Ivory-billed woodpecker

The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is a woodpecker that is native to the bottomland hardwood forests and temperate coniferous forests of the Southern United States and Cuba. Habitat destruction and hunting have reduced populations so thoroughly that the species is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on its Red List as critically endangered, and by the American Birding Association as "definitely or probably extinct". The last universally accepted sighting of an American ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Louisiana in 1944, and the last universally accepted sighting of a Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in 1987, after the bird's rediscovery there the prior year. Sporadic reports of sightings and other evidence of the persistence of the species have continued since then.

The bird's preferred diet consists of large beetle larvae, particularly wood-boring Cerambycidae beetles, supplemented by vegetable matter, including such varied fruits as southern magnolia, pecans, acorns, hickory nuts, wild grapes, and persimmons. To hunt wood-boring beetle larvae, the bird uses its large bill to wedge and peel bark off dead trees to expose the larvae tunnels; no other species present in its range can remove tightly bound tree bark, and the ivory-bill faces no real competitor in hunting these larvae.

It is, or was, the largest woodpecker in the United States, and one of the largest in the world, with a total length of 48 to 53 cm and a typical wingspan of 76 cm. In adults, the bill is ivory in color, hence the bird's common name, while it is chalky white in juveniles. The bird has been found in habitat including dense swampland, comparatively open old-growth forests, and, in Cuba, upland pine forests. Both parents work together to dig out a tree cavity roughly 15 – from the ground to create the nest, with a typical depth of approximately 50 cm.

In the 21st century, reported sightings and analyses of audio and visual recordings were published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as evidence that the species persists in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida. Various land purchases and habitat restoration efforts to protect surviving individuals have been initiated in areas where sightings and other evidence suggest a relatively high probability the species exists. In September 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proposed that the species be declared extinct. However, following public comment periods, USFWS announced in a news release that it would continue to analyze and review information before finalizing any decision.

Taxonomy
The ivory-billed woodpecker was first described as Picus maximus rostra albo (Latin for "the largest white-bill woodpecker") in English naturalist Mark Catesby's 1731 publication of Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas. Noting his report, Linnaeus later described it in the landmark 1758 10th edition of his Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name of Picus principalis. The genus Campephilus was introduced by the English zoologist George Robert Gray in 1840 with the ivory-billed woodpecker as the type species.

Ornithologists recognize two subspecies of this bird:


 * American ivory-billed woodpecker (C. p. principalis), native to the southeastern United States
 * Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker (C. p. bairdii), native to Cuba, including Isla de la Juventud





The two look similar, with the Cuban bird somewhat smaller than the American ivory-bill. However, in 1874, ornithologists T. M. Brewer and Robert Ridgway suggested two feather characteristics that could distinguish the birds. They wrote that the Cuban bird had white dorsal strips extending to the bill, whereas the American bird did not. Additionally, the adult Cuban male's red crest feathers were longer than its black crest feathers, but were the same length in the American ivory-bill.

Some controversy exists over whether the Cuban ivory-billed woodpecker is more appropriately recognized as a separate species. A 2006 study compared DNA samples taken from specimens of both ivory-billed woodpeckers and the imperial woodpecker (Campephilus imperialis) of Mexico, a larger but otherwise very similar bird. The DNA analysis revealed that the three types of woodpeckers are genetically distinct. It also indicated that the American, Cuban, and imperial form a North American clade within Campephilus, diverging into different species in the Mid-Pleistocene. The study does not attempt to define a lineage linking the three birds, although it does imply that the Cuban bird is more closely related to the imperial. The American Ornithologists' Union Committee on Classification and Nomenclature has said it is not yet ready to list the American and Cuban birds as separate species. Lovette, a member of the committee, said that more testing is needed to support that change, but concluded, "These results will likely initiate an interesting debate on how we should classify these birds."

