— Of Birds and Books —

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I don’t generally link to discoveries of rare animals/birds which occur every year because the case of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is so different from, or non-analogous to, most other creatures, and I don’t like to draw too much comparison to other cases. But this latest instance of a found bird species does have a number of interesting parallels, as well as simply being fascinating in its own right:

https://www.audubon.org/news/like-finding-unicorn-researchers-rediscover-black-naped-pheasant-pigeon-bird

And with holiday shopping approaching I was planning (in a couple weeks) to mention a few IBWO books for any on your list who may just now be getting interested in the IBWO. Rather than waiting, I'll go ahead and tack those on here; mentioning only 4 of the now many books that address the Ivory-bill topic:

1)  Jerry Jackson’s classic In Search of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker — somewhat dated by now, and missing a lot of info from recent times, but still a good, broad overview of matters from one of the leading experts on the IBWO.

2)  Woody’s Last Laugh by Christopher Haney — recent, and easily the most comprehensive, and in some ways interesting, text on the whole subject; but also a bit of a slog to read; repetitive and somewhat disorganized and pedantic, but chockfull of info and thoughts that no other volume includes in one place; great notes and addenda as well.

3)  Noel Snyder’s The Travails of Two Woodpeckers — an important take from another major scholar of the Ivory-bill, though may be hard to find.

4)  Finally, for getting young people especially, interested in the Ivory-bill, Phillip Hoose’s The Race to Save The Lord God Bird is still a fun and quick read (…again not up-to-date, but a good read).

There are several more recent volumes, especially ones that focus on one or another particular aspect of the IBWO story -- they all make contributions to the subject, but also tend to have certain problems/issues (in my view) -- anyway, for initiation I recommend the above volumes, which I think of as foundational. Probably, even as I write these words there are additional, and important, IBWO books being written, still to come. The story is, most likely, not over (despite what you might hear over, ummm, the internet).

IF, at end of year, you’re looking to give money toward other prospective Ivory-bill-related causes you could consider The National Aviary with its IBWO search project in Louisiana:

https://www.aviary.org

…or, to Matt Courtman’s “Mission Ivorybill” effort in various locales:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-bird-worth-saving-a-fresh-approach?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link_all&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR2sWSvGEItOJ-7Q5tv2grih-Uq1Nn5bUb1Th4LPtHaKifqx8dlRyj-FMBM

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