The Race to Save the Lord God Bird

by Phillip Hoose

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.

Genres: Nonfiction, Birds, Animals, Nature, Science, History, Environment

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Phillip Hoose is the widely-acclaimed author of books, essays, stories, songs, and articles, including the National Book Award winning book, Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice.

He is also the author of the multi-award winning title, The Race to Save the Lord God Bird, the National Book Award Finalist We Were There Too!: Young People in U.S. History, and the Christopher Award-winning manual for youth activism It's Our World Too!.

The picture book, Hey, Little Ant which began as a song by the same title was co-authored with his daughter Hannah. The book is beloved around the world with over one million copies in print in ten different languages. Teaching Tolerance Magazine called it, "A masterpiece for teaching values and character education."

Phillip's love of the game is reflected in his acclaimed books, Perfect Once Removed: When Baseball Was All the World to Me which was named one of the Top 10 Sports Books of 2007 by Booklist and Hoosiers: the Fabulous Basketball Life of Indiana.

A graduate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Hoose has been a staff member of The Nature Conservancy since 1977, dedicated to finding and protecting habitats of endangered species.

A songwriter and performing musician, Phillip Hoose is a founding member of the Children's Music Network and a member of the band Chipped Enamel. He lives in Portland, Maine.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/philli...

Reviews

[Richie Partington · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 May 2004 THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD by Phillip Hoose, Farrar Straus & Giroux, August 2004, ISBN: 0-374-36173-8

"Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone" --Joni Mitchell

"Before white settlement, more than one-quarter of all the birds in what is now the United States were Passenger Pigeons. They were so abundant that in 1810 Alexander Wilson saw a flock pass overhead that was a mile wide and 240 miles long, containing over two billion birds. That flock could have stretched nearly twenty-three times around the equator. Passenger Pigeons were pretty and brown, with small grayish heads, barrel chests, and long, tapered wings that sent them through the sky at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour.
"But they had two problems: they were good to eat and they destroyed crops by eating seeds. Farmers not only shot them, but also cast huge nets over fields to trap them by the thousands. It took only a few decades to wipe out what may have been the most plentiful bird ever to live on the earth. A fourteen-year-old boy named Press Clay Southworth shot the last wild Passenger Pigeon in 1900. The species became extinct in 1914, when Martha, the last captive pigeon, died quietly in the Cincinnati Zoo."
You know those arcade games with a steering wheel and a gas pedal? (There never seems to be a brake pedal on those things.) Well, sometimes the world feels to me just like one of those babies, careening along full speed, sound effects and all, with all of us just trying to hold on and not send anyone or anything flying off the road. And then there are also those times it feels like I'm out there on that animated road like a deer in the headlights, waving my arms with all those crazy drivers blindly bearing down on me.
"Humans now use up more than half of the world's fresh water and nearly half of everything that's grown on land."

I remember being a little kid and reading about extinct species such as the Passenger Pigeon and the Dodo bird, and about the rapidly diminishing number of bald eagles (thanks to DDT). Back in 1960, when there were around 177 million people in the United States, I was growing up in Plainview, L.I., which was then the eastern terminus of the Long Island Expressway. I'd sometimes go kite flying in the pasture of a nearby cow dairy. (Yes, cow dairies in Plainview.) People I would later meet in the environmental movement were then involved in the Zero Population Growth movement.

In 1970, when the US was up past the 200 million people mark, my parents loaded us in the car for a drive to Florida to see the piece of investment property they'd bought in the middle of nowhere. (A memorable trip, for I hacked all the way there and back with what turned out to be a bad case of walking pneumonia.) That nowhere is now the city of Naples, Florida, and the swamps and grassy plains I saw there in 1970 are now nowhere.

"It's the end of the world as we know it."
--REM

In 1980, when I had a farm in Southampton, I watched a red fox carrying off one of my young laying hens. You sure wouldn't see that today. At that point the US was up past 226 million. A few years later, after arriving in California, I stayed briefly in an old house on a five acre piece of farmland that now contains over two hundred and fifty dwelling units.

