Guys from Cornell University and The Nature Conservency announced this morning that they had found Ivory Billed Woodpeckers living in old-growth bottomland forest in a part of Arkansas known as The Big Woods. This bird has not been seen in 60 years, and was considered extinct. One of my other loves is ornithology, and this is BIG! To quote one of the researchers: "It's like finding Elvis." These magnificent birds were thought to have been wiped out when most of the old-growth of the deep south was logged out at the turn of the last century.These are big honkin' (crow size) woodpeckers with bold black and white wings and a red crest. I hope I get to see one some day.
This news helps to remind us all just how vital trees and forests are. Not just to woodworkers, but to countless living creatures.