"Ivory-billed woodpecker" is the official name given to the species by the International Ornithologists' Union. Older common names included Log Cock, Log God, Lord God Bird, Indian Hen, Kent, Kate, Poule de Bois (Wood Hen in Cajun French), and Tit-ka (Wood Cock in Seminole). In his 1942 novella, "The Bear", William Faulkner mentioned the "big woodpecker, called Lord-to-God by negroes", associating the large ivory-bill with the primeval southern environment of the old-growth forests or "Big Woods" in the Mississippi Delta. Some modern authors refer to the species as the "Holy Grail bird" or "Grail Bird" because of its extreme rarity and elusiveness to birders.

Description


The ivory-billed woodpecker is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world at roughly 51 cm long and 76 cm in wingspan. It is the largest woodpecker in its range. The closely related imperial woodpecker (C. imperialis) of western Mexico is the largest woodpecker in the world. The ivory-billed woodpecker has a total length of 48 to 53 cm and, based on scant information, weighs approximately 450 to 570 g. Its wingspan is typically 76 cm. Standard measurements obtained include a wing chord length of 23.5 –, a tail length of 14 –, a bill length of 5.8 –, and a tarsus length of 4 –. The plumage of the ivory-billed woodpecker is predominated by a shiny black or purple tint. There are white lines extending from the cheeks down the neck, meeting on the back. The ends of the inner primary feathers are white, as well as the whole of the outer secondary feathers. This creates extensive white on the trailing edge of both the upper- and underwing. The underwing also is white along its forward edge, resulting in a black line running along the middle of the underwing, expanding to more extensive black at the wingtip. Some birds have been recorded with more extensive amounts of white on the primary feathers. Ivory-bills have a prominent crest, although it is ragged in juveniles. The bird is somewhat sexually dimorphic; the crest is black along its forward edge, changing abruptly to red on the side and rear in males but solid black in females, as well as in juvenile males. When perched with the wings folded, birds of both genders present a large patch of white on the lower back, roughly triangular in shape. Like all woodpeckers, the ivory-billed woodpecker has a strong, straight bill and a long, mobile, hard-tipped, barbed tongue. The bill is ivory in color in adults, while it is chalky white in juveniles. Among North American woodpeckers, the ivory-billed woodpecker is unique in having a bill whose tip is quite flattened laterally, shaped much like a beveled wood chisel. Its flight is strong and direct, and has been likened to that of a duck.

These characteristics distinguish ivory-bills from the smaller and darker-billed pileated woodpecker. The pileated woodpecker normally is brownish-black, smoky, or slaty black. It also has a white neck stripe, but normally its back is black. Pileated woodpecker juveniles and adults have a red crest and a white chin. Usually, pileated woodpeckers have no white on the trailing edges of their wings and show only a small patch of white on each side of the body near the wing's edge when perched. However, aberrant individual pileated woodpeckers have been reported with white trailing edges on the wings, forming a white triangular patch on the lower back when perched.

The drum of the ivory-billed woodpecker is a single or double rap. Four fairly distinct calls are reported in the literature and two were recorded in the 1930s. The most common, a kent or hant, sounds like a toy trumpet often repeated in a series. When the bird is disturbed, the pitch of the kent note rises, and the note is repeated more frequently and is often doubled. A conversational call, also recorded, is given between individuals at the nest, and has been described as kent-kent-kent.

Habitat and diet
No attempts were made to comprehensively estimate the range of the ivory-billed woodpecker until after its range had already been severely reduced by deforestation and hunting. The first range map produced for the species was made by Edwin M. Hasbrouck in 1891. The second range map was made by James Tanner in 1942. Both authors reconstructed the original range of the species from historical records they considered reliable, in many cases from specimens with clear records of where they were obtained. The two authors produced broadly similar range estimates. They found that before deforestation and hunting began to shrink its range, the ivory-billed woodpecker had ranged from eastern Texas to North Carolina and from southern Illinois to Florida and Cuba, typically from the coast inland to where the elevation is approximately 30 m.

