Ivory-billed woodpecker  (Campephilus principalis)

Biology

The ivory-billed woodpecker feeds on wood-boring invertebrates, which colonise trees that have recently died (2). Using its sturdy bill to excavate holes and thus reach the grubs inside, an individual woodpecker is capable of producing a 12 centimetre deep hole in soft wood in less than a minute (3). It is thought that pairs of ivory-billed woodpeckers mate for life, occupying large territories (3). Mating occurs between January and March and the clutch of one to four eggs is laid within a nest hole located in a partially dead tree (3). Both sexes help to incubate the eggs and to care for the developing nestlings; young may remain with their parents until the onset of the following winter (3).

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