wynnesome

Something more interesting, presumably than the "how my day went" post.

I've started reading The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by Tim Gallagher. Gallagher is the gentleman whose lecture we went to a couple of weeks ago, who is one of the re-discoverers of this bird long thought to be extinct.
I've been following this story for a good part of the year, which is when I first remember hearing about it in the news. I've found the story to be incredibly inspiring, the joy of discovery of something precious found instead of lost.
To get to hear the story from Gallagher himself was terrific. He's a great speaker and storyteller, and of course his talk is a firsthand account, way better than a newspaper article or tv story. It's a feel-good story, but not in the way of some shallow, cliche movie-of-the-week. This is a guy whose career has been dedicated to studying birds and campaigning for the preservation of natural bird and wildlife habitats. He's been involved with the quest to confirm a current sighting of the ivorybill for years, and to have finally seen the bird with his own eyes is the first step toward the culmination of a life's work. (The other two parts, he says, beyond having seen the bird, are to take a clear, quality photograph to document it, and to see a viable nest.)
So far, the book contains much of the same information as his lecture did, although I have to say, actually the lecture had more details than the book. Background on the history of the destruction, due to clear-cut logging, of the Southern swamp-bottom forests that were the ivorybill's habitat, the trail of confirmed and unconfirmed ivorybill sightings over the years, the evolving photographic and audio technology used to document those sightings, and tales of the people he has talked to himself and the territory he has braved in the course of researching his book and searching out living ivorybills. Even though I know how this story progresses, and how it "ends" up to this point, I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the book. Hearing Gallagher lecture, it's clear that every time he tells the story, he's reliving the amazement and awe of seeing the ivorybill with his own eyes. He succeeds in passing along that spine-tingling sense of awe to the listener. It's a story that is both intellectually interesting, and full of emotional impact, and that's my favorite kind.

Aside from all of this, the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is quite a beautiful bird. Big and flashy, black-and-white, the males having a red crest, and almost prehistoric-looking. Thinking of these birds flying through the primeval swamps brings me to mind of when I was little and read books about dinosaurs and my favorites, not surprisingly, were the flying dinosaurs, relatives of the birds. The ivorybill, in shape, reminds me a lot of the pictures of Pteranodons and Pterodactyls. If you do a Google image search for "Ivory-Billed Woodpecker" there are a lot of great pictures, older pictures of live birds, pictures of museum specimens, and modern artistic renderings of the birds. Also plenty of articles and information summarizing the search and rediscovery of the ivorybill, and some other interviews with Tim Gallagher and others involved with the search.

So, I think it's safe to say that even though I'm not heading out myself to Bayou de View in Arkansas to search out the ivorybill for myself (although it's a tempting thought but not really feasible for me right now), I've developed a bit of the ivorybill fever. I've even thought of getting a tattoo based on the ivorybill, either realistic or stylized. But I'm determined that I'm not getting a tattoo till I'm absolutely certain that I know exactly what I want to have on me forever, and I haven't come up with a design yet that I can say that about yet. It's a loud and persistent thought though. I can see myself with a series of bird tattoos. Of course I want a raven, although again, I'm not sure about the style or exact design I want, which is the only thing that's kept me from getting a raven done. I've been thinking about it more and more though, so maybe I'll figure out and settle upon exactly what I want. I'm not even sure where I want the raven one, and it depends what design I come up with/choose, where I think it would fit best. But for the ivorybill, newer idea as it is, I already have an idea of what position I would want the bird in, whether I would go with a stylized or realistic version. And I think I would want it over my right shoulder-blade. Subject to change, of course, but that's how I see it right now, if I were to get it. And of course even once I decide exactly what I want, there's always the financial consideration of when I can spend money on a large and colorful tattoo. Not to mention the next piercings I'm more and more certain I want... things to look forward to!

From near-extinct birds to tattoos and piercings!

Well, I said I was going to dinner and then coming back and working, and I didn't really lie about that... the ivorybill story is the subject of one of my updates for the store site, so writing it out in this form should make it that much quicker to set down the synopsis of the lecture and book that I'll do for the store version. Just have to snag a pic of the book's cover, scan the autograph in our copy ("The Ivory-Bill Lives!" wrote Gallagher, pretty cool), and put in something about how we'll also be seeing a presentation by Bobby Harrison, Gallagher's traveling guide and the person he saw the ivorybill with, at the Birdwatch America trade show in Atlanta in January. I'm looking forward to that, too.