"And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it's going no one knows."
--Nick Lowe

The Ivory-billed Woodpecker must have been one heck of a bird. Big, noisy, powerful, and fierce, it once existed all over what is now the US South, and its plumage and/or head was prized by Native Americans for decoration and as an amulet. Indians from the North would offer much in trade for their own specimens. Once the white boys arrived, they too killed the Ivory-billed because of the big bucks involved. THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD utilizes the story of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker as the centerpiece for a fascinating and vital history that portrays the long and belated evolution of the "bird lovers," from the guys who loved them, shot them by the dozen, and sold them to collectors the world over, to the first modern ecologists who arose in the 1930s. Trying, at that point, to solve the mysteries of how the Ivory-billed fit into its environment, and whether there was a way to save the handful that still then existed, we read of the heroic determination by a few to prolong the life on earth of what many once called "that Lord God bird."
From James Audubon to the Audubon Society and beyond, THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD is as thrilling and as scary in its consequences as one of those arcade games. And, sadly, some of the corporate characters we meet treated the birds' survival as if it were a game. The story brings us to Jim Tanner, a man of my grandfather's generation, who spent years amid mosquitos and snakes, studying the world's remaining handful of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers. All living by that time in a single, last chunk of virgin riverbottom woods in Louisiana that was owned by the Singer sewing machine company, Tanner became the only person to ever band an Ivory-billed. His 1937 photos of that feisty young chick, which they came in contact with while its parents hunted for food and which they named Sonny Boy, show the proud young bird strutting atop his partner's hat. Returning to the Audubon society with the photos and a plea for immediate action, Tanner was singularly responsible for the Society's last ditch effort to save the Ivory-billed.
It is ironic that that last ditch effort was ended by a war. A self-proclaimed money grubbing corporation, utilizing imported Nazi POWs as cheap replacement labor, deliberately destroyed that last stand of Ivory-billed habitat before it could be saved. Now, as this powerful and sure-to-be-an-award-winning book comes to press, as thousands of species continue to become extinct every year, it is ever so hard to concentrate on such abstract issues as the pending extinction of some rare bird or bug. The economy has been crappy for years, so many have no health care, and we're all focused on photos of what soldiers are doing to prisoners for the sake of democracy. There isn't much brain room for nature.

But as the US population inexorably marches toward the 300 million mark--twice what it was when I was born a half-century ago--it is essential for today's young adults to begin considering what kind of world they want to spend their lives in. THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD illuminates the kind of important decisions that must be made, where making the wrong decision--or even no decision--will bring about irrevocable results for the planet.

Richie Partington
http://richiespicks.com
BudNotBuddy@aol.com

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reads easily and re-enforces the importance of preserving habitat. Every reader probably closes the book with a desire to see one of these birds in the wild, knowing full well that they're extinct. (I'd even like to see the woods where they lived.)

I do wonder if someday scientists will be able to clone some of these birds from the skins saved in museums. But even if they did, would there be the habitat necessary for their survival? And would a young bird know how to survive without the coaching of an older bird?

p 154: The Ivory-bill's story challenges us to understand creatures on their own terms. Can we get smart enough fast enough to save what remains of our biological heritage? Can we learn to understand and protect creatures that we can't own, pet, walk, or even feed? Can we learn to respect things that might seem ugly, small, and unimportant, simply because we share an experience as living creatures?

[Hilary "Fox" · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker is also known as the Lord God Bird, as merely laying one's eyes upon it was enough to elicit a cry of "Lord God, what a bird!" It is also known as the Grail Bird and the Ghost Bird. It is semi-mythical in many people's minds now, and is even described in this book as existing halfway between life and magic. To describe it as the guardian of the forest, as the spirit that measures our own ecological impact upon the world is not a bad way of viewing it. The bird only went extinct due to human's greed, after all. Wouldn't it being reestablished in any true fashion be a testament to our improvement as a species?

