The Race to Save the Lord God Bird

by Phillip Hoose

Overview

The tragedy of extinction is explained through the dramatic story of a legendary bird, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and of those who tried to possess it, paint it, shoot it, sell it, and, in a last-ditch effort, save it. A powerful saga that sweeps through two hundred years of history, it introduces artists like John James Audubon, bird collectors like William Brewster, and finally a new breed of scientist in Cornell's Arthur A. "Doc" Allen and his young ornithology student, James Tanner, whose quest to save the Ivory-bill culminates in one of the first great conservation showdowns in U.S. history, an early round in what is now a worldwide effort to save species. As hope for the Ivory-bill fades in the United States, the bird is last spotted in Cuba in 1987, and Cuban scientists join in the race to save it.

All this, plus Mr. Hoose's wonderful story-telling skills, comes together to give us what David Allen Sibley, author of The Sibley Guide to Birds calls "the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker."

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird is the winner of the 2005 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2005 Bank Street - Flora Stieglitz Award.

This new edition of the author's award-winning history features a new chapter about the endlessly debated 2004 Arkansas "rediscovery" of the ivory-billed woodpecker that made headlines around the world, as well as an expanded introduction and more than a dozen new images.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250073716
Publisher:	Square Fish
Publication date:	02/16/2016
Edition description:	Revised
Pages:	228
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1150L (what's this?)
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Phillip Hoose is an award-winning author of books, essays, stories, songs and articles. Although he first wrote for adults, he turned his attention to children and young adults in part to keep up with his own daughters. His book Claudette Colvin won a National Book Award and was dubbed a Publisher's Weekly Best Book of 2009. He is also the author of Hey, Little Ant, co-authored by his daughter, Hannah; It’s Our World, Too!; The Race to Save the Lord God Bird; The Boys Who Challenged Hitler; and We Were There, Too!, a National Book Award finalist. He has received a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, a Christopher Award, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, and multiple Robert F. Sibert Honor Awards, among numerous honors. He was born in South Bend, Indiana, and grew up in the towns of South Bend, Angola, and Speedway, Indiana. He was educated at Indiana University and the Yale School of Forestry. He lives in Portland, Maine.

Read an Excerpt

From THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD:
INTRODUCTION
A BIRD OF THE SIXTH WAVE

To become extinct is the greatest tragedy in nature. Extinction means that all the members of an entire species are dead; that an entire genetic family is gone, forever. Or, as ornithologist William Beebe put it, "When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again."

Some might argue that this doesn't seem so tragic. After all, according to scientists, 99 percent of all species that have ever lived are now extinct. And there have already been at least five big waves of mass extinction, caused by everything from meteorites to drought. The fifth and most recent wave, which took place a mere 65 million years ago, destroyed the dinosaurs along with about two-thirds of all animal species alive at that time. In other words, we've been through this before.

But the sixth wave, the one that's happening now, is different. For the first time, a single species, Homo sapiens-humankind-is wiping out thousands of life forms by consuming and altering the earth's resources. Humans now use up more than half of the world's fresh water and nearly half of everything that's grown on land. The sixth wave isn't new; it started about twelve thousand years ago when humans began clearing land to plant food crops. But our impact upon the earth is accelerating so rapidly now that thousands of species are being lost every year. Each of these species belongs to a complicated web of energy and activity called an ecosystem. Together, these webs connect the smallest mites to the greatest trees.

This is a story abouta species of the sixth wave, a species that was-and maybe still is-a bird of the deep forest. It took only a century for Campephilus principalis, more commonly known as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, to slip from a flourishing life in the sunlit forest canopy to a marginal existence in the shadow of extinction. Many species declined during that same century, but the Ivory-bill became the singular object of a tug-of-war between those who destroyed and sold its habitat and a new breed of scientists and conservationists dedicated to preserving species by saving habitat. In some ways, the Ivory-bill was the first modern endangered species, in that some of the techniques used today to try to save imperiled plants and animals were pioneered in the race to rescue this magnificent bird.

I say the Ivory-bill "maybe still is" a bird of the deep forest because some observers, including some very good scientists, believe that a few Ivory-bills continue to exist. Since I first became interested in birds in 1975, I have read or heard dozens of reports that someone has just caught a fresh glimpse or heard the unmistakable call of the Ivory-bill. Again and again, even the slimmest of rumors sends hopeful bird-watchers lunging for their boots, smearing mosquito repellent onto their arms, and bolting out the door to look for it. Year after year they return with soggy boots, bug-bitten arms, and no evidence.

