TIL of the “Lord God Bird,” AKA the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird species presumed to be extinct. The last universally accepted sighting took place in 1944 (on a piece of land owned by the Singer Sewing Machine Company) but people have allegedly continued to spot them until 1/

at least 2017. None of these sightings seem to be officially confirmed. The ivory-billed is/was the largest woodpecker in North America, followed by the piliated woodpecker (a frequent visitor at our bird feeder and the reason I fell down this bird-shaped rabbit hole). 2/

In 2004, an ivory-billed woodpecker sighting was reported near Brinkley, Arkansas. Independent radio producers conducted interviews with town residents and in 2005—I am not making this up—sent them to Sufjan Stevens. 3/ https://www.npr.org/2005/07/06/4721675/brinkley-ark-embraces-the-lord-god-bird

Who, naturally, wrote a song about it (which is as hauntingly beautiful as you’d expect). 4/

That’s it, that’s the whole thread. There’s lots more about the bird and many alleged sightings on the Audubon website and elsewhere. If you’re looking for a weird and interesting thing to learn about, this is a pretty interesting thread to follow! 5/5