#ibwo

[teomodo]

elegy for the ivory billed woodpecker (published before the 2022 project principalis paper, fwiw)

[xylographica]

leave everything always unbroken

11 x 14in woodcut

[chestnut-blight]

The ivory billed woodpecker is extinct, the last confirmed sighting in the US was in 1944, although there was a population in Cuba until the 1980s. They were incredible birds with a wingspan of around 30 inches and weighed about 1.2 lbs (slightly larger than a pileated woodpecker and about the size of a Cooper’s hawk) (aka they were huge!). They lived in swamps in the southern US and made a very distinctive double knock when pounding in trees. 

These birds are also like bigfoot among ornithologists. Even some respectable researchers are convinced that they are out there, and as recently as 2005 there have been unconfirmed sightings, backed by blurry and far away photos. 

It would be very nice to imagine that they are still out there--but I think that that kind of thinking, although optimistic and romantic, is counter-productive. They were an amazing species that deserve mourning and acknowledgement of our responsibility in their extinction. And then we should go forth and honor their legacy by focusing our conservation efforts on the species that are still around--but might not be for much longer.

[cornaby]

I recently decided to make this for redbubble for two main reasons: 1) Ivory Billed Woodpecker discourse is my new favorite thing

2) Idk, practicing digital painting was pretty fun

[the-lord-god-bird]

Blog structure

Hi all!

This is a blog dedicated to the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. I will be posting all information about the existence (or lack thereof) here. The tags will be as follows.

IBWO--the Alpha code (shorthand) used for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

IBWO video--a video about the IBWO

IBWO research--research about the IBWO, either old or recent

IBWO history--confirmed history about the IBWO

IBWO art--art I've found of the IBWO

IBWO questions--answered questions about the IBWO

Feel free to asked Ivory-billed woodpecker related questions!!

[crows-and-cookies]

I just want to talk about the Ivory-billed woodpecker all the time it's literally the most fascinating subject I can think of and every conversation is just one segue away from the ivory-billed woodpecker and it's just *chomps violently and excitedly at the air, frothing at the mouth*

[heronwinged]

so today I read stalking the ghost bird by michael k. steinberg and this is what I got out of it

[crows-and-cookies]

Listen I want to text my crush and tell him that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker has had sitings that actually warranted a shitty Guardian article but I already texted him today about a dead salamander I found and us potentially dissecting it to get a full skeleton for work and don’t want to appear needy so instead I’m just posting about it on this Hellsite