However, a few significant differences exist between Hasbrouck's and Tanner's reconstructions. Based on the reports of Wells Woodbridge Cooke from Kansas City and Fayette, Hasbrouck's range map extended up the Missouri River and approximately to Kansas City, which Tanner rejected as a possible accidental or unproven report. Also, Hasbrouck's range estimate extended up the Ohio River Valley to Franklin County, Indiana, based on a record from E. T. Cox, which Tanner likewise rejected as unproven or accidental. Tanner's range estimate extended farther up the Arkansas and Canadian River s, based on bird sightings reported by S. W. Woodhouse west of Fort Smith, Arkansas, and by Edwin James at the falls of the Canadian River. Hasbrouck did not mention these Woodhouse and James reports of the ivory-bill; they were possibly unknown to him.

Tanner's range map is generally accepted as the original range of the bird, but a number of records exist outside of both ranges that were either overlooked or rejected by Tanner or that surfaced after his analysis. Southwest of Tanner's range estimate, the species was reported in Texas along the San Marcos and Guadalupe River s, near New Braunfels, and all south-central Texas, around 1900 for at least one of these Texas reports. Farther along the Ohio River Valley, William Fleming reported shooting an ivory-billed woodpecker at Logan's Fort, Kentucky, in 1780. Ivory-billed woodpecker remains were found in middens in Scioto County, Ohio, and were inferred to come from a bird locally hunted. Similar inferences were drawn from remains found near Wheeling, West Virginia. There is also a report of a bird shot and eaten in Doddridge County, West Virginia, around 1900. Based on reports that did not include specimens, Hasbrouck set the northern limit of the range along the Atlantic Coast to around Fort Macon, North Carolina. However, this range was rejected as unproven by Tanner, who, instead, used the record by Alexander Wilson of a bird shot 12 mi north of Wilmington, North Carolina, to set the northern limit of the range.

Records exist of the ivory-billed woodpecker farther north along the Atlantic Coast; Thomas Jefferson included it as a bird of Virginia in Notes on the State of Virginia, listing it as the "White bill woodpecker" with the designation of Picus principalis. Audubon reported the bird could occasionally be found as far north as Maryland. In the mid-18th century, Pehr Kalm reported that it was present seasonally in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Farther inland, Wilson reported shooting an ivory-bill west of Winchester, Virginia. Bones recovered from the Etowah Mounds in Georgia are believed to come from ivory-bills hunted locally. The ivory-billed woodpecker is not evenly distributed within its range but highly concentrated in local areas with suitable habitat and large quantities of appropriate food.

Knowledge of the ecology and behavior of ivory-billed woodpeckers is mainly derived from James Tanner's study of several birds in a tract of forest along the Tensas River in the late 1930s. The extent to which Tanner's data can be extrapolated to the species overall remains an open question. Ivory-billed woodpeckers have been found in various habitat, such as dense swamplands, relatively open old-growth forest, and the Cuban upland pine forests. However, it remains unclear whether this represents a complete list of suitable habitat.

In the Tensas River region, Tanner estimated one pair of birds per 44 km2. From historical data, he also estimated one pair of birds per 25 km2 in the California Swamp in northern Florida and one pair per 16 km2 along the Wacissa River. Tanner concluded that these birds need large amounts of suitable territory to find enough food to feed themselves and their young. Therefore, they should be expected to occur at low densities, even in healthy populations. After the Civil War, the timber industry deforested millions of acres in the South, leaving only sparse, isolated tracts of appropriate habitat. It became generally accepted that deforestation, coupled with the ivory-bill's requirement for a large range, was the cause of the species' population decline in the South. This picture has been disputed by Noel Snyder, who contended that hunting rather than habitat loss was the primary cause of the population decline. He argued that Tanner's population estimates were based on an already depleted population, and the bird's home range needs were significantly smaller.

