Why is this bird so fragile. We live in a developed area and have piliateds out the wazoo. What's the diff?
Supposedly they're shyer and more specialized. Pileateds live even near towns; ivory-billeds, supposedly, live only in undisturbed bottomland forest.
Not that anyone knows that much about them.
I still think it's cool that there are places in America where a very large, conspicuous bird could live esseentially unobserved for 60 years. It reminds you how big and relatively unspoiled this country is.
Good question.
I know the Ivory-Billed needs a 3 sq mile minimum of near perfect habitat. I believe you will find that the pilleated woodpecker needs a much smaller habitat and can adapt more easily.
The Ivory-billed Woodpecker became too specialized. Their strength and size developed so that they could eat specific beatle larva inside the thick bark of freshly dead or dying trees. They need large expanses of forest to provide enough of these trees for them to have food. They needed large amounts of a resource that people needed in large amounts as well. They lost. I'm a birdwatcher, and I'm also excited about the find. I'm not willing to see further loss of property rights over them.
Bill