Author, artist, photographer and local naturalist, Stephen Lyn Bales, left a gift at my door while I was visiting family in middle TN this past weekend--a copy of the September issue of Smithsonian Magazine. Not only does my friend's article on the Ivory-billed woodpecker appear in this issue, but it is also featured on the cover's headline. And, as I am writing this post, the article, "The Rarest Bird", currently ranks No. 1 in popularity on the Smithsonian Magazine's website, as well as, ranking in the No. 1 position among all articles emailed from the site. Not bad for a writer's Smithsonian debut!
In his article, Bales recaps the story of James Tanners' famous 1938 photographs of an Ivory-billed woodpecker nestling taken while Tanner had the young bird out of the nest for banding. Two of these photographs were published in Tanner's dissertation in 1942, and, along with four others, were thought to be the only images in existence.
For the past four years, Bales has been working with Nancy Tanner, wife of the famed ornithologist, while writing his book,
Ghost Birds, which focuses on the field work of the late James Tanner. It was during this research, in June of 2009, that an envelope was discovered containing never before published negatives of the young Ivory-billed woodpecker found at the Singer Tract.
I'll let you read Bales' account of how this all came about (link provided below). You will enjoy his entertaining style and a titillating glimpse of what is to come in his new book. And while you're visiting the Smithsonian website, don't miss the photo gallery link in the right hand column where you'll find some of the endearing Ivory-billed juvenile images that were recently discovered.
Smithsonian Magazine's "
A Close Encounter With the Rarest Bird"
Ghost Birds at Amazon
Stephen Lyn Bales' blog,
Nature Calling
Natural Histories: Stories from the Tennessee Valley, also by Stephen Lyn Bales. Read my
review, third from the top.
For the Love of It...
...the sage sees heaven reflected in Nature as in a mirror, and he pursues this Art, not for the sake of gold or silver, but for the love of the knowledge which it reveals.
Sendivogius (1750)
Those were marvelous photos in smithsonian, underlying again the loss of the species - if indeed it is completely gone.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed ur input about the ivory-bill.
ReplyDeleteYour blog showed up on my google alert.
Bobby Harrison saw the ivory-bill in 2004, in Arkansas.
PLS. visit his blog about the ibwo @
ibwfound.blogspot.com
He wrote a children's book about his experience, info @ site or amazon.com
Norma Harrison, his wife