Grail: the object of a prolonged endeavor

It's really nice to know that somewhere in our rush, rush life that there is still room for a person "who gets caught up in obsessive quests" (the authors words, not mine) to go forth and find a living example of an animal thought extinct. That he can make a living doing what he loves, and that a major publishing company will publish a book like this on a fairly obscure subject is icing on the cake. Thank you Tim Gallagher. Thank you Houghton Mifflin Company.

The book is well named. The second definition of grail is "the object of a prolonged endeavor." And the search for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker certainly fits that description. The book was started as a way of permanently recording the reports of various sightings made in the 1930's and 40's. These sightings were treated with scorn and derision. Then in 2004 the author and another expert actually saw the bird. Since then, a massive search effort has resulted in some seven sightings being made. The bird lives.

Birding has become a major hobby in the United States. If you're a birder, or if you know one, you couldn't do better than this book for Christmas, birthday or whatever.

The "Qualified Observer" speaks.

"there are no ivory billed woodpeckers..." that was the response to an email from Cornell University several years ago I had sent, reporting a unusual sighting of another bird species. The joke was "maybe my next sighting will be an Ivory Billed Woodpecker..." Of course, I'll cut them some slack, but I have always hoped that I would see one. Who wouldn't?

I can't think of another bird that us birders would like to see more than an IBW. How exciting that it is sighted in my homestate! However, I still couldn't help but email Cornell again and say "I told you so".

A lot of research and precious time has gone into the production of this book and I am sure that all birders, fanatics and enthusiasts alike will enjoy Mr. Gallagher's book. Following every possible lead, he researched and interviewed people from many different walks of life to confirm their existence. You will feel an incredible sense of loss when reading about the demise of the Singer tract. Even though it will be depressing at times, you will also keep that sense of hope that maybe more will be done in the future, that maybe we have learned from our mistakes. And possibly, maybe we too will encounter this beautiful, distinctive, evasive bird in the shadows of (our minds) an old growth cypress forest.

Maybe hope is what makes this book so special. For the Grail itself is a symbol of hope and faith. I hope that more can be done to save our precious habitats. I believe with rediscoveries more will be done.

So keep the faith, your binoculars handy, read the book and enjoy the story, study the images and maybe the "Grail Bird" will make an appearance in a 'big woods' near you.


A great read! A book you won't want to put down until it's finished.

the inside story of the 2004 ivory-bill sighting!

This is a well-written insider's tale of the confirmed sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas in 2004, which amazed all of us who are even remotely interested in birds and wildlife. The last previous confirmed sighting was in 1944, in the NE corner of Louisiana, an area that was logged and destroyed later that year. Interesting, then, that the rare bird, long thought extinct, shows up just upriver in Arkansas.

One of the things that makes Gallagher's book so good is his tracking down various unconfirmed sightings over the years. In light of what we now know, that the ivory-bill lives!, these sightings become much more plausible in retrospect. And there is a pattern that emerges -- sightings across southern Louisiana from west (Sabine River) to central (Atchafalaya Basin) to east (Pearl River). A long-lost tape has been unearthed confirming a 1966 "sighting" (hearing) in the Sabine River area of east Texas. The 850,000 acre Atchafalaya Basin was the location of several sightings in the 1970s and 1980s. A highly credible 1999 sighting in the Pearl River area led to an intensive search that found nothing. It is quite possible therefore, based on the evidence presented in this book, that the ivory-bill survives not only in the Cache and White River area of east-central Arkansas, but in the swamps of southern Lousiana as well!

What's the moral of the story? Habitat preservation! The area in Arkansas is protected land, which was expanded by Nature Conservancy purchases between the February 2004 sightings and the recent public announcement, and protecting critical habitat in the three river basins mentioned above might well secure more elusive ivory-bill populations. Designation and protection of critical habitat is in fact mandated by the Endangered Species Act.

The two top websites for more on the amazing ivory-bill story are The Nature Conservancy (http://www.tnc.org) and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (http://www.birds.cornell.edu).