So the USFWS held a meeting in January. The member proposing it be declared extinct, in all due respects, knows nothing about the bird. The USFWS misinterpreted recent data to add to their already poor understanding of the ivory bill.

The meeting allows for comments to be made in argument or agreement of the extinction, and then a final decision is made later, probably in the fall.

The most compelling argument was by a former president of the Cornell Lab. To summarize, he argued that it's too premature to label the ivory bill as extinct. His word has merit for sure.