Last year, to great fanfare, scientists unveiled a video showing that the ivory-billed woodpecker, believed extinct for 60 years, was alive and well in the woods of eastern Arkansas. Last week, the story lost its lustre. The ivory-bill may not be with us after all. After examining the blurry, 4.5-second video, other researchers announced they believe it shows the far more common pileated woodpecker (Science, vol 311, p 1555).
The search for the ivory-billed woodpecker has captured the imagination of America and made the bird a symbol of hope and resurrection. Millions of conservation dollars have poured into Arkansas to fund a more intensive search and to protect the swampy forests that might be its last refuge.
That is to be welcomed, and we hope the bird turns up alive, but let鈥檚 not forget other 鈥渆xtinct鈥� species. The imperial woodpecker of Mexico and the Hawaiian thrush are just two. Unconfirmed sightings of these birds surface now and then, and they deserve the same chance to be saved.
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Yet proclaiming the rediscovery of any long-lost critter has an inherent danger: it may divert those who hold the conservation purse strings. This week delegates are meeting at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Curitiba, Brazil, to discuss how to prevent biodiversity loss. It would be sad indeed if their attention turned away from the rarest birds or animals because too many people have cried wolf, or woodpecker, too often.
