Whether the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extinct remains a deeply contested subject in ornithology, with some researchers presenting modern audio, video, and habitat sightings to argue for its survival, while others contend the evidence is inconclusive, misidentified, or statistically indicative of extinction.
The retrieved literature shows a sharp divide between researchers who maintain that recent audio, video, and habitat evidence points to the species' persistence, and critics who argue that the evidence is flawed, often misidentifying pileated woodpeckers, and that standard extinction models apply. Because prominent studies and official bodies like the USFWS have debated or moved to declare extinction while passionate field researchers publish counter-analyses, the balance is definitively contested.