Natural Histories: osage orange

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This time of the year, the hedge apples are falling. 

UT Press writes, Natural Histories "illuminates in surprising ways the complicated and often vexed relationships between humans and their neighbors in the natural world."

Perhaps the most vexing encounter in the book between humans and the natural world occurred when the boys in gray engaged a simple hedge planted due west of the Harpeth River n Middle Tennessee.

On November 30, 1864—153 years ago this month—the horrific Battle of Franklin was fought south of Nashville. An osage orange hedge row played a key role in the outcome stopping one division of the advancing Southern army "dead" in their tracks. When the smoke cleared, the Confederate Army of Tennessee had lost almost 7,000 men in just five hours. (The Union army's dead and wounded numbered significantly less: only 2,326.) Here's a snippet from my book:

"The almost forgotten Battle of Franklin was a death knell. “This is where the Old South died,” says activist Robert Hicks, “and we were reborn as a nation.”

I visited the site on this date in 2004. It was a rainy day much like today. Here's another passage from the book:

"Leaving Lewisburg Pike, I walked along the rain soaked streets and soon found the two aged osage orange trees still growing in the vicinity of the railroad line. Historian Cartwright had told me about the old trees just an hour before. Both were perhaps descendants of the hedgerow that stopped Loring and, as such, were living monuments. It was a circuitous chain of events that moved osage orange from its native Red River home to this historic point of all out chaos; turn back the clock and replay the era, day by day, and it would not have unfolded in exactly the same way. I paused just long enough to admire the towering presence of the elderly trees; and as the rain began to fall heavy once again, I zipped up my coat, turned and walked away."

Excerpts from my book Natural Histories published by the University of Tennessee Press.

The fruit of an osage orange looks like a green brain

and probably tastes like one too,

although, I must admit, I've sampled neither.

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natural histories: feathers

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"Her dark fingers worked nimbly with the innate accuracy that can only be achieved by doing the same highly skilled task over and over. Or perhaps it was cultural knowledge and her hands simply knew what to do. Beside her lay a pile of soft and wide contour feathers. A closer inspection of the heap would have also revealed a multitude of earth tones: bronze, gold, amber, rust, umber, copper, terra cotta; colors that looked good against the Native American’s burnt sienna skin.

Using strands of tree bark, she lashed the lower shaft of each feather—known as the calamus—to a network of plant fibers, an interwoven foundation that in itself took hours to weave…In the end, she stood up and wrapped her creation around her shoulders checking its length. She was pleased. "

Excerpt from Natural Histories published by the University of Tennessee Press

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Amphibians of Tennessee

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Thursday, October 13

Ijams Nature Center and the University of Tennessee Press will host a book signing to celebrate the release of The Amphibians of Tennessee ($39.95, University of Tennessee Press). 

The book was written by University of Tennessee doctoral candidates Matthew Niemiller and R. Graham Reynolds.

The book signing and reception begins at 4 pm in the Ijams Visitor Center. For more information about the book go to: www.utpress.org.

Check out the book website at http://www.amphibiansoftn.com

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you're invited

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Thursday, October 21, 6 pm.

Film: You are invited to the Knoxville Museum of Art for a screening of the award-winning documentary Ghost BIRD (singular) by Scott Crocker. The film is about the recent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas.

Book Launch: Nancy Tanner and I will be at the event signing copies of our new book Ghost BIRDS. (Ours is plural, the titles similarity is coincidental.) Published by UT Press, our book is about the historic fieldwork and search for ivorybills conducted by Nancy's late husband James T. Tanner between 1935 and 1941. So both the film and the book are about the Lord God Bird but ours takes place over 70 years ago.

The event at KMA is co-presented by UT Press and the Tennessee Clean Water Network. For more info go to UT Press.

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bookfest

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Special thanks to Humanities Tennessee, organizers of the 22nd Annual Southern Festival of Books last weekend in Nashville and to my publisher, UT Press.

I was one of the presenting authors: doing my first public talk for my new book Ghost Birds. I met a lot of interesting people including—as you might suspect—many, many book buyers and readers. Plus, a lot of people are absolutely fascinated with the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Thanks to all who attended my program.

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natural histories: bald eagles

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"Eagles have a sort of play. They carry a large stick up and down a river playing keep away from one another. Every so often a second eagle will grab the stick and snatch it free, or the baton-bearer may drop it, only to dive at breakneck speed to catch it before it hits the water. They’ll play this game back and forth like kids with a ball, wild and free.

Only on rare occasions do we get to look into the heart of absolute splendor and know its naked truth; that nature is dynamic and resilient; a swirl of starts and stops and tenacious rebirths; and by all means, as fluid and swift and ever-changing as the river that flows past my Tennessee Valley home."



Excerpt from Natural Histories published by the University of Tennessee Press. Book available at Ijams Nature Center or from the author.

