The Ghost Bird's Last Call: Sound and truth in the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

Keywords: Extinction, animal geography, sonic geography, sound, ornithology, birds, wildlife, conservation
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 22

Abstract

Though the Ivory-billed Woodpecker was recommended for extinction by the US government in September 2021, dozens of professional ornithologists and amateur birders still believe this iconic, elusive bird persists in the Southeastern US. Despite the optical implication of the term ‘Ivorybill searchers’, much of their activity is sonic: the lone historical sound recording they use to lure surviving birds to respond, the ivorybill-like drumming heard across the forest, the fragments of alleged ivorybill calls captured on 24/7 sound recording units. The geography of the ivorybills’ contested extinction is a sonic one. However, despite the capture of countless putative ivorybill sound recordings in recent decades, the US Fish and Wildlife service says they are not sufficient to prove the bird’s persistence. There is too much room for doubt when it comes to sound recordings- so the argument goes- it would take a clear photo or video to prove the ivorybill’s survival. When it comes to species, it seems, only seeing is believing. Drawing from interviews and discourse analysis, in this paper I ask what it means when a species can be heard but not seen. Why is sound considered a less trustworthy and ‘objective’ sense or data point, even with modern analytical tools available? I also ask how the sonic realm changes the ways we relate to more-than-humans on the edge of extinction: can it offer more intimate, affective encounters with beings ‘on the other side’? How does sound challenge the experience, politics, and geographies of extinction?