The Ivory-bill is a hard bird to give up on. It was one of the most impressive creatures ever seen in the United States. Those who wrote about it-from John James Audubon to Theodore Roosevelt-were astonished by its beauty and strength. They gave it names like "Lord God bird" and "Good God bird." Fortunately, in 1935, when there were just a few left, four scientists from Cornell University took a journey deep into a vast, primitive swamp and came back with a sound recording of the phantom's voice and twelve seconds of film that showed the great bird in motion. It was a gift from, and for, the ages.

Cornell's image sparked a last-ditch effort led by the Audubon Society to save the Ivory-bill in its wilderness home before it was too late. But others were equally intent on clearing and selling the trees before the conservationists could rescue the species.

The race to save the Ivory-bill became an early round in what is now a worldwide struggle to save endangered species. Humans challenged the Ivory-bill to adapt very quickly to rapidly shifting circumstances, but as events unfolded, the humans who tried to rescue the bird had to change rapidly, too. The Ivory-bill's saga-perhaps unfinished-continues to give us a chance to learn and adapt. As we consider the native plants and animals around us, we can remind ourselves of the race to save the Lord God bird and ask, "What can we do to protect them in their native habitats while they're still here with us?"

THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD copyright 2004 by Phillip Hoose. Used with the permission of Farrar Straus Giroux.

Table of Contents

	Introduction: A Bird of the Sixth Wave	3
	Prologue: The Hostage ... February 1809	7
Chapter 1	Specimen 60803 ... February 2002	13
Chapter 2	Audubon on the Ivory-billed Frontier ... 1820-1835	21
Chapter 3	"The Road to Wealth Leads Through the South" ... 1865-1900	29
Chapter 4	Two Collectors ... 1892-1894	35
Chapter 5	The Plume War ... 1870-1920	47
Chapter 6	Learning to Think Like a Bird ... 1914-1934	59
Chapter 7	Shooting with a Mike ... 1935	69
Chapter 8	Camp Ephilus ... 1935	79
Chapter 9	Wanted: America's Rarest Bird ... 1937-1939	89
Chapter 10	The Last Ivory-bill Forest ... December 1937-October 1938	101
Chapter 11	The Race to Save the Lord God Bird ... 1941-1943	115
Chapter 12	Visiting with Eternity ... 1943-1944	125
Chapter 13	Carpintero Real: Between Science and Magic ... 1985-1987	135
Chapter 14	Return of the Ghost Bird? ... 1986-2002	147
	Maps: The Collapsing Forest: Mapping the Loss of Ivory-bill Habitat	156
	Epilogue: Hope, Hard Work, and a Crow Named Betty ... The Twenty-first Century and Beyond	159
	Important Dates for the Protection of Birds, Especially the Ivory-billed Woodpecker	165
	Glossary	168
	Sources	171
	Acknowledgments	185
	Picture Credits	189
	Index	190

Editorial Reviews

With power and humor, rage and sorrow, the narrative details the demise of the Lord God bird, braiding into its tale the stories of those who came into contact with it, from J.J. Audubon himself to James Tanner...Sidebars add engrossing details, and extensive back matter bespeaks exemplary nonfiction. But it's the author's passion that compels. Outstanding in every way.” —Starred, Kirkus Reviews

“In a thoroughly researched account based on interviews, primary materials, and published sources, Hoose tells how naturalists...raised, too late, awareness of the Ivory-bill's plight. Illustrated with archival photos and well provided with side bars, "important dates," maps, glossary, and index, this important summary of an environmental tragedy belongs in every library.” —The Horn Book

“This meticulously researched labor of love uses drama, suspense, and mystery to tell the story of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker...Hoose skillfully introduces each individual involved through interesting, historically accurate scenes. The author's passion for his subject and high standards for excellence result in readable, compelling nonfiction.” —Starred, School Library Journal

“The combination of the best of storytelling supported by extensive research...a must for any library serving youth or teachers.” —VOYA

“A compelling tale...readers will sense the urgency that remains, even if the Ivory-bill is gone.” —Publishers Weekly

“Hoose is a gifted storyteller. An engrossing story.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

“Fascinating, engrossing.” —Book Links

From the Publisher