These birds need about 25 km2 (9.7 sq mi) per pair to find enough food to feed their young and themselves. For these grubs, Ivory-bills have no real competitors no other species present in their range are able to remove tightly bound bark as Ivory-billed woodpeckers do. To hunt some prey items such as woodboring grubs, Ivory-bills use their enormous bill to hammer, wedge, and peel the bark off dead trees to access their tunnels.

A conversational call is given between individuals at the nest and has been described as 'kent-kent-kent'. When the birds are disturbed, the pitch of the 'kent' note rises, it is repeated more frequently, and it is often doubled. The most common, a 'kent' or' hant', sounds like a toy trumpet often repeated in a series. Ivory-bills communicate with four fairly distinct calls. Although not migratory, Ivory-billed woodpeckers may relocate from time to time to areas where disasters such as fires or floods have created large amounts of dead wood, and subsequently large numbers of beetle larva upon which they prefer to feed. Indeed, in many instances, Ivory-billed woodpeckers may gather in groups of 4 or 5 birds feeding together on a single tree, and as many as 11 have been observed feeding in the same location.

Ivory Billed Woodpecker