The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker by Tim Gallagher. Houghton Mifflin, 2005. 288pp. ISBN 0-618-45693-7.

SB&F review:

Nearly everyone, it seems, has heard of the recent sightings of ivory-billed woodpeckers, America's largest woodpeckers, denizens of old-growth wetland forests of the southeast and thought to be extinct. This book, presented by a leading participant in the search, is currently the definitive account of the events culminating in the authenticated observations of the bird. It is an unusual book in that it is as much a work of nonfiction adventure as it is a work for science students and teachers. In the mode of Redmond O'Hanlon, Tim Gallagher weaves a tale of adventure and travel, albeit within America's borders. Science is amply presented, in the form of natural history, geography, conservation, ecology, ornithology, and bioacoustics, all of which were brought into play by the individuals, working alone or in teams, seeking not only to confirm the existence of living ivorybills, but to learn more about their habits, their numbers, and whether any are actively breeding. Conservation efforts are already underway to protect significant areas where ivorybills have been sighted, and the book goes into the details underlying these efforts. The book pulls no punches, documenting the greed and shortsightedness of lumbering interests, which destroyed the last remaining extensive forests containing ivorybills in the 1940s and 1950s. The book clearly illustrates how amateur birders and ornithologists worked together, providing a model for how science and society can share goals for the common good. The language is a bit coarse in places, due to the quoted conversations between the author and some of the colorful individuals claiming to have seen living ivorybills.

About the author:

Tim Gallagher is an award-winning author, wildlife photographer, and magazine editor. He is currently editor in chief of Living Bird, the flagship publication of the world-famous Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Tim's lifelong interest in wilderness exploration has taken him twice to Greenland, where he made an open boat voyage up the coast to study nesting seabirds and falcons, and to the hinterlands of Iceland, where he climbed lofty cliffs to learn more about the spectacular gyrfalcon, the worlds largest falcon. Time lives with his wife and four children in Freeville, New York.

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