For years I have been passing on to my friend Julie, any article that referred to the ivory-billed woodpecker. She and a few others were convinced this bird still lived and so, they would make treks to swamps throughout the deep south and endure bugs, snakes, heat and humidity for weeks at a time.

On a trip in April, they met a group from Cornell including the world�s foremost authority on woodpeckers. They were told that fourteen months ago a kayaker had made a positive identification of a male ivory-bill. This group had spotted him several more times. After signing confidentiality papers, Julie and her companions were considered part of this expedition and were free to canoe anywhere in the area. On one of their very long canoeing days, the bird flew into a tree where all of them could see it plainly. He rapped a few times, flew into another tree, seemed to look right at my friend, gave a cry and flew off. �He looks much larger than the 3 inch size difference with the piliated�, Julie told me. �And, unlike the undulating flight of woodpeckers, he flies in an even straight line.�

The plan was to announce the discovery near the end of May in hopes that land in the area could be bought and a good photo could be taken of the bird. But, word got out early. So Julie and her friends became the 9th 10th & 11th, and as of April, the last people to have seen this �extinct� bird. She has seen an impossible dream come true. As a long time supporter of her dream, yet always the skeptic, I salute her.