Printable VersionBecause of the interest generated by the recent unconfirmed ivory-billed woodpecker sighting on the Pearl River WMA, we are offering these tips to help observers distinguish the extremely rare ivory-bill from the similar, but fairly common, pileated woodpecker.
| Ivory-Billed Woodpecker | Pileated Woodpecker |
| Large white patch on back of bird perched | Back of bird perched with wings folded is almost all black |
| Upper surface of wings in flight has large white area on trailing edge | Upper surface of wings in flight is mostly black |
| Under surface of wings in flight has white area on leading edge and large white area on the trailing edge seperated by black down the middle of each wing | Under surface of wings in flight has large white area on the leading edge only |
| Beak is off-white | Beak is gray |
| Crest of female is all black | Crest of female is mostly red |
| Bird flies straight | Bird flies with an undulating pattern |