THE ivory-billed woodpecker is not large, as birds go: It is about the size of a crow, but flashier, its claim to fame is that, though it had been thought extinct since 1944, a lone kayaker spotted it about two years ago, flying around among the cypress trees in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. And that sighting may prove the death-blow to a $319m irrigation project in the Arkansas corner of the Delta.

　　象牙喙啄木鸟与普通的鸟一样，体形不是很大，跟乌鸦差不多，但羽色较亮。1944年以来人们一直以为它已经灭绝，但大约两年前，一个划着小船的独行客在凯奇河国家野生物保护区的柏树林中发现一只啄木鸟正在四处飞翔，因此，这种鸟就出了名。而且，这一发现可能致使阿肯色三角洲地区一项耗资3.19亿美元的灌溉工程搁浅。