Friday, October 8, 2010

ghost birds: review









The reviewer writes:

“This is a long over due book about a man of amazing tenacity. The book tells the incredible story of James T. Tanner, the right man in the right place at the right time. Tanner, an undergrad student at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology was selected by the legendary Arthur Allen to join an expedition across America to record in sound and on film rare and endangered birds. Upon being shown Ivorybills in the Singer Tract of Northern Louisiana the expedition makes the first photos, movies and sound recording of this rare and endangered species.

“It was not soon after this expedition that Tanner was back in the Louisiana swamps under a grant from the National Association of Audubon Societies, studying ivorybills and working on his PhD. Tanner's four-year study is the first and only scientific study of Ivory-billed Woodpecker. The author, Stephens Lyn Bales did a superb job of telling the fascinating story of this iconic man. If you have an interest in the ivorybill or not, this is a must read book. Once I started reading I could not put it down. Bales words have a flow that keeps you mesmerized about the young James Tanner and his exploits throughout the south as he searches for the "Grail Bird.”

- By Bobby Harrison, The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Foundation

Ghost Birds published by UT Press. For more information go to:

Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941


Cover illustration by the author. Book available in the gift shop at Ijams Nature Center.


No comments: