Elusive woodpecker draws birders to Arkansas

Many of the birders hike or canoe through the bayous and swamps, scanning each tree for possible nesting sites. Each night, they download information from their GPS units to map out which areas have been scanned.

Others sit in blinds with digital video cameras — powered by motorcycle or car batteries so they can run all day.

"We've been trained, first thing you grab is your video camera," Barker said.

The people are supplemented by automatic video and audio recording equipment placed strategically in the swamps. A $4,000 camera strapped high on a tupelo tree can snap digital photos every 12 seconds with all the latest features — time lapse, motion detection, infrared, high-definition.

"These are just a tool to find where the ivory bill might be, its center of activity," said Jaime Hill, Cornell's technology surveillance scientist. "I think I've got the best job because when I take these down, I would see we've got an ivory bill and I'd be the first to know."

Massachusetts Audubon Society / AP Ivory-billed woodpeckers are shown in this print made from an engraving by John J. Audubon.

The audio units record sounds up to about 200 meters away in any direction. A computer program at Cornell labs in Ithaca, N.Y., will scan recordings for the bird's signature double-rap sound: "BAM-Bam!"

There's a chance that all this effort could be directed at the wrong place at the wrong times. Any ivory bills in Arkansas might not behave the same as the birds in the only study of the species, done in the 1930s by biologist James Tanner in Louisiana's Singer Tract.

"They may have adapted to using different types of habitats," Barker said.

Search crews have enlisted help from volunteer ornithologists and the public, including hunters and fishermen. At the fork of two gravel roads in the middle of the Cache refuge is a metal road sign. "Be on the Lookout!" it proclaims, along with a description of the bird.

"Now all we need is a little luck," said Ken Levenstein, a Cornell search crew leader. "We need one of those (birds) and these people to be in the same place."

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