The Grail Bird: The Rediscovery of the Ivory-billed WoodpeckerHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 - 272 pages In April 2005, a startling announcement made national and international news: the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird thought to be extinct for nearly sixty years, had been sighted. The story behind this incredible discovery began more than a year earlier when, after a lengthy search, Tim Gallagher was one of the first people to see this iconic bird, the holy grail of birdwatchers. He persuaded the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to mount a massive search for evidence of the bird's existence. The news was kept secret while field teams went to work and land was bought to conserve the ivory-bill's habitat. Gallagher's story reads like a mystery novel, and the subsequent conservation efforts provide hope and a lesson for our times. |
Contents
Of People and Peckerwoods | 1 |
Me and Bobby Ray | 28 |
Jim and Nancy | 37 |
Mary Mary | 54 |
White River Revisited | 66 |
A Paradise on Earth | 85 |
The Boxer | 100 |
The LSU Connection | 115 |
Back to the Bayou | 168 |
Where Sapsuckers Dare | 188 |
Trying to Prove the Existence of a Ghost | 205 |
Swamp Rats | 219 |
The Lazarus Bird | 235 |
Epilogue | 241 |
Afterword | 251 |
Acknowledgments and Sources | 265 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
American Andy Arkansas asked bayou Bayou de View believe bill bird Bobby camp canoe close Cornell couple dark David didn't drive earlier early edge feet field finally Fitz flying forest Gene habitat hand head heard hole hoping huge hundred interesting ivory ivory-billed woodpecker John keep kind knew land later least light lived look Mary miles minutes morning move Nancy Natural never night ornithologists paddled past photographs pileated woodpecker pulled recording River road seemed seen showed side sighting Singer Tract soon sound species started stopped story sure swamp talk Tanner tell thing thought told took trees trying turned waiting walked weeks Wildlife wings woods wrote