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Battle of Franklin

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"The almost forgotten Battle of Franklin was a death knell. “This is where the Old South died,” says activist Robert Hicks, “and we were reborn as a nation.” Leaving Lewisburg Pike, I walked along the rain soaked streets and soon found the two aged osage orange trees still growing in the vicinity of the railroad line. Historian Cartwright had told me about the old trees just an hour before. Both were perhaps descendants of the hedgerow that stopped Loring and, as such, were living monuments. It was a circuitous chain of events that moved osage orange from its native Red River home to this historic point of all out chaos; turn back the clock and replay the era, day by day, and it would not have unfolded in exactly the same way. I paused just long enough to admire the towering presence of the elderly trees; and as the rain began to fall heavy once again, I zipped up my coat, turned and walked away."


Excerpt from Natural Histories published by the University of Tennessee Press.

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congratulations!

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Congratulations to UT Press, now celebrating their 70th anniversary! I'm honored to be included in their fall catalog.

Special thanks to all that helped make Ghost Birds possible and now that the new catalog is out, I must thank designer Jill Knight who took a small portion of my ivory-bill illustration and turned it into something festive for the catalog's cover.

For more information go to:

Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941 available this fall. Cover illustration by the author.

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ghost birds

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"If you are in any way creative in your work, you know the feeling of having reached a certain point with a project, beyond which you can do no more without either going mad or running the risk of causing more harm than good by further tampering, ‘Here I stop,’ you say. With terribly mixed feelings—relief and regret, confidence and insecurity, self-satisfaction and self-disgust, among others—you turn in your work, and from that moment the work takes on a life of its own, separate from yours.”

- From “The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824,” by Harvey Sachs


Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941 available this fall. Cover illustration by the author.

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proof pages

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My second book for UT Press will detail the story of Dr. James T. Tanner and his study of the historic ivory-billed woodpecker of the 1930s, the famous remnant population of ivory-bills first rediscovered and photographed in 1935 on Cornell's Dr. Arthur Allen's expedition across the country with Peter Paul Kellogg and grad student Jim Tanner.

I hold in my hands the proof pages of “Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941.”

The proof pages are essentially the book in loose sheets. If I drop them on the floor, it'll be the devil putting the lot back in the proper order. I'm reading it for the last time and with the help of Karen Sue, preparing an index.

The book follows Tanner on his peregrinations through the South. Although the title is a long one, so was Tanner's search. Quest is the key word, the road miles, the swamp miles, the slogging through the mud miles. Over the course of his journey through eight southern states—South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas—Jim used a 1931 Model A Ford, canoe, dugout "pirogue," rowboat, motorboat, kicker boat, rented airplane, horse, mule and, most importantly, his own two legs: on dry land, mud and ankle-, knee- and waist-deep water. At one point he jokingly said, "A pair of webbed feet would have been useful."

I've been working on Ghosts Birds for the past three years—about a hundred zillion hours, give or take a million or two—with Jim's widow Nancy, who only lives a few miles from my house. Her home became my home away from home.

"Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941" will be published in early fall by the University of Tennessee Press. It'll be available at Ijams Nature Center and other locations in the real and virtual marketplace.

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my round home

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Hello! Is there anyone out there?

I’ve always been a fan of architect Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, but those had flat bottoms. How about a completely round home? No corners to lose things in.

Tree swallow nesting in the Tennessee Valley, and even our state, is a fairly recent occurrence.

According to Chuck Nicholson, author of the "Atlas of Breeding Bird of Tennessee," published by UT Press, the first recorded tree swallow nest in Tennessee was discovered in 1918 at Reelfoot Lake. It wasn’t until 1968 that other nests were documented, this time in Anderson and Maury Counties. After that, nests have been reported every year and since the late 1980s, the nesting population has increased dramatically. Today, they’re fairly common in throughout the state.

Tree swallows nest in empty cavities, hollow trees, bluebird boxes or even empty round gourds. Unlike their cousins, the colony-loving purple martins, the dark blue-green backed tree swallows prefer to build their nests isolated from other swallows.

- Photo taken at Ijams Nature Center

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ivory-bill talk

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Join us at Ijams Nature Center for this month's Science Café: Thurs., April 15, 5:30 p.m.

I'll hold an informal chat about the behind-the-scenes research for my upcoming book “Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Ivory-bill, 1935-1941.”

My second book for UT Press will detail the story of Dr. James T. Tanner and his study of the historic ivory-billed woodpecker of the 1930s. It's the famous small population of ivory-bills first rediscovered and photographed in the "Singer Tract" by Cornell's Dr. Arthur Allen on his 1935 expedition across the country with Peter Paul Kellogg and grad student Jim Tanner.

