Nature Book Reviews - The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker by Tim Gallagher

The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

by Tim Gallagher (Houghton Mifflin / $25.00)

“Ivory-bill!” Tim Gallagher’s sighting of the iconic woodpecker in February 2004 helped trigger the largest search ever mounted for the species considered the holy grail of North American bird-watchers (see Nature Conservancy, Summer 2005). Editor of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Living Bird magazine and a self-proclaimed bird fanatic, Gallagher here recounts his years-long quest to find the bird that all but the most ardent of “ghost chasers” thought long gone. This intimate narrative is populated with tales of the passionate ivory-bill seekers who, like Gallagher, went searching for hope—and found it.

— Teresa Duran

For more information:

Book Excerpt: The Grail Bird by Tim Gallagher
Meet Tim Gallagher and members of the ivory-bill search team as they explore the Big Woods of Arkansas and see an ivory-billed woodpecker.
Postcard From the Field: Return to the Bayou
Tim Gallagher, author of The Grail Bird and member of the ivory-billed woodpecker search team writes from the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in 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!
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.