This is a sad book, a chronicling of the series of events that lead to the extinction of something truly marvelous. The way the maps show the distribution of the species shrinking year by year, the discovery of what had caused that shrinking too late, the advent of World War II halting any ability of the government to protect it... all these things and more are enough to make one want to set the book down and cry. Yet there is hope, always a glimmer of it however small. Perhaps in Cuba, perhaps in Arkansas, perhaps somewhere the Ghost Bird still flies and calls, even if only pursued by two crows like an arrow through the sky.

This book challenges us to do better in the future, to be more aware and to consider how even the mites that infested the feathers might have worth. There is so much beauty and passion in those searching for the bird, so much good that came from it. Hopefully its legacy will live on. Hopefully we will do better. Hopefully this book will continue to be read and stand as a testament that we should never forget the past, but instead seek to improve upon it through our actions in the present and the future.

[Bennett Holloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very unassuming book. The cover seemed to say “mildly entertaining coffee table occupant, probably an anti-logging, anti-pesticide essay tacked on the end.” I was only 25% right. The rest is some really curious, entertaining history amidst a gripping story of conservation. Favorite read of the year and will forever rest on my proverbial coffee table.

Listen to “The Great God Bird” by Sufjan Stevens (only on YouTube)

[Renae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fascinating and depressing at the same time. Something quite heartwrenching about the most-likely failed effort to protect the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.

I only wish they'd invested in color illustrations where they could. The book was clearly a labor of love, and I know many of the photos were black-and-white, but there where obviously ways they could have added color to make the book even more striking.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best nonfiction books ever written. A mesmerizing true story about the desperate attempts to save a species from extinction.

[Mary Jane Hele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds me of "The last of the Curlews" and it makes me as sad. The extinction of a species that occurred over slightly more than a century is such a sad thing. Especially when the species was so magnificent. But that shouldn't even matter. The greed of the hunters who eliminated the Ivory-bill in one area of America and the habitat loss due to the greed of the lumbering companies both sealed the fate of this lovely bird. It seems that we would have learned from the mistakes of the past but we are still seeing major habitat destruction all over the planet and loss of species.

This book is well written, informative, and educational. It takes us back and describes the history of ornithology. I am glad I heard about it.

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Gallagher claims he saw an Ivory billed woodpecker in Arkansas in 2005. Wikipedia says the last confirmed sighting was in Cuba in 1987. But the mystery surrounding this bird gets some people out of bed in the morning even to this day.

60 Minutes segment on the Lord God Bird

[Debra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Narrated by Dan Bloom and acquired from the National Library for the Blind and Print Disabled's BARD app.

An interesting and accessible nonfiction book that makes a fine accompaniment to Hill's and McBride's fiction about this elusive bird, aka the Ivory Billed Woodpecker.

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddening account of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's descent into extinction. There were times when I got so angry I yelled at the book in my hands and times when I stopped reading to cry. I read somewhere that when the last Great Auk was clubbed to death people were shocked that they were gone forever. Well, nothing was learned from that. Collectors and ornithologists regarded the Ivory Bill as a rare bird yet they went into the forest and shot them. Complete insanity, and why we can't have nice things.

[David Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird by Phillip Hoose (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2004)(598.72). This is an excellent account of the disappearance of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. It was known as “The Lord God Bird” for what unsuspecting travelers in the swamp or the woods often said when surprised by this loud and massive bird at close range. My rating: 7.5/10, finished 2005.

[Eddie Callaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

A conservationist's must read; the story of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is important for future conservation efforts. The fact that the country allowed this bird to go extinct is one of the saddest, pathetic failures of environmental history.