The ivory-billed woodpecker prefers to eat beetle larvae, with roughly half of its recorded stomach contents consisting of large beetle larvae, particularly those from the family Cerambycidae; Scolytidae beetles have also been recorded. The bird also eats significant vegetable matter, with recorded stomach contents including pecans, acorns, hickory nuts, poison ivy seeds, and the fruit of the southern magnolia tree. They also have been observed feeding on wild grapes, persimmons, and hackberries. To hunt woodboring grubs, the bird uses its enormous bill to hammer, wedge, and peel the bark off dead trees to access their tunnels. The ivory-billed woodpecker has no real competitors in hunting these grubs, as no other bird species present in its range can remove tightly bound bark in the same manner.

Ivory-billed woodpeckers are diurnal birds, spending their nights in individual roost holes that often are reused. The birds typically leave their roost holes around dawn, feeding and engaging in other activities during the early morning. They are generally inactive during the mid-day and resume feeding activities in the late afternoon before returning to the roosts around dusk.

Breeding biology and life cycle
The ivory-billed woodpecker is thought to mate for life. Pairs are known to travel together. These paired birds breed every year between January and May. Both parents work together to excavate a cavity in a tree approximately 15 – from the ground for the nest in which their young will be raised. Limited data indicates a preference for living or partially dead trees, with rotten ones avoided. Nest cavities are typically in or just below broken-off stumps in living trees, where the wood is easier to excavate. The overhanging stump protects against rain and leaves the opening in shadow, providing some protection against predators. No clear records indicate that ivory-bills reuse their nest cavities in subsequent years; like most woodpeckers, they likely excavate a new nest each year. Nest openings are typically oval to rectangular, and measure approximately 12–14 cm tall by 10 cm wide. The typical nest depth is roughly 50 cm, with nests as shallow as 36 cm and as deep as 150 cm.

Typically, ivory-billed woodpeckers lay eggs in April or May, with a few accounts of eggs laid as early as mid-February. A second clutch has only been observed when the first one failed. Up to three glossy, china-white eggs are laid, measuring on average 3.5 x, though there have been cases of clutches containing up to six eggs and broods with up to four young. Tanner estimated the incubation period to be roughly 20 days, which parallels that of the Magellanic Woodpecker, however, this period has not been quantified for the Ivory-bill. Parents cooperate in incubating the eggs, with the male observed incubating overnight. During the day, the male and female typically alternate every two hours, with one foraging and the other incubating. Once the young hatch, both parents forage to bring food to them. Young learn to fly about 7 to 8 weeks after hatching. The parents continue feeding them for another two months. The family eventually splits up in late fall or early winter.

Ivory-billed woodpeckers are not migratory; historically, pairs were frequently observed nesting within a few hundred meters of previous nests, year after year. Although ivory-billed woodpeckers feed within a semiregular territory extending a few kilometers of their nest or roost, they are not territorial. There are no known records of ivory-bills protecting their territories from other ivory-bills when they encounter each other. The ivory-billed woodpecker has been observed exhibiting social behavior, with groups of four or five birds feeding together on a single tree, and as many as eleven observed feeding in the same location. Similarly, ivory-billed woodpeckers have been observed feeding on the same tree as the pileated woodpecker, the only other large woodpecker with whom they share a range, without hostile interactions. Although not migratory, the ivory-billed woodpecker is sometimes described as nomadic. Birds relocate occasionally to areas where disasters like fires or floods have resulted in large amounts of dead wood, subsequently supporting large populations of beetle larvae, a preferred food source.

The maximum lifespan of an ivory-billed woodpecker is not known. However, since other Campephilus woodpeckers typically do not live longer than 15 years, this value is sometimes used as an estimate for the ivory-bill. No species, aside from humans, are known predators of this woodpecker, yet, they have been observed to exhibit predator response behaviors toward Cooper's hawks and red-shouldered hawks. It is also possible that nest predators of nestlings and eggs (squirrels, raccoons, and rat snakes) or fledged ivory-bills (owls and hawks) contributed to the species' decline.

