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The Race to Save the Lord God Bird

Page 20

by Phillip Hoose


  I am deeply indebted to my brilliant, caring editor Melanie Kroupa for taking on this project with me and guiding me through it. I could not have a better teammate. Thanks also to her assistant Sharon McBride, to the keen-eyed copy editors, Elaine Chubb and Susan Goldfarb, and to Barbara Grzeslo for her elegant design.

  I could not have written this book without the support of my family. As it was written, Hannah Hoose flew off to college and Ruby Hoose entered middle school. I thank them both so much for being such splendid daughters and wonderful people.

  Above all, I thank Nancy Tanner. I had no idea what to expect when I contacted James Tanner’s widow. Would she talk to me? What would she think about this project? She became a partner, corresponding with me through countless e-mails, letting me visit her, combing through files and sending photos, articles, and letters, coming up with ideas, nudging me away from wrong paths, even giving me advice on proper technique for the crawl stroke. Now I realize this book would not have been remotely possible without her. And I ended up with a fine friend into the bargain.

  Finally, I thank Campephilus principalis, who lives, as Giraldo Alayón put it, between magic and science. I am lucky to have shared the earth for at least part of my life with such a magnificent creature as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.

  To learn about birds, ornithologists often find themselves in precarious situations. Here Jim Tanner tries to keep his balance as he inspects a Bald Eagle nest on Merritt Island, Florida, in 1935

  PICTURE CREDITS

  Courtesy of Xiomara Gálvez Aguilera, 15

  Courtesy of Giraldo Alayón, v

  Courtesy of David G. Allen, 57, 74, 78, 8o, 82, 87, 96, 120, 165, 188, endpapers

  Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, 39, 102

  Courtesy of the American Philosophical Society, 9

  The Charleston Museum, Charleston, South Carolina, 37

  Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Rochester Library, 41

  Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, 63, 88, 179 (top), 185

  Susan Roney Drennan—NAS, 44, 46, 51, 176 (top)

  Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 11, 34, 38, 171, 175

  Courtesy of the Forest History Society, Durham, N.C., 28, 174

  K. Fristrup, CLO, 146, 183

  Hermione Museum, Tallulah, Louisiana, 117 (bottom), 124, 181

  © Steven Holt/stockpix.com, 48

  Phillip Hoose, 19, 136, 155

  Ava Kahn/USFWS, 150

  Courtesy of Gene Laird, 132

  Collection of the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art Library, Laurel, Mississippi, 32, 117 (top)

  Mark McRae, 12, 45, 173 (top)

  National Archives, 128

  National Audubon Society, 50

  National Audubon Society, courtesy of Susan Roney Drennan, 27

  Collection of The New-York Historical Society, 20, 22, 173 (bottom)

  Courtesy of Carlos Peña, 134, 142, 145, 182

  Courtesy of Perry Newspapers, Inc., Perry, Florida, 114, 180

  Roger Tory Peterson Institute/ Seymour Levin photographer, 53

  Courtesy of Nancy B. Tanner, v, 58, 61, 176 (bottom)

  James T. Tanner, 68, 71, 81, 86, 93, 100, 103, 108 (both), 109, 111, 148, 149, 168, 177 (both), 179 (bottom)

  © Doug WechslerNIREO, 158, 184

  INDEX

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages of your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  Page references in italics refer to illustrations.

  African Americans

  after Civil War

  under slavery

  in World War II

  Afrika Korps

  aigrettes

  Alabama

  Alaska

  Alayón, Giraldo

  Albert (son of Ike, helper for Cornell team)

  Alexander, Douglas

  Alexander, Helen

  Alexander, Sam

  Allen, Arthur Augustus “Doc,”

  Cornell sound expedition led by

  Florida sighting of Ivory-bills by

  Tanner recommended for fellowship by

  Allen, Elsa

  alligators

  Altamaha River (Georgia)

  American Museum of Natural History (New York)

  American Ornithology (Wilson)

  American Robin

  Animalia (kingdom)

  Apalachicola River (Florida)

  Aristotle

  Arkansas

  armadillos

  Audubon, John James

  banding of birds by

  painting of Ivory-bills by

  Audubon, Lucy Bakewell

  Audubon Society

  Ivory-bill research goals

  Junior Clubs

  Research Fellowship to study Ivorybill for Tanner from

  Tanner’s report to

  auks

  Aves (class)

  Bachman’s Warbler

  Baker, John

  Bald Eagle

  Banana Spiders

  Bandilero forest (Cuba)

  banding of birds

  Barnhart loader

  Barnum, P. T.

  Barred Owl

  Batista, Fulgencio

  bears

  beavers

  Beebe, William

  Bee Hummingbird

  bees

  beetles

  larvae of, see grubs

  Beyer, George E.

