How the ivory-billed woodpecker's extinction impacts Florida

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the ivory-billed woodpecker, which once ranged across Florida and the rest of the Southeast, extinct, AP reports.

Why it matters: Reports of sightings in recent decades launched a flurry of searches in the swamps of Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida — but they were ultimately fruitless.

• Some maintain that it's premature to call the bird extinct.

Flashback: In the 1920s, Floridians called them "Good Lords."

• Florida was the bird's North American stronghold because of the state's warm climate and swampy terrain. Collectors found hundreds in Florida in the 1890s.

The big picture: The ivory-billed woodpecker just is the best-known species of 23 fauna and flora on the Fish and Wildlife Service's list of extinctions.

• Globally, 902 species have officially been documented as extinct, but the actual number is thought to be much higher.