ivory-billed woodpecker

[ ahy-vuh-ree-bild wood-pek-er, ahy-vree- ]

noun

1. a large, black and white woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, of the southern U.S. and Cuba, with a length of about 20 inches (51 centimeters), an ivory-colored bill that has a uniquely flattened tip, and a prominent crest that is mostly red on the males: dependent on the vast tracts of primeval hardwoods that were deforested with intensity from the mid-19th century, the ivory-billed woodpecker is now classified as possibly extinct.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ivory-billed woodpecker¹

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15

Example Sentences

Cooper writes: “As a Black kid in the 1970s, I was rarer than an ivory-billed woodpecker in the very white world of birding.”

From Los Angeles Times

They continually use their field people and their volunteers to determine, for example, whether the ivory-billed woodpecker is still viable.

From Salon

Eleven have been declared extinct, a label proposed for 23 others, including the ivory-billed woodpecker.

From Washington Times

Birding holy grail: Does this video show that the ivory-billed woodpecker still exists?

From New York Times

His vivid paintings of the ivory-billed woodpecker, American flamingo and hundreds of other species culminated in his seminal “Birds of America,” printed between 1827 and 1838.

From Washington Post