[Jennifer Sommer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winner of numerous book awards, this is an intriguing account of how the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, also known as the Lord God Bird, became extinct. On my reading list for several years now, I finally got around to finishing it when my interest was once again piqued after reading Where Things Come Back, a fictional story in which the bird has been sighted. The Race to Save... chronicles the bird from the years when there was a fairly abundant population, to relatively recent years when it became a tragically rare bird that could not be saved. The quickly dwindling number of birds becomes a very personal story for the reader. There are many factors that contribute to this, including fads like wearing plumes in hats, and hunters who locate specimens for museums and personal collectors. This heartbreaking story is told using maps showing the diminishing habitat, photographs of the people who dedicated their lives to the woodpecker, the places where they lived, and the beautiful bird itself. The reader learns not only about the woodpecker, but also how the methods of studying birds have changed through the years. Learning about the necessary environment needed for an Ivory-billed Woodpecker to survive was the key to discovering why it was becoming extinct. A backstory about the creation of the Audubon Society during this period is included. Efforts were made to stop the loggers who supplied wood for the Singer sewing machine company, as well as for wooden boxes (coffins and tea boxes) for WWII. The southern forests were critical habitats for the bird, but with no alternate solution in sight, the destruction of its habitat and depletion of its food supply ultimately led to the birds' demise. The last confirmed sighting of the bird was in Cuba in 1986. Recent bird sightings by reputable eyewitnesses has led to much excitement, but has not been substantiated by any proof. The bird is thought to be extinct in both US and Cuba. This story will appeal to bird lovers and those interested in conservation in grades 6- adult.

[Charla Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hope the Lord God Bird still exists

This book provides an in depth look at the survival or non-survival of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. It provides an informative timeline of the race to save the bird from extinction as well as the pathway to its extinction created by man and the almighty dollar. Mostly it is a very sad story because there are so many things that could have been done to assure the Lord God Birds survival. It is sickening how people shot them down by the hundreds just to have a specimen for their collection. It’s also disturbing how their habitats were being destroyed despite knowing that the bird’s were near extinction. The plight of the birds survival has caused us to be more careful and concerned about a species extinction and because of the likely extinction of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker people now pay more attention and laws have changed in favor of protecting endangered species. Also, we now have ways of keeping up with the numbers of endangered species. And since the probable loss of the Lord God Bird other species have been saved, such as the Peregrine Falcon. I am thankful for the awareness and concerns to save endangered species now, but I do wish we had been more concerned when the Ivory Bill needed us. I do hope that somehow, somewhere there are a few Ivory Bills remaining.

[Landra Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely and interesting read, beautifully written with descriptive language that draws you into the book, e.g., “The dry scratch of pen against paper in New York City froze the powerful jaws of development in midbite.” A case study in using sympathetic *people* associated with the non-fiction topic to aid in engaging the reader. The book is structured around individual stories of people who were fascinated with, and had some role in the history of, the ivory-billed woodpecker. Hoose brings us into each of their stories, the personal sacrifices they made and the lengths they went to in their attempts to save it. We relate to their increasing desperation and sadness. Through them, we learn to care about the bird and for endangered species in general. A fascinating and thought-provoking read.

[Lizzy]

This book may be the worst thing I have ever read. My middle school chose this book as our non-fiction book choice in seventh grade and let me just tell you it was the longest 3 months that I will never get back. The book basically tells the story of these researchers and "bird searchers" (idk what to call them) about the science behind the extinction of this bird called the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. The title is very misleading calling this a "race" to "save" this bird when in reality we all knew the ending because when you look up the bird it comes up as extinct. This book is 224 pages of pure boredom. In seventh grade I did not learn how to write a paragraph correctly. But, I did in fact learn the steps to extinction and how boring bird watching is. Please never read this book it is a waste of time.

[Deb Aronson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew the rough outline of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker story but this book really filled in the holes for me. It was heartbreaking to read as one parcel of forest after another was gobbled up by greed and need. It was interesting to imagine the ornithologists battling their way through the muck and undergrowth and insects to sit for hours at the base of a tree with a nest in it. The story and photos of the baby woodpecker that landed on one of the ornithologist's head was marvelous. But bottom line, it's still a really really sad story. It would be really incredible to see one of these birds myself and perhaps I'll try to track down the video they took of the baby.
We have lots of pileated woodpeckers by us in a long leaf pine forest and I love them so much. I can imagine loving the ivory billed even more.

