, an article that was featured on the cover of Science announced the rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) in Arkansas. Despite a subsequent report of sightings in Florida by another group of ornithologists, the persistence of this elusive species became controversial when nobody managed to obtain a clear photo. Video footage that was obtained in Louisiana and Florida between 2006 and 2008 should have resolved the issue, but there was a breakdown in rational discourse after critics became entrenched in the position that the species is extinct. After openly and aggressively attacking relatively weak evidence that was presented in the original article, critics used specious arguments behind the scenes to delay the publication of the strongest evidence for a decade. The bulk of this material was finally published in Heliyon in 2017, but the critics have never addressed it. In 2021, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced a decision to declare the Ivory-billed Woodpecker extinct without addressing the strongest evidence for persistence.