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
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