To safeguard a rare Brazilian woodpecker, the Araguaia Institute bought out its habitat
by James Hall

Mongabay    Translate This Article
9 August 2023

On 9 August 2023 Mongabay reported: Conservationist George Georgiadis vividly remembers the first time he saw Kaempfer's woodpecker, a species once thought to be on the brink of extinction. He heard its drumming, then the bird flew out from the bush, filling the forest with its dramatic cackle. The encounter inspired Georgiadis, co-founder of the Araguaia Institute, a conservation NGO, to dedicate himself to the protection of the rare bird and its habitat, the Cerrado savanna in Brazil. Global Good News service views this news as a sign of rising positivity in the field of science, documenting the growth of life-supporting, evolutionary trends.

It's been five years since several hundred hectares of Cerrado landscape in the state of Tocantins became the first sanctuary for Kaempfer's woodpecker (Celeus obrieni). The area that once faced an ever-expanding agricultural frontier and the danger of wildfires became a reserve after the land was acquired privately. Although still facing risks, this area is now part of a growing network of protected lands safeguarding the woodpecker and other threatened species of the Cerrado.

An elusive woodpecker

With its wine-hued head, cream-colored body, and its wings striped in black and chestnut brown, Kaempfer's woodpecker makes quite an impression. Yet, despite its conspicuous looks, the bird has managed to evade detection for almost a century.

First described by ornithologist Emil Kaempfer in the mid-1920s in the Brazilian state of Piaui, east of Tocantins, it was initially thought to be a subspecies of the rufous-headed woodpecker (Celeus spectabilis). But differences in habitat, behavior and plumage led some ornithologists to conclude they were looking at a new species. They didn't have the chance to confirm it, however: with no further sightings of the bird recorded, they thought that Kaempfer's woodpecker had disappeared.

... David Vergara-Tabares, a researcher at Argentina's National Research and Scientific Training Council (CONICET) who has studied land-use impacts on woodpeckers globally, said the situation facing Kaempfer's woodpecker isn't uncommon in the region.

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