BirdLife International is launching a campaign to confirm the existence of 47 birds that have not been seen in the recent years. Above is the ivory-billed woodpecker, or “flying elvis,” which has not been seen since 2005 and is considered perilously close to extinction. The sighting four years ago surprised ornithologists, who compared it to the rediscovery of the dodo.
The “Flying Elvis”. That’s brilliant. I’ve never heard of or seen anything about this bird, but it’s incredibly beautiful/interesting-looking. The picture in the link really shows it.
Back when the ivory-bill was sighted, NPR ran a story on it and commissioned Sufjan Stevens to write a song about this “great god bird.”
here’s the link to the song:
http://pd.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/atc/20050706_atc_godbird.mp3?dl=1
and here’s the one to the story, in case the above doesn’t work.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4721675
enjoy.