And I can tell you that after three years, he is hard as woodpecker lips and doing a great job.

NPR: U.S. Turns More Attention to Training Iraqi Forces

That meant bidding farewell to a few lumbering creatures: the Pink Panther, Woody Woodpecker and the Cat in the Hat.

CNN: balloon

And during this year's count, which ends on January 5th, Arkansas birdwatchers have been looking most carefully for the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker.

ECONOMIST: A splendid tradition in its 109th year

Caijing is a woodpecker, she says, forever hammering at a tree, trying not to knock it down but to make it grow straighter.

NEWYORKER: The Forbidden Zone

Driving the treacherous, staggeringly scenic roads, you'll sooner see an ivory-billed woodpecker than a for sale sign, especially near any of the island's gorgeous beaches.

FORBES: Travel

The State of the Natural Environment Report claims native bird species such as the lesser spotted woodpecker, turtle dove and song thrush, as well as many butterfly species, have suffered.

BBC: Gloucestershire's countryside 'under threat'

If I walk through a forest in Georgia, where I live, and fail to see or hear the pileated woodpecker, am I permitted to conclude that the bird is absent?

WSJ: The Brains of the Animal Kingdom

More than 60% of the 3, 000 species surveyed have declined over the last 50 years, including some much loved and familiar plants and animals like the lesser spotted woodpecker, the hedgehog, the natterjack toad and the High Brown Fritillary and Wood White butterflies.

BBC: Stark warning over the state of nature

The smashing of the pristine egg, which is revealed to Ivan by the firebird as if she were a woodpecker as it lies within the towering trunk of one of the Hydralike, metallic trees that dominate the enchanted garden leads to a dissipation of the ballet's building tensions.

WSJ: Firebird | American Ballet Theatre | Ratmansky's Fresh Fantasy | By Robert Greskovic