The spectacular red, white and black ivory-billed woodpecker was long thought to be extinct, but was reported to have been filmed alive in 2004. More than 100 volunteers and experts spent the winter scouring the woods of eastern Arkansas for the bird. But they have failed to find further evidence of the bird's existence. The stunning red, white and black woodpecker was formerly distributed across the south-eastern US and Cuba. The bird carves out a narrow niche for itself by drilling in mature trees.
Logging and forest clearance for agriculture began to impinge on its environment. By the 1920s, it was assumed to be extinct, although, in 1944, there was one more confirmed sighting in North America of a lonely unpaired female, above the remnants of an over-cut forest.