A local man’s straightforward, naturalistic painting of a pair of nesting woodpeckers will get brief exposure on the Showtime TV show “This American Life” on Sunday.

Bill Spriggs’ painting captures a bird that until recently was thought to be extinct. But possible sightings in Southeast Arkansas near Brinkley have caused quite a stir.

A bevy of recent sightings was reported in that area since 2004 and 2005, though there is some debate about whether or not the Ivory-billed bird still exists. Now, the search is on for conclusive evidence.

For ornithologists and bird-watchers, it’s been a fascinating journey to find and photograph or videotape the beautiful black-and-white bird with a distinctive splash of red that appears on the head of males of the species.

“I used to work over there at Brinkley, Ark., a lot, and when I read that in the paper I went over there to feel it out,” said Spriggs. “They said in the paper ornithologists would be coming from all around the world over there.”

The discovery, he said, put Brinkley on the map. So Spriggs painted the bird and had limited edition prints made.

His woodpecker print was hung in a restaurant over there named Gene’s Barbecue. While filming a documentary, producers for “This American Life” saw it and requested it be shown during the episode “Going Down in History” airing Sunday.

The episode follows the story of Bobby Harrison, who spotted an Ivory-billed woodpecker in 2004. According to a description of the program on the “This American Life” Website, “a man with a 30-year obsession with one particular bird unveils the grainy, Bigfoot-style video evidence that he saw it.”

Harrison is president and treasurer of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Foundation, which searches for the woodpeckers and works to develop a conservation program for them.

The woodpecker, said Spriggs, was discovered a few miles outside of Brinkley in an area called the Big Woods.

Since it was first rediscovered in that area, cameras and video recorders have been placed in those woods to verify that the woodpecker still exists, said Spriggs.

“They have hopes there may be a pair of them over there and they’ll nest and reproduce,” he said, noting people visit the area from all over the world.

Working from library books and pictures of the bird Spriggs found through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, he made his own painting after doing the research.

He said he’s not really a naturalist, just an artist whose interest was piqued. He also saw a good opportunity for business.

“I just did it because I like to do art work. It piqued my interest and I thought, well maybe I can sell a few prints on it,” said Spriggs, who painted the woodpeckers in May of 2005.

He does love hunting, though, which inspired in him an appreciation for ducks and a beautiful landscape. (He’s working on a bluebonnet piece now.)

The woodpecker painting is mixed-media: watercolor, graphite, and a bit of acrylic, he said.

Spriggs said he’s been painting since junior high school, through World War II and his days working at Red River Army Depot. He was also in the insurance business, which put him on the road a lot. And at restaurants he’d take time to draw.

“People began to call me the napkin artist,” said Spriggs.

Mostly self-taught, he didn’t take a formal class until retiring. Now, something he’s done for decades will put his work on TV.



(The episode “Going Down in History,” in which Spriggs’ woodpecker print will appear, airs Sunday on “This American Life” at 9 p.m. local time on Showtime.)