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Waiting for the woodpecker in Arkansas

A search of Arkansas' eastern swamps has turned up no new confirmed sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
/ Source: The Associated Press

A search of Arkansas' eastern swamps has turned up no new confirmed sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

The birding community is dismayed. The scientific community now faces the bigger question: Was the woodpecker ever rediscovered in the first place?

The ivory-billed treasure is one of six North American bird species thought to have become extinct since 1880.

An optimistic ornithologist from Cornell says the lack of fresh evidence "doesn't mean the bird's not there."

Wildlife managers at the Cache River Wildlife Management Area, where the bird was first believed spotted after a six-decade hiatus in 2004, have decided to reopen the area for public use. They say they can restrict the area again if new evidence of the bird is found.

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Ivory-billed woodpeckers on tree, Audubon painting, photo on black