[Nic · Rating 4 out of 5]

"This single unmated female was all that remained of the Lord God bird that had commanded America's great swamp forest for thousands of years. She was the sole known remainder of a life-form that pre-dated Columbus or Christ or even Native Americans."
The tragedy of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is that there was a point when it still could have been saved. If consideration could have won out over greed, and a national refuge been established instead of continued logging, the birds might still be flying and calling and breeding today. Unfortunately, logging companies were insatiable. The loggers cut down trees, and if they weren't three feet wide, left them there to rot. Why not measure them first and leave them standing if they were too small? The absolute waste is disgusting, and doing so knowing that a species will die out because of it is criminal.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I picked this up from the library, I was surprised that it was in a "coffee table book" format. I wasn't sure I would enjoy reading it in a traditional way. But as I did, I realized that this added to its effectiveness. Whether you read it through completely in a linear fashion or just leaf through a few pages here and there without full intent of comprehension, you will be forced to learn even just a little about the Lord God Bird and how its likely extinction is a case study in U.S. conservation history.

[Lillian Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. The author's tone is thoughtful and inviting and reads like fiction. PH is a master story teller. Additionally, I am from the Southeast and considering the history of this part of the country through the story of ivory billed woodpecker's extinction was fascinating. I'm using this book in a number of my undergraduate classes and I've recommended it as the critical inquiry book for all incoming freshmen. I strongly recommend it for young people and adults.

[isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

i only decided to read this book because i had an independent reading project in two days and i had not picked a book yet, but i was most pleasantly surprised. i absolutely adored this book!! it was such an easy, entertaining read. i went from reading it for school to reading it for fun after two chapters. i would 100% recommend this book :)

[Anne Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some books stay with me long after I read them. This is one of those books. It is about the race to save the Ivory-billed woodpecker and the forces that led to its extinction.

(This is a fill-in review. I'm going back and reviewing books from my notes written at the time I read the book before blogging and Goodreads participation. Written 7/27/21)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The history is presented in an interesting way, there are plenty of relevant pictures, and I appreciated the positive spin at the end: even though Ivory Billed Woodpeckers are most likely extinct, we have learned how to take care of other species and pay closer attention to our effect on the natural world because of them.

[strelitzia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heart-wrenching story about the decline of a species once bountiful in nature and whose existence now remains a huge question mark. Reading this book's an emotional experience; I love how the events were discussed. The inclusion of artworks and photos in the book was also helpful in visualizing the bird's features, their old habitats, and the people who played important roles in their lives.

[Leah Hahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book does a great job at helping readers understand any species and protecting habitats. He does a wonderful job explaining extinction and that humans can be the cause of another species becoming extinct.
I thought it was a great book and was very informational.

[Nancy Stassinopoulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ivory-Bill woodpecker’s journey to extinction

An engrossing account of the world’s largest woodpecker, which once lived in large numbers in Southern swamps and forests. Habitat destruction caused the demise of this magnificent species, despite the efforts of ornithologists and conservationists. Some hope that a few birds remain in Arkansas and in Cuba, but documentation is lacking.

[Cheryl]

Too depressing for me. But I enjoyed the photos, and appreciated the fact that there is a plethora of back matter. It was also interesting to learn that Joseph Mason, who painted 50 of the backgrounds in Audub0n's masterpiece, was only 13 when he joined him.

Oct. 2023

[Alana · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting. i want to go searching myself now.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Introduces the bird and goes through history introducing the illustrators, hunters and entrepreneurs that crossed its path and fixed its fate.

[Bette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable, flowing text. Familiar characters like Audobon, Tanner, Laird, Cornell and Singer are mentioned. Great history and discussion of extinction.