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		On the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker On the Trail of the Ivory-bill   First Postcard   Second Postcard   Third Postcard   Fourth Postcard The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Ivory-bill Chat How You Can Help

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Support our efforts to conserve this critical habitat for the ivory-billed woodpecker. Donate now! Photos from the Big Woods Gene's Bar-B-Que in Brinkley, Arkansas, home of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Cheeseburger Photo © Phillip Hoose See a larger version of this photo The Ivory-billed Woodpecker Cheeseburger at Gene's Bar-B-Que in Brinkley, Arkansas Photo © Phillip Hoose See a larger version of this photo << Ivory-billed woodpecker postcard home

By Phillip Hoose
Senior Conservation Planner, The Nature Conservancy;
Author of The Race To Save the Lord God Bird
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Postcard #4: The Ivory-bill Cheeseburger

Gene’s Barbeque, Brinkley, Arkansas
May 4, 2005 — 7:30 PM

We drive up to the freshly painted sign which proclaims Gene’s Barbeque the "Home of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.”

There is some validity to this claim. Gene’s was a major hangout of the search team, a place where members sometimes met to dine after a day of working transects or checking cameras. We sit down and start to open our menus, but before we can order our waitress directs our attention to a board at the back with a new special:

“The Ivory-bill Cheeseburger”

While we wait for our food, Gene DePriest, the owner, invites us out back. There he shows us the stub of a tree he has cut down, with a good-sized hole near the top. It will soon be part of a sign further identifying Gene’s as the place to eat in the realm of the ivory-bill, a place the great bird itself might choose if grubs appeared on the menu.

Brinkley is the nearest town to the rediscovery and Gene’s is just one of many Brinkley establishments with “ivory-bill fever.” One barbershop now features ivory-bill haircuts, presumably sweeping the sideburns back into a pointed crest. The Western Sizzler across from our motel is selling ivory-bill t-shirts.

The ivory-bill has provided a boost to the economy of a town which had always enjoyed the attention of duck hunters in the winter.

And I have to say, that ivory-bill cheeseburger was pretty darned good.

Disclaimer: No ivory-billed woodpeckers (or pileateds) were hurt in the making of this delicious cheeseburger.

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For more information about the ivory-billed woodpecker and the Big Woods of Arkansas:

• Found: The Ivory-billed Woodpecker
  Learn about the timeline of the search for the ivory-bill, The Nature Conservancy's conservation efforts in the Big Woods of Arkansas, meet the search team, and more!
• Chat: Phillip Hoose Chats About the Ivory-billed Woodpecker
  Phillip Hoose, author of The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, discusses the recent rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.
• Online Excerpt: The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
  Read a three-page excerpt of Phillip Hoose's award-winning book about the ivory-billed woodpecker, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird.
• How You Can Help: Donate Online
  Support our efforts to conserve the critical habitat of the Big Woods for the ivory-billed woodpecker and other species.
• News Room: Ivory-billed Woodpecker News
  See ivory-billed woodpecker photos, maps of the habitat of the ivory-bill, and other news and information about the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker.