Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, The True Story of the Rediscovery by Tim Gallagher, with a new foreword
How they kept this story under wraps while writing and publishing is a mystery to me, but perhaps it reflects on the people dedicated to protecting this survivor. The cover has a sticker reading: "The ONLY firsthand account." Even the early blurbs from the publisher didn't clue us in that the quest had been successful, here's what one said: "Since the early twentieth century, scientists have been trying their best to prove that the Ivory-bill is extinct. But every time they think they’ve finally closed the door, the bird makes an unexpected appearance. It happened in the 1920s, it happened in the 1930s, and it has happened almost every decade since. For at least the past sixty years, every sighting has been met with ridicule and scorn. Friendships have ended. Careers have been ruined. And yet the reports still trickle in. Now author Tim Gallagher takes up the chase, heading deep into the trackless southern swamps and bayous to determine once and for all if the Ivory-billed Woodpecker still lives."
Gallagher has spent his life on quests for elusive birds, taking time to research, interview and pursue, albeit quietly. How nice to read a book on the Ivory-Billed that actually ends on a positive yet cautionary note, rather than a wistful one. Even people not caught up in the drama of rediscovering this bird will find the story of science at work, both in the field and in the lab, using sound spectrography to try to confirm the presence interesting. As a fan of 'science history' I found the book impossible to put down. People who have worked 'against the odds' will also appreciate reading about what it was like to be working on a project that could expose the researchers to ridicule and loss of credibility by skeptical colleagues. Although most of the action takes place in 2004, ending in November, the publishers included a March 2005 epilogue, wondering what would happen after the announcement scheduled for May 2005. We know what happened, reading this book will help tell more of the how it happened!!
From the publisher: “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 convinced 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 up to be conserved. Gallagher’s story reads like a mystery novel, and the subsequent conservation efforts provide hope and a lesson for our times.”
Hardcover, 272 pages + 8-pg insert, 6 x 8 1/2, full-color photographs, May 2005.
