Abstract
During the past several decades, there have been many reports of sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis), but nobody has managed to obtain a clear photo, which is regarded as the standard form of evidence for documenting birds. A study was conducted in the Pearl River swamp in southeastern Louisiana to test the feasibility of searching for this elusive species and surveying its habitat using a DJI Phantom 3 Professional drone with a 4K video camera. Drone images are of much higher quality than images that were previously obtained at much greater expense during flights in a Cessna 172. The approach was found to be effective for searching for and inspecting trees that are potential foraging sites for woodpeckers and that might be suitable for nest and roost cavities. Large woodpeckers in flight are identifiable in video footage obtained from an altitude of 40 m, which was found to be sufficient to reliably avoid collisions with trees in the study area.
Highlights
The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is an exceptionally elusive species that has been thought to be extinct only to be rediscovered several times during the past hundred years [1,2,3]
An analysis based on factors related to habitat and behavior suggests that the expected waiting time for obtaining such evidence for the persistence of the ivory-billed woodpecker is several orders of magnitude greater than it would be for a more typical baseline species of comparable rarity [7]
These factors include the wariness of the ivory-billed woodpecker, the vastness of its habitats, the difficulty of moving along a search path in its habitats and the lack of visibility in a forest
Summary
The ivory-billed woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is an exceptionally elusive species that has been thought to be extinct only to be rediscovered several times during the past hundred years [1,2,3]. An analysis based on factors related to habitat and behavior suggests that the expected waiting time for obtaining such evidence for the persistence of the ivory-billed woodpecker is several orders of magnitude greater than it would be for a more typical baseline species of comparable rarity [7] These factors include the wariness of the ivory-billed woodpecker (which is documented in historical accounts), the vastness of its habitats (typically covering several tens of square kilometers), the difficulty of moving along a search path in its habitats (which contain thick vegetation, waterways and flooded areas) and the lack of visibility in a forest (typically limited to a few tens of meters). By tilting the camera slightly forward from vertical, it may be possible to obtain video footage of a wary bird that flushes as the drone approaches
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