My book follows Tanner on his peregrinations through the South. What did he learn? What did I learn? Attend this month’s Science Café for a sneak peak and find out. Nancy Tanner and I have worked on the book the past three years. Nancy, who last saw an ivory-bill in December 1941, will also be present for the talk.

To register call Sheila at (865) 577-4717, ext. 10.

"Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Ivory-bill, 1935-1941" will be published this fall by UT Press.

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book update

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An update on “Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Ivory-bill, 1935-1941”:

Writing a book is like running a marathon. Not one of those modern 26-mile marathons; one more like the original ran by Pheidippides, the Athenian herald, who ran 150 miles (240 km) in two days. He then ran an additional 25 miles (40 km) from the battlefield near the town of Marathon (hence the name) to Athens to announce the Greek victory over Persia in the Battle of Marathon (490 BC). Newspapers hadn't been invented yet.

That’s what writing a book is like. Just when you think you are finished, there’s little more to do. Has anyone seen my sneakers? The book has been through the capable hands of Gene Adair, the manuscript editor at UT Press. Gene continued the process of tightening the work. Much like a film director’s rough-cut movie that must be trimmed from a running time of two-and-a-half hours down to two-hours, “Ghost Birds” is being trimmed, scenes shortened or deleted. (If there’s a DVD produced, I’ll consider including the deleted scenes.)

Currently, the manuscript is back in my lap for my last nips and tucks. Nancy Tanner and I are both rereading it.

I’ll keep you posted.

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Bayou DeView

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I recently heard from Ethan Duke, who worked part time for Ijams Nature Center a year ago. Ethan's passion is the feathered ones.

"I'm living in the swamps of Arkansas...spending a lot of time in Bayou De View and the White River Wildlife Management Area. I'm studying pileated woodpeckers. We have five birds on-the-air and 15 re-sights of past years' birds. The swamp is a magical, magical place my friend. I'll be here through the end of June. You are welcome to visit anytime. Bring waders and a love of big trees."

As indeed I should. And I do own waders. Must put this on my to-do list, since I do love big trees and Bayou De View was the place that several people spotted an ivory-billed woodpecker a few years ago.

I'm also just finishing a book about Jim Tanner and the historic ivory-bill of the 1930s to be published by UT Press this fall.


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manuscript

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Status: Somewhat exhausted, after four years of work, I delivered the manuscript for my second book to acquisitions editor Kerry Webb at UT Press today. I still have an illustration to finish, but that will happen. Drawing is easier; so easy even a caveman can do it. Humans have been drawing for millennia longer than we have been writing books. Pick up a stick with a burnt end and you can draw. If you have a little ground red ochre, you got color. Does anyone have a cave wall they need decorated? I'm pretty good with aurochs.

Drawings are quick, energetic dashes. They're left-brained.

Books are hard, long, slow, tedious, grueling marathons. Time consuming, especially if you write non-fiction. (You know, if you write fiction, you can make the whole thing up.)

Books are whole-brained, plus kidneys, heart, liver, spleen (so that's what that is for), cuticles, follicles, curlycues, muscle, sinew, bone.

Speaking of bone: my head-bone is tired. I've used all the words I know, some of them more than once. I'm ready for a long winter's nap. No more getting up at 6 a.m. Why am I sitting here at the computer? I have shopping to do.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

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golden

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Nature loves diversity, just look at goldenrod.

"Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains," by Richard Smith is a comprehensive guide of our area. Published by The University of Tennessee Press this book describes over 1,200 flowering plants, with color photos of 600.

As Smith admits, "Without a doubt, the goldenrods are the most difficult" to identify. His book lists 25 separate species of the gold-topped wildflower. Most are very similar, with small yellow-gold flowers arranged in clusters at the tops of tall stems. The differences are in the types of clusters and shapes of the leaves. Yes, nature loves diversity.

The species names are confusing as well. There's tall goldenrod, mountain goldenrod, hairy goldenrod, slender goldenrod, early goldenrod, late goldenrod, showy goldenrod, stout goldenrod, sweet goldenrod, skunk goldenrod and false goldenrod. The list goes on. It's easy to get bogged down in the names. In truth, there is even a bog goldenrod.

But what’s in a name? As Romeo's Juliet might have said, "What's in a name? A goldenrod by any other name would smell as sweet ... or be as confusing."

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pawpaw island

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"My visit was well timed, as it happened to be early fall, pawpaw season. I left to search for a patch I knew about on an island near downtown Sevierville.

"It was raining, at times hard and soaking, as I waded through a shallow section of the Little Pigeon River. Wandering around the tall grass on the soggy island, I wondered: Was I the first to search this place barefooted looking for food?

"I doubted it. During those long ago depression days, shoes were as hard to come by as groceries. And what about the Native Americans? The McMahan Indian Mound is located less than a mile from the secluded dollop of land."

Excerpt from my book "Natural Histories," published by UT Press.


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