  Big Cypress Swamp (Florida)

  Big Lake (Louisiana)

  binoculars, effect on bird collecting of

  biodiversity

  Bird-Lore (magazine)

  birds, anatomy of

  birds’ eggs, collecting of

  Birds of America, The (Audubon)

  bird-watching

  Blackbird, Red-winged

  bluebirds

  Blue Jay

  Bonaparte, Napoleon

  Boone, Daniel

  Boonsong Lekagul

  Bradley, Guy

  Bradley, Louis

  Brand, Albert

  Brand—Cornell University—American Museum of Natural History Ornithological Expedition, see Cornell University: sound expedition

  Brewster, William

  personal museum

  Bronx County Bird Club (BCBC)

  Brown, Dewey

  Brown, Verster, Sr.

  Brown Thrasher

  Buckley, James

  Buprestidae

  Burger, Warren

  Burrowing Owl

  butterflies, in Cuba

  Cade, Tom

  cahows

  California, collecting in

  Campephilus (genus)

  C. principalis

  C. principalis bairdii

  meaning of name

  See also Ivory-billed Woodpecker,

  Canada

  Carolina Parakeet

  Carson, Rachel

  Cassin, John

  Castle, Irene

  Castro, Fidel

  Cataldo, Anthony

  Catesby, Mark

  Cerymbycidae

  Chapman, Frank

  Charleston (South Carolina)

  Museum

  Wayne in

  Chicago, 1871 fire in

  Chicago Mill and Lumber Company

  Chicago Tribune

  Chordata (phylum)

  Christmas Bird Count

  Cincinnati Zoo

  Civil War, American

  Ciyas, Fernando

  clutch (of birds’ eggs)

  Coleoptera (beetles)

  Colorado, Cornell team in

  Committee on Fair Employment Practices

  Common Flicker

  Common Raven

  Compton, Davis

  Congaree Swamp National Monument (South Carolina)

 
Congress, U.S.

  Copperheads

  Cornell University

  Lab of Ornithology

  Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds

  McGraw Hall

  searches for Ivory-bill in Louisiana

  sound expedition

  Roughing-Out Room

  Coues, Elliott

  Crisis (magazine)

  crocodiles, in Cuba

  crows

  Betty

  Corvus moneduloides

  Cruikshanks, F.

  (cuba

  Alayón’s expeditions in

  Bureau of Flora, Fauna, and Protected Areas

  classification of Cuban Ivory-bill

  Ivory-bill habitat in

  maps of

  natural history education in

  postage stamp featuring Ivory-bill

  Revolution in

  sightings of Ivory-bill in

  specimen of Ivory-bill

  U.S.-led expeditions to

  Cupeyal forest (Cuba)

  curlews

  Cuthbert Lake (Florida)

  cypress trees

  Dancer, John

  Darwin, Charles

  DDT

  deer

  Dennis, John

  Dickinson, Emily

  doves

  Dresden Zoological Museum

  ducks

  Labrador

  dust storms, of 1930s

  eagles

  Golden

  Earth Day

  Eastern Phoebe

  Eckelberry, Don

  ecology

  of Ivory-billed Woodpecker

  ecosystems

  conservation of

  niches in

  eggs, birds’

  clutches of

  collecting of

  incubation of

  egrets

  Great

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo

  Endangered Species Act (1973)

  endemic species

  Eskimo Curlew

  Estrada, Alberto

  Etnier, David

  Everglades (Florida)

  evolution

  extinction

  of Carolina Parakeet

  collectors’ influence on

  of Passenger Pigeon

  extirpation

  falcons

  Faulkner, William

  Field Guide to the Birds, A (Peterson)

  films, sound, and birdsong

  finches

  Fleming, Alexander

  Flicker, Common

  Florida

  Allens in

  bird protection in

  collecting in

  Cornell team in

  Ivory-bill in

  logging in

  Plume War in

  reported sightings of Ivory-bill in

  Tanner in

  Wayne in

  flycatchers

  forests

  eastern, clearance of

  southeastern, ecosystems of

  southern, protected during Reconstruction

  Fought, Billy

  Fought, Bobby

  frogs

  Galapagos Islands

  Garrido, Orlando

  genes

  Georgia

  Cornell team in

  Tanner in

  German prisoners of war

  as workers for Chicago Mill and Lumber Company

  Golden Eagle

  Goodall, Jane

  grasshoppers

  Gray Wolf

  Great Auk

  Great Chicago Fire (1871)

  Great Egret

  Great Horned Owl

  Grebe, Horned

  Greenlea Bend (Louisiana)

  green turtles

  Griswold, James F.

