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On October 16, we (Gail, Kym and Wendy) attended a lecture hosted by the Audubon Society of Greater Denver, featuring speaker Tim Gallagher. Gallagher is editor-in-chief of Living Bird magazine, director of publications at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, author of The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, and one of the re-discoverers of this long-held-as-extinct species. Gallagher, a personable and articulate speaker, gives a talk that is heartbreaking and inspiring, informative and captivating. He describes the horrific post-Civil War eradication, through clear-cut logging, of the southern bottomland swamp forests which made up the habitat of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. He explains the progression of modes of transportation, and audio and photographic technology used over the years to search out and document sightings of the ivorybill, even as he describes the pre-conservation movement's prevailing method of documenting a species: shooting and collecting the birds to "prove" their existence. As he speaks, he presents a slide show consisting of maps, diagrams, historical photographs of living ivorybills and of the ornithologists who sought them out, and his own photographs of the sites to which he traveled in his search to confirm the continued existence of this bird. He lays out a timeline of confirmed and unconfirmed ivorybill sightings through the early and mid-20th century, explaining that his book began as an effort to preserve not the bird itself, but the historical link to the last living humans known to have seen them. He tells a series of anecdotes illustrating his own first forays into the deep south, to meet with some of the colorful characters behind some of the more recent ivorybill sightings, and explains how some of these modern sightings began to sound more and more credible until he, himself became convinced that the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker still lives. He describes his own series of adventures and expeditions, along with fellow ivorybill discoverer Bobby Harrison, into the swamps of Arkansas's Bayou de View, where they finally saw a living Ivory-Billed Woodpecker for themselves.
Gallagher is definite in stating that while he himself is 100% certain that he has seen a living ivorybill, he has only accomplished the first of his three goals in regard to the species. The second and third parts are to see a viable nest, and to take the first modern, good-quality photographs of the ivorybill, to prove to the rest of the world beyond a doubt that we are still sharing the earth with this magnificent bird.
At the event, The Grail Bird was available for sale. We purchased a copy and had it autographed. So far in reading the book, it is as engaging as the lecture itself, with more details in some areas and less in others. The opportunity to hear Tim Gallagher speak firsthand was unbeatable, but for those who couldn't or didn't attend his lecture, the book is an excellent telling of his and the ivorybill's story. We will also be attending the Birdwatch America trade show in Atlanta in January, and the keynote speaker of the event's banquet is Gallagher's guide and traveling companion, Bobby Harrison. We're looking forward to hearing his perspective as well, and we will continue to follow the story of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker's modern re-emergence. |
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The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
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Click on each image below to enlarge.
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Flyleaf of our autographed copy: "The Ivory-Bill Lives!"
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Museum specimens of a male (lower) and female Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
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