Here's the story of an elusive woodpecker, long ago consigned to extinction and legend, and the intensive search of one of the most forbidding areas of North America that resulted in a handful of sightings that "prove" its continued existence.
The story takes place in the swamps and marshlands of the deep South, from the Big Thicket country of east Texas to the wild bayous of Arkansas. Birders and ornithologists and local outdoorspeople all contribute to a year-long search that produces at least 15 sightings, four seconds of video, and audio recordings of what may be an ivory-bill woodpecker.
Inspired by a lone kayaker's February, 2004, report of an "unusual woodpecker" foraging on a huge cypress tree in an eastern Arkansas bayou, the author and his colleagues revisit the sighting location hoping for a glimpse of the bird.
"Bayou de View is a magical place where wildlife abounds," Tim Gallagher writes. "As we canoed through the swamp, wood ducks and flocks of mallards burst from the water around us. Herds of white-tailed deer, snorting a loud warning, splashed off across the shallow water at the edge of the woods. We saw beavers swimming past and otters playing. The loud calls of barred owls and great horned owls echoed through the dim recesses of the swamp, even at midday. But most impressive were the woodpeckers. Everywhere we turned we saw pileated, red-bellied, red-headed, and downy woodpeckers, plus a few yellow-bellied sapsuckers...
"And then it happened. Less than eight feet away, a large black-and-white bird that had been flying toward us from a side channel of the bayou to the right came out into the sunshine and flew across the open stretch of water directly in front of us. It started to bank, giving us a superb view of its back and both wings for a moment as it pulled up, as if it were going to land on a tree trunk. 'Look at all the white on its wings!' I yelled. Hearing my voice, it veered away from the tree and continued to fly to the left. We both cried out simultaneously, 'Ivory-bill!'"
Gallagher is no ordinary birder. As editor in chief of Living Birdmagazine -- flagship publication of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology -- and author of Wild Bird Photography and Parts Unknown: A Naturalist's Journey in Search of Birds and Wild Places, he's schooled in professional ornithology and knows how to make careful and precise observations. His identification of a living ivory-bill woodpecker, like those of others in the field, helps substantiate the existence of at least one ivory-bill woodpecker.
Published just after the public announcement of the discovery, this book provides a timely background and supplement to one of the most surprising natural history news events of the 21st century.