Status
The ivory-billed woodpecker population was devastated in the late 19th century due to heavy logging activity, compounded by bird collectors hunting them. In 1907, one notable sighting occurred when President Theodore Roosevelt wrote of seeing three birds during a bear hunting trip in northeast Louisiana swampland. The species was considered extremely rare, and some ornithologists believed it was extinct by the 1920s. In 1924, Arthur Augustus Allen found a nesting pair in Florida, which local taxidermists shot for specimens. In 1932, a Louisiana state representative, Mason Spencer of Tallulah, killed an ivory-billed woodpecker along the Tensas River and took the specimen to his state wildlife office in Baton Rouge. Consequently, Arthur Allen, along with fellow Cornell Ornithology professor Peter Paul Kellogg, Ph.D. student James Tanner, and avian artist George Miksch Sutton, organized an expedition to that part of Louisiana as part of a broader effort to record images and sounds of endangered birds across the United States. The team located a population of woodpeckers in Madison Parish in northeastern Louisiana, in a section of the old-growth forest called the Singer tract, owned by the Singer Sewing Company, where logging rights were held by the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company. The team made the only universally accepted audio and motion picture recordings of the ivory-billed woodpecker. The National Audubon Society attempted to buy the logging rights to the tract so the habitat and birds could be preserved, but the company rejected their offer. Tanner spent 1937–1939 studying the ivory-billed woodpeckers on the Singer tract and travelling across the southern United States searching for other populations as part of his thesis work. At that time, he estimated there were 22–24 birds remaining, of which 6–8 were on the Singer tract. The last universally accepted sighting of an ivory-billed woodpecker in the United States was made on the Singer tract by Audubon Society artist Don Eckelberry in April 1944, when logging of the tract was nearly complete.

The ivory-billed woodpecker was listed as an endangered species on March 11, 1967, by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It has been assessed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and is categorized as probably extinct or extinct by the American Birding Association. A 2019 five-year review by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that the ivory-billed woodpecker be removed from the Endangered Species List due to extinction. Then, in September 2021, the USFWS proposed that the species be declared extinct. A public hearing and two public comment periods followed. In October 2023, the Service said in a news release that it would continue to analyze and review information before making any final decision.

Evidence of persistence in the United States since 1944
Since 1944, regular reports have been made of ivory-billed woodpeckers being seen or heard across the southeastern United States, particularly in Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and South Carolina. In many instances, sightings were misidentified pileated woodpeckers or red-headed woodpeckers. Similarly, in many cases, reports of hearing the kent call of the ivory-billed woodpecker were misidentifications of a similar call sometimes made by blue jays. It also possible to mistake wing collisions in flying duck flocks for the characteristic double knock. However, many reports were accompanied by physical evidence or made by experienced ornithologists and could not be easily dismissed.

In 1950, the Audubon Society established a wildlife sanctuary along the Chipola River after a group led by University of Florida graduate student Whitney Eastman reported a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers with a roost hole. The sanctuary was terminated in 1952 when the woodpeckers could no longer be located.

In 1967, ornithologist John Dennis, who had rediscovered the Cuban species in 1948, reported sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers along the Neches River in Texas during an exploration sponsored by the USFWS. Dennis produced audio recording of possible kent calls that matched well with the calls of the ivory-billed woodpecker, although they also resembled calls made by blue jays. At least 20 people reported sightings of one or more ivory-billed woodpeckers in the same area in the late 1960s, and several photographs, ostensibly showing an ivory-billed woodpecker in a roost, were produced by Neil Wright. Copies of two of his photographs were given to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. These sightings formed part of the basis for the creation of the Big Thicket National Preserve.

