In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Wisconsin Wetlands Association is pleased to welcome Jim Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of the Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center in Hastings, Minnesota, as our banquet speaker. Jim will share his amazing experience of being one of only
seven individuals to have made a confirmed sighting of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker since 1944. This bird, long thought to be extinct, is making headlines around the country.
The magnificent Ivory-billed Woodpecker has become a symbol of the bottomland forest wilderness that once extended across the southern United States. The largest woodpecker north of Mexico and the third largest in the world, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker inhabits mature swampy forests, roaming large areas in search of dead and dying trees infested with beetle larvae, its primary food. Ivory-billed Woodpeckers were probably never common, but by the 1930s, nearly all of their habitat had been destroyed. Since then, Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have been on the verge of extinction. To learn more about biology of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Last formally documented in 1944, most current field guides and ornithologists refer to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as extinct. In April of 2005 the announcement was made that there were indeed sightings and a video of the bird in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas. Various reports of the bird through the subsequent years were almost universally shrugged off as Pileated Woodpeckers until a sighting in Louisiana in 1999. This triggered several unsuccessful but intensive searches over the next several years.
A report from central Arkansas in February of 2004 began a renewed search and resulted in the formation of a large coalition of partners into The Big Woods Conservation Partnership. Mr. Fitzpatrick is one of seven people with confirmed sightings described by a team of authors in the April 19, 2005 issue of the Journal of Science. While no recent film or digital pictures of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker yet exist, documentation of the search areas, processes and sighting spots and a grainy video of the bird will highlight the reason for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's recent declaration that the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is alive in the Arkansas delta. Photos courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
About the Speaker
For 25 years, Jim Fitzpatrick has provided leadership as Executive Director of the Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center in Hastings, Minnesota. Jim is a dedicated conservationist and bird enthusiast with a diverse background including extensive volunteer and public service:
Served for 4 years as a Volunteer Woodpecker Researcher for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology where he is an invited field biologist, ornithologist and field researcher.
A licensed bird bander since 1973, he has served as banding coordinator for the Midwest Peregrine Falcon recovery partnership.
Completed Five years of naturalist work with the Minnesota Zoo and Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul, MN.
Elected to 5 three-year terms on the Township Board of supervisors 1991 to 2006.
Governors appointment to the MN-WI Boundary Area Commission by a Democratic, republican and independent governor. 1993 to 2003.
Board Member, Minnesota Environmental Partnership 2003-2005
Holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Minnesota and did graduate studies at the University of St. Thomas and University of Minnesota School of Education.
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