LabradorDuck
Well-known member
That's the first I've heard of IBWO occupying the same habitat as RCWO. I was under the impression that the Ivory-billed was a bird of dense bald-cypress swamps. Wikipedia mentions them as occurring in pine forest as well, but I still don't see them spending much time in the kind of open savannas preferred by the Red-cockaded.
Regardless of whether or not there are still a few IBWO kicking about, it's not hard to see how that species declined so drastically when you consider the extensive clear-cutting of the cypress swamps. Even though there's plenty of swamp remaining, the trees that now form the canopy are tiny compared to the few old-growth trees that survived the onslaught. It really is a completely different world between old-growth and secondary forest. RCWO habitat can be restored with a few well-placed flamethrowers, but IBWO habitat would take centuries to return.
Regardless of whether or not there are still a few IBWO kicking about, it's not hard to see how that species declined so drastically when you consider the extensive clear-cutting of the cypress swamps. Even though there's plenty of swamp remaining, the trees that now form the canopy are tiny compared to the few old-growth trees that survived the onslaught. It really is a completely different world between old-growth and secondary forest. RCWO habitat can be restored with a few well-placed flamethrowers, but IBWO habitat would take centuries to return.