Yes. Finding Ivory Billed Woodpeckers still alive would be tremendous. I hold out hope that pairs are out there somewhere in the depths of its native range.’
Did you see the video that came out ten years ago or so the purported to show one flying between two trees? It was that or a red-headed one. The difficulty was getting a good view of the patterning on the wings as that was about all that could be distinguished about it.
Long ago, a woodpecker with red feathers on its head flew right by me at Fort Stewart, Goergia. While Fort Stewart is located in the Ivory Bill’s native range—and would make a great sanctuary for them, I think—it was almost certainly a red-headed woodpecker. It seemed very large when it flew by. But I cannot say I noticed an ivory bill.
There is also a stretch of forest in Cuba where some subspecies of the Ivory Bill may live. Last I read, no living specimens were heard nor found. But hope springs eternal.
…But let’s say you or I found one or two Ivory Bills, no doubt about it, in the wild somewhere in the southern US. Would you tell anyone? Would it occur to you that maybe telling folks would draw unwanted attention to them and then they really risk becoming extinct? Or would you let them be in whatever hidden corner of their range they are in to live and expand their tiny population until they grew in numbers that could no longer be hidden? I’d be inclined to stay mum after taking a few photos to reassure myself of what I’d seen.
I think I saw that film.
I’d probably leave them be; and if I suspected Bigfoot was in the woods near me, I’d keep that quiet, too.