The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
Language: English
Pages: 222
ISBN: 1250073715
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The tragedy of extinction is explained through the dramatic story of a legendary bird, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and of those who tried to possess it, paint it, shoot it, sell it, and, in a last-ditch effort, save it. A powerful saga that sweeps through two hundred years of history, it introduces artists like John James Audubon, bird collectors like William Brewster, and finally a new breed of scientist in Cornell's Arthur A. "Doc" Allen and his young ornithology student, James Tanner, whose quest to save the Ivory-bill culminates in one of the first great conservation showdowns in U.S. history, an early round in what is now a worldwide effort to save species. As hope for the Ivory-bill fades in the United States, the bird is last spotted in Cuba in 1987, and Cuban scientists join in the race to save it.
All this, plus Mr. Hoose's wonderful story-telling skills, comes together to give us what David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds calls "the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker."
The Race to Save the Lord God Bird is the winner of the 2005 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2005 Bank Street - Flora Stieglitz Award.
This new edition of the author's award-winning history features a new chapter about the endlessly debated 2004 Arkansas "rediscovery" of the ivory-billed woodpecker that made headlines around the world, as well as an expanded introduction and more than a dozen new images.
Alexander was president of the Singer Manufacturing Company, and Singer needed oak trees. Many Singer machines folded down into cabinets, becoming flat-topped tables when no one was sewing. Women around the world loved the oak cabinets because they were beautiful, and because they saved space in cramped tenements and crowded rooms. But America was running out of oak trees. THE BIG RED “S” In 1913, the year that the Singer Manufacturing Company bought a big chunk of the Tensas swamp, the company
fetched it from the base of the tree and placed it in his collection bag. Hours later he brought down another Ivory-bill, and was probably still smiling about his good luck when he came upon yet a third peeling bark from the high branches of an enormous cypress tree. The big male’s red crest glowed like a flame in the sunlight. Again Wilson fired, sending another trophy to the ground. When Wilson got to it, this bird was still moving, having been wounded only slightly in one wing. Delighted,
the Ivory-bills, which usually began at about 6 a.m. Far from feeling used, he was thrilled. What did sleep matter when you had the chance to study North America’s rarest bird close-up? Dirty, sticky, bug-bitten, always a little tired, and still not yet twenty-one, Jim Tanner figured he was one of the luckiest people on earth. THE SPRINT WEST After five days of observing the birds, the team came to a crossroads. Though they longed to stay with the Ivory-bill family until the eggs hatched and
money, and would let him sleep in the woods if he needed to. He packed maps, tools, books, binoculars, boots, a first-aid kit, clothing, and camping gear. He made address lists of Doc’s contacts and carefully tucked away the letter of introduction Doc wrote for him to show to strangers. It read: To whom it may concern: You will find Mr. Tanner extremely reliable and trustworthy, and if you prefer that your information should get no further than him, I know that he can keep a secret when it
doubt and acrimony crept into the public discussion, my book appearances also took on a sharper edge. In the early, honeymoon phase, I would finish showing my slides, take a bow, and ask for questions. Audience members—shyly at first, and then with more nerve as conversation developed—raised their hands to discuss all sorts of things, from specifics of the Arkansas claims to the tragedy of extinction and what could be done about it. Those rooms were charged with hope and optimism. One time while