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Status of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis in Cuba: almost certainly extinct

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

Martjan Lammertink  and
Alberto R. Estrada
Martjan Lammertink
Affiliation:
Instituut voor Systematiek en Populatiebiologie, Universiteit van Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94766, 1090 GT Amsterdam, Netherlands
Alberto R. Estrada
Affiliation:
Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales, Apartado 5252, La Habana 5, 10500 Cuba
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The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis has suffered from destruction of its habitat over the whole of its range, being last recorded in eastern Cuba (Ojito de Agua) in 1987. The only chance for the species was that the last-known birds had moved to adjacent areas, or that other populations existed in other mountainranges. Between February and May 1993 an extensive search for the species and for suitable habitat was carried out in mountain areas of eastern Cuba. In the surroundings of Ojito de Agua no suitable large old-growth forests remain, and evidence for the absence of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers from the area is discussed. In the region surveyed, only around Pico la Bayamesa in the Sierra Maestra does an almost untouched forest still stand, but this is probably outside the species's original range. Ojito de Agua and Pico la Bayamesa should nevertheless be fully protected. The last known population of Ivory-billed Woodpecker appears to have become extinct in 1989 or 1990. Scaling of bark from dead pines, formerly considered a sure sign of the species's presence, may be caused by weather damage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 1995 , pp. 53 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Birdlife International 1995

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