  Grosbeak, Rose-breasted

  grubs

  Gundlach, Johannes

  habitats

  destruction of(see also logging)

  of Ivory-billed Woodpecker

  protection of

  Hall, Minna

  Harvard University

  Museum of Comparative Zoology

  hats, plumed

  Havana, University of

  hawks

  Heath Hen

  Hemenway, Harriet

  Henshaw, Henry

  Hermit Thrush

  herons

  white, see egrets

  Hines, Richard

  Horne, Jennifer

  Horned Grebe

  horseshoe crabs

  House Wren

  hummingbirds

  Ike (helper for Cornell team)

  Illinois Central Railroad

  inbreeding

  Indians, American

  inoculation, Beyer’s experiment with

  Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Ivory-bill)

  Audubon and

  banding of

  bill of

  breeding patterns of

  call of

  classification of

  collecting of

  Cornell team’s study of

  in Cuba

  descriptions of

  distribution of, original

  efforts to save

  as endangered species

  extirpation of

  failure to rear young

  feeding habits of

  feeding of young

  feet of

  films of

  in Florida

  habitat of

  high-tech search for

  importance of

  incubation

  last U.S. sightings of

  nests of

  nicknames of

  photographs of

  plumage of

  rarity value of, to collectors

  recordings of

  reported sightings of

  Roosevelt (Theodore), description of

  Sonny Boy (young bird)

  specimens of

  Spencer and

  Tanner’s research on

  territorial needs of

  weight-saving features of

  Wilson (Alexander) and

  young birds

  Jay, Blue

  Jefferson, Thomas

  Jenner, Edward

  John’s Bayou (Louisiana)

  Jones, Sam H.

  journey to the Center of the Earth (film)

  Jumbo (Barnum’s elephant)

  Kacelnik, Alex

  Kansas, Cornell team in

  Keane, Peter

  Kellogg, Peter Paul

  Kennedy, John F.

  Kentucky

  Audubon in

  Boone in

  keratin

  Kuhn, J. J.

  Kulivan, David

  Labrador Duck

  Laird, Gene

  Laird, Jesse

  Lamb, Barbara

  Lamb, George

  Lambert, Arthur

  larks

  La Salle, René-Robert Cavelier de

  Laurel (Mississippi), logging in

  Leslie, Charles

  Lesser Golden Plover

  Lesser Prairie Chicken

  Limpkin

  Linnaeus, Carolus

  Little Bear Lake (Louisiana)

  logging

  in Cuba

  lumber boom in South

  of Singer Tract

  longleaf yellow pines

  Louisiana

  Fish and Game Department

  German POWs in

  high-tech search for Ivory-bill in

  logging in

  reported sighting of Ivory-bill (1999)

  See also Singer Tract; Tallulah

  Louisiana Purchase

  Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science

  Luneau, David

  Mack’s Bayou (Louisiana)

  Manatee

  Manigault, Gabriel

  Martinez, Orestes

  Mason, Joseph

  Massachusetts, protection of birds in

  Massachusetts Audubon Society

  Mather, Cotton

  McAllister
, Carl

  Michigan, protection of birds in

  migration, of birds

  Mississippi

  logging in

  Mississippi River delta

  mites

  Mourning Dove

  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

  National Association of Audubon

  Societies, see Audubon

  Society

  National Audubon Society, see Audubon Society

  National Park Service

  Natural Heritage Inventories

  Natural History of Carolina, Florida and

  the Bahama Islands, The (Catesby)

  natural selection

  Nature Conservancy

  Nevada

  New Orleans (Louisiana)

  New York, protected birds in

  New York Times, The

  Nixon, Richard M.

  North Carolina

  Tanner in

  Wilson in

  Nuttall, Thomas

  Nuttall’s oak

  oak trees

  Ohio, squirrel hunting in

  oil drilling

  Ojito de Agua (Cuba)

  Oklahoma, Cornell team in

  “Oologist, The” (catalog)

  Ornitologia Cubana (Gundlach)

  owls

  Barred

  Burrowing

  Great Horned

  Snowy

  panthers

  parabolic reflectors

  Parakeet, Carolina

  Passenger Pigeon

  Pearl River Wildlife Management Area (Louisiana)

  Peña, Carlos

  Pennant, Thomas

  People magazine

  Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

  pesticides

  Peterson, Roger Tory

  Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences

  Phoebe, Eastern

  Picidae (family)

  Piciformes (order)

  pigeons

  Pileated Woodpecker

  pine trees

  Pintail Duck

  Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)

  plovers

  Lesser Golden

  Piping

  Plume War

  Audubon Societies in

  bobbed hairstyle and

  hat industry, and feathers

  Hemenway and

 

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