H. N. Agey and G. M. Heinzmann reported observing one or two ivory-billed woodpeckers in Highlands County, Florida, on 11 occasions between 1967 to 1969. During a storm, a tree where the birds had been observed roosting was damaged. This allowed Agey and Heinzmann to collect a feather from the roost, which A. Wetmore subsequently identified as an inner secondary feather of an ivory-billed woodpecker. The feather is stored at the Florida Museum of Natural History and is described as "fresh, not worn". However, since it could not be conclusively dated, it has not been universally accepted proof that ivory-billed woodpeckers persisted to the date the feather was collected.

At the 1971 annual meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, Louisiana State University museum director George Lowery presented two photographs showing what appeared to be a male ivory-billed woodpecker. The photographs were taken by outdoorsman Fielding Lewis in the Atchafalaya Basin of Louisiana, with an Instamatic camera. Although the photographs had the correct field markings for an ivory-billed woodpecker, their quality was not sufficient for other ornithologists to be confident that they did not depict a mounted specimen, and they were greeted with general skepticism.

In 1999, a forestry student from Louisiana State University reported an extended viewing of a pair of birds at close range in the Pearl River region of southeast Louisiana. Some experts in the field found this sighting very compelling. In 2002, an expedition of researchers from Louisiana State University and Cornell University was sent into the area. Six researchers spent 30 days searching the area, finding indications of large woodpeckers but none that could clearly be ascribed to ivory-billed woodpeckers rather than pileated woodpeckers.

Gene Sparling reported seeing an ivory-billed woodpecker in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in 2004, prompting Tim Gallagher and Bobby Harrison to investigate. They also observed a bird they identified as an ivory-billed woodpecker. An expedition led by John W. Fitzpatrick of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology followed and reported seven convincing sightings of an ivory-billed woodpecker. The team also heard and recorded possible double-knock and kent calls. They produced a video with four seconds of footage showing a large woodpecker. They identified it as an ivory-billed woodpecker based on its size, field marks, and flight pattern. The Bird Records Committee of the Arkansas Audubon Society accepted the sighting. A team headed by David A. Sibley published a response arguing the bird in the video has a morphology that could be consistent with that of a pileated woodpecker, and a second team argued that flight characteristics may not be diagnostic. The original team published a rebuttal. Still, the identity of the bird in the video remains disputed. Searches continued in the region during 2005-2006 with some reported sightings, but it produced no unambiguous evidence. The Louisiana State University-Cornell University collaboration team subsequently conducted searches in Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. They found no clear indications of ivory-billed woodpeckers in any of those searches, at which point they concluded their efforts.

Scientists from Auburn University and the University of Windsor published a paper describing a search for ivory-billed woodpeckers along the Choctawhatchee River from 2005 to 2006, during which they recorded 14 sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers, 41 occasions on which double-knocks or kent calls were heard, and 244 occasions on which double-knocks or kent calls were recorded. They analysed those recordings and conducted examinations of tree cavities and bark stripping by woodpeckers seen during the search and determined them to be consistent with the behavior of ivory-billed woodpeckers and inconsistent with that of pileated woodpeckers. In 2008, the sightings and sound detections largely dried up, and the team ended their search in 2009. The Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee did not accept these sightings.

Mike Collins reported ten sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers between 2006 and 2008. He obtained video evidence at the Pearl River in Louisiana in 2006 and 2008 and at the Choctawhatchee River in Florida in 2007. His analyses of these sightings and videos were published in peer-reviewed journal articles. The 2019 five-year species review by the USFWS concluded that the blurred images are inconclusive on whether they are ivory-billed woodpeckers. Collins argues that the lack of clear photographs after 1944 is a function of species behavior and habitat. He also states that the expected time interval between clear photographs of the bird will be significantly longer than for a more typical species of comparable rarity.

During the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service comment period, Bobby Harrison presented an October 2020 video of a bird in flight that he had identified in the field as an ivory-billed woodpecker.

