If A Boy Can't Believe His Mother, Who Can He Believe?

A decade or so ago, my mother -- casual birder but acute observer -- told me she was fairly certain Ivory-billed Woodpeckers were still alive near Haynesville, Louisiana.

She was born there in 1917, knew what they sounded like, and had recently heard one. Her yard man, the even older Bud Johnson, had heard them too. He called the bird a "Lawd God".

Turns out she was right.

They haven't looked in North Louisiana yet, but they wander through there, too.