The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

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.

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).

I assumed we would have to wait a few months, or even a year, for the inside story of the rediscovery of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait at all, as Tim Gallagher was simultaneously searching for the bird and working on this most excellent book. Another reviewer used the word "perfect" to describe The Grail Bird, and I think that's about right, as Gallagher has somehow arrived at the perfect mix of natural history, detective story, and memoir. It's a delicate balance, and he found it. This book won't be a best-seller, but deserves to be.

THE GRAIL BIRD is the story behind the headlines of the ivory-bill's rediscovery. Gallagher succeeds in conveying all of the emotion behind the pursuit of the ivory-billed woodpecker, so that even a nonbirder will weep when he first encounters this "extinct" creature. I read the book twice - and sobbed both times. He brings history to life through interviews with those who have seen (or claimed to see) the bird in years past, and through discussions with family members of those had seen the bird but who are now gone. This is a perfect book - part birding adventure, part buddy tale, part sad truth about what we have done to our land, and part fairy tale. It is even part choose-your-own-adventure, in that we all need to take responsiblity for what the ending will be like for this remarkable bird.

Tim Gallagher's newest book, The Grail Bird, is indeed the truth behind the rediscovery. I've been a follower of Ivory-billed Woodpecker history and sightings for several years. I've tried to read any book that has any noteworthy mention of the species within. This is the best book I have ever come across. It contains a great wealth of information on the history of the species right up to Tim's own personal sighting a little more than a year ago. Do you know who took the mystery photos of the 1971 Ivory-billed Woodpecker? Tim does. And, thanks to his sleuthing, now I do too. It's all in his book. Tim is a great writer and a great detective. He tracked down every possible lead he could find and interviewed anyone he thought may have seen an Ivory-billed Woodpecker or who knew of someone who had. His interviews and stories are very interesting with great personal lines from Tim that will make you laugh and maybe even cry. After reading his book you will come away feeling as if you were there, right alongside Tim and his friend, Bobby, on their journeys for the truth. I know you will thoroughly enjoy this. Good reading!