Woodpeckers and the Human Impact

One can find many seasonal or vernal pools throughout the College Sanctuary south of College Street and west of South East Street. They typically hold breeding populations of wood frogs, spring peepers, and various salamanders. Woodpecker excavations in trees throughout the Sanctuary woods are evidence of several species at work, including pileated, hairy, and downy woodpeckers. To spot woodpecker damage, look for the closely-packed rows of holes they make searching for insect larvae beneath the surface of the tree bark.

 

Ivory-billed woodpecker

Beneski Connection

The now extinct ivory-billed woodpecker on display in the Extinction: The Human Factor at the Beneski Museum of Natural History is superficially similar in appearance to the local pileated woodpecker. It was the largest North American woodpecker species, and males sported a brilliant red crest. Unlike its local cousins, the ivory-billed woodpecker lived in old-growth swamp forests in the American South and Cuba. Its uniquely-shaped bill helped it excavate half-meter-deep nests in the cavities of dead trees high off the ground. It used its spear-like tongue to extract ants, grubs, and other wood-boring insects. 

Our Impact

Before unconfirmed sightings in Arkansas in 2005, the last confirmed sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker occurred in Cuba in 1948. The decline of the species resulted directly from logging operations during the economic boom after the Civil War, which cleared old-growth forests, removing the large, dead trees that sheltered this bird. 

The ivory-billed woodpecker is just one example of the many species that have gone extinct due to human actions like habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, and overhunting. The average extinction rate prior to these human influences can be estimated from the fossil record. The rate of species extinction during the past century is estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times the average rate. If the current trend persists, up to 75% of species could be lost over the next several hundred years.