From 2012 to 2022, Project Principalis, led by founder Mark Michaels and Dr. Steven Latta of the National Aviary, conducted surveys in Louisiana. The team included researchers, community scientists, and nature enthusiasts. In May 2023, they presented their findings in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Ecology and Evolution. Their evidence includes drone videos, trail camera images, audio recordings, and team member encounters. The authors state, "Our findings, and the inferences drawn from them, suggest that all is not lost for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and that it is clearly premature for the species to be declared extinct."

Relationship with humans
The body parts of ivory-billed woodpeckers, particularly their bills, were used for trade, ceremonies, and decoration by Native American groups from the western Great Lakes and Great Plains regions. For instance, bills marked with red pigment were found among grave goods in burials at Ton won Tonga, a village of the Omaha people. The bills may have been part of "Wawaⁿ Pipes". Ivory-billed woodpecker bills and scalps were commonly incorporated into ceremonial pipes by the Iowa people, another Siouan-speaking people. The Sauk people and Meskwaki used ivory-billed body parts in amulets, headbands, and sacred bundles. In many cases, Native Americans and others likely acquired bills through trade. For instance, Ton won Tonga was roughly 300 mi from the farthest reported range of the ivory-billed woodpecker, yet bills were found in the graves of these people's wealthy adult men. Another bill was found in a grave in Johnstown, Colorado. The bills were quite valuable; Catesby reported a north–south trade where bills were exchanged outside the bird's range for two or three deerskins. European settlers in the United States also used ivory-billed woodpecker remains for decoration, often attaching dried heads to their shot pouches or using them as watch fobs.

The presence of remains in kitchen middens infers that some Native American groups hunted and ate the ivory-billed woodpecker. Such remains were found in Illinois, Ohio, West Virginia, and Georgia. Hunting ivory-bills for food continued into the early 20th century in the Southeastern United States, with reports of the practice persisting until at least the 1950s. In some instances, trappers and fishermen used the flesh of ivory-billed woodpeckers as bait. In the 19th and early 20th century, hunting for bird collections was extensive, with 413 specimens housed in museum and university collections. The 60+ skins at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology is the largest collection.



The ivory-billed woodpecker has been a particular focus among birdwatchers. It has been called Audubon's favorite bird. Roger Tory Peterson called his unsuccessful search for the birds along the Congaree River in the 1930s his "most exciting bird experience". After the publication of the Fitzpatrick results, tourist attention was drawn to eastern Arkansas, with tourist spending increasing 30% in and around Brinkley, Arkansas. Brinkley hosted "The Call of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Celebration" in February 2006. The celebration included exhibits, birding tours, educational presentations, and a vendor market. By the 21st century, the ivory-billed woodpecker had achieved a near-mythic status among birdwatchers, many who would regarded it as a prestigious entry on their life lists.

The rare and elusive status of the species has inspired rewards for proof that the ivory-billed woodpecker is not extinct. In 2012, a possible sighting of the "critically endangered bird" in East Texas turned out to be that of a pileated woodpecker. Soon afterward, Cornell University offered a reward of $50,000 for proof that the bird was still around. More recently, in 2020, the Louisiana Wilds project also offered a reward; $12,000 for the location of an active roost or nest.

The ivory-billed woodpecker has been the subject of artistic works. Joseph Bartholomew Kidd produced a painting based on Audubon's plates intended for a travelling exhibition throughout the United Kingdom and United States. The exhibition never took place and the painting is displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Based on interviews with residents of Brinkley, Arkansas, Sufjan Stevens wrote a song entitled "The Lord God Bird" about the ivory-billed woodpecker that was broadcast on National Public Radio following the public reports of sightings there. The 2012 Alex Karpovsky film Red Flag features Karpovsky as a filmmaker on tour with his 2008 documentary film Woodpecker about the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Arkansas has issued license plates featuring a graphic of an ivory-billed woodpecker.