ivorybill

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i·vo·ry·bill

(ī′və-rē-bĭl′, īv′rē-)

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ivorybill

(ˈaɪvərɪˌbɪl)

(Animals) a large black-and-white woodpecker, Campephilus principalis, that is native to the southern USA and which was once thought to be extinct

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun

ivorybill - large black-and-white woodpecker of southern United States and Cuba having an ivory bill; nearly extinct

Campephilus principalis, ivory-billed woodpecker

peckerwood, woodpecker, pecker - bird with strong claws and a stiff tail adapted for climbing and a hard chisel-like bill for boring into wood for insects

Campephilus, genus Campephilus - a genus of Picidae

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References in periodicals archive ?

Rosen also touches on a particularly thorny conservation case, that of the ivorybill woodpecker as a symbol of the loss of wilderness, and whether or not it still persists in Southern swamps.

Birds & us

The next evidence of the ivorybill's existence, he predicts, will be produced by "a rural resident who may have little experience or even interest in bird watching." The birding world should prepare to take heed.

Ghost bird

Nice Guys Finish Last IVORYBILL HUNTERS: The Search for Proof in a Flooded Wilderness GEOFFREY E.

Summer reading: recommended books, on topics from growing potatoes to imagining other universes

Ivorybill hunters; the search for proof in a flooded wilderness.

Ivorybill hunters; the search for proof in a flooded wilderness

27, as Sparling paddled ahead, a large black-and-white woodpecker flew across the bayou less than 70 feet in front of Gallagher and Harrison, who simultaneously cried out: "Ivorybill!" Minutes later, after the bird had disappeared into the forest, Gallagher and Harrison sat down to sketch independently what each had seen.

News release: long thought extinct, ivory-billed woodpecker rediscovered in Big Woods of Arkansas

Upset upon learning in 1995 that the ivorybill woodpecker had gone extinct after being reduced to the few remaining primeval swamps of Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina, Wilson laments what we are doing to the landscape.

Going, going ... Exotic species are decimating America's native wildlife

To be in this wetland, says John McPhee, is "to float among trees under silently flying blue herons, to see the pileated woodpecker, to hope to see an ivorybill, to hear the prothonotary warbler." In this area, whose mellifluous name derives from the Choctaw word for "long river," you might also eye an alligator, spot a giant catfish, or catch a glimpse of a web-footed rodent called a nutria.

Where in the WILD are You?

Then came the reply, ricocheting through the forest: the haunting sound of an ivorybill -- a tinny toot, single and double notes intertwined, like a child's toy horn.