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Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941
In 1935 naturalist James T. Tanner was a twenty-one-year-old graduate student when he saw his first ivory-billed woodpecker, one of America's rarest birds, in a remote swamp in northern Louisiana. At the time, he was part of an ambitious expedition traveling across the country to record and photograph as many avian species as possible, a trip organized by Dr. Arthur Allen, founder of the famed Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Two years later, Tanner hit the road again, this time by himself and in search of only one species—that ever-elusive ivory-bill. Sponsored by Cornell and the Audubon Society, Jim Tanner’s work would result in some of the most extensive field research ever conducted on the magnificent woodpecker.
Drawing on Tanner’s personal journals and written with the cooperation of his widow, Nancy, Ghost Birds recounts, in fascinating detail, the scientist's dogged quest for the ivory-bill as he chased down leads in eight southern states. With Stephen Lyn Bales as our guide, we experience the same awe and excitement that Tanner felt when he returned to the Louisiana wetland he had visited earlier and was able to observe and document several of the "ghost birds" — including a nestling that he handled, banded, and photographed at close range. Investigating the ivory-bill was particularly urgent because it was a fast-vanishing species, the victim of indiscriminate specimen hunting and widespread logging that was destroying its habitat. As sightings became rarer and rarer in the decades following Tanner’s remarkable research, the bird was feared to have become extinct. Since 2005, reports of sightings in Arkansas and Florida made headlines and have given new hope to ornithologists and bird lovers, although extensive subsequent investigations have yet to produce definitive confirmation.
Before he died in 1991, Jim Tanner himself had come to believe that the majestic woodpeckers were probably gone forever, but he remained hopeful that someone would prove him wrong. This book fully captures Tanner’s determined spirit as he tracked down what was then, as now, one of ornithology’s true Holy Grails.
STEPHEN LYN BALES is a naturalist at the Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is the author of Natural Histories, published by UT Press in 2007.
Drawing on Tanner’s personal journals and written with the cooperation of his widow, Nancy, Ghost Birds recounts, in fascinating detail, the scientist's dogged quest for the ivory-bill as he chased down leads in eight southern states. With Stephen Lyn Bales as our guide, we experience the same awe and excitement that Tanner felt when he returned to the Louisiana wetland he had visited earlier and was able to observe and document several of the "ghost birds" — including a nestling that he handled, banded, and photographed at close range. Investigating the ivory-bill was particularly urgent because it was a fast-vanishing species, the victim of indiscriminate specimen hunting and widespread logging that was destroying its habitat. As sightings became rarer and rarer in the decades following Tanner’s remarkable research, the bird was feared to have become extinct. Since 2005, reports of sightings in Arkansas and Florida made headlines and have given new hope to ornithologists and bird lovers, although extensive subsequent investigations have yet to produce definitive confirmation.
Before he died in 1991, Jim Tanner himself had come to believe that the majestic woodpeckers were probably gone forever, but he remained hopeful that someone would prove him wrong. This book fully captures Tanner’s determined spirit as he tracked down what was then, as now, one of ornithology’s true Holy Grails.
STEPHEN LYN BALES is a naturalist at the Ijams Nature Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is the author of Natural Histories, published by UT Press in 2007.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2010
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About the author
Stephen Lyn Bales
8 books32 followersStephen Lyn reads and writes (and occasionally does arithmetic) tucked away in the Tennessee Valley near the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. Most of the time he does it barefooted.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 14, 2022
Ghost Birds
Stephen Lyn Bales
This unique book goes back to when the fabled Ivory-billed Woodpecker was still present on our continent. The species has since become a symbol of lost wilderness in America and a symbol of hopes and dreams. One small Arkansas town placed hopes on a tourist boom after a recent alleged sighting. Some birders dream of finding a lost remnant population of this bird generally believed extinct. In his introduction to the book, Stephen Lyn Bales stated that as he learned more about Jim Tanner and his research efforts to document the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, he became convinced that someone should write a book about Tanner.
He states that he did not want to write the book. He had one book already and said that writing a book is like putting socks on an octopus, that one does not wish to undertake the task again. Despite those reservations, it became clear to him that he should be the one to write this book. He lived near Tanner’s widow, Nancy, and knew her from participation in a bird club. Through Nancy, he had access to Tanner’s journals and photographs, some of which he published in the magazine Tennessee Conservationist. This reviewer is glad he undertook the project and gave us his second book. He put hours of research into the project and cared enough to produce a quality project.
When Jim Tanner set off on his first expedition, he didn’t know he would observe the species that became his doctoral research project and become famous for its absence. He began the journey with Arthur Allen, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology when they set out to film birds and record their songs. They had none of the equipment we take for granted today, handheld and compact. Their sound laboratory alone weighed around 1,500 pounds. Their field equipment was heavy, bulky, and cranky.
In the end, the researchers filmed and recorded the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Turner then spent three years searching for these ghost birds. He completed the research and became a professor at a school which would later become East Tennessee State University. After service with the Navy during World War II, he taught at the University of Tennessee. He died believing the Ivory-billed Woodpecker had become extinct in his lifetime, and verifiable results of recent searches tend to support that conclusion.
Mr. Bales tells the story in a way that prompts the reader to want to learn more. An article that could serve as a footnote to the book appeared in Tennessee Conservationist magazine. Before the death of Tanner's wife Nancy in 2014, she was the last living person to have seen the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
Stephen Lyn Bales
This unique book goes back to when the fabled Ivory-billed Woodpecker was still present on our continent. The species has since become a symbol of lost wilderness in America and a symbol of hopes and dreams. One small Arkansas town placed hopes on a tourist boom after a recent alleged sighting. Some birders dream of finding a lost remnant population of this bird generally believed extinct. In his introduction to the book, Stephen Lyn Bales stated that as he learned more about Jim Tanner and his research efforts to document the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, he became convinced that someone should write a book about Tanner.
He states that he did not want to write the book. He had one book already and said that writing a book is like putting socks on an octopus, that one does not wish to undertake the task again. Despite those reservations, it became clear to him that he should be the one to write this book. He lived near Tanner’s widow, Nancy, and knew her from participation in a bird club. Through Nancy, he had access to Tanner’s journals and photographs, some of which he published in the magazine Tennessee Conservationist. This reviewer is glad he undertook the project and gave us his second book. He put hours of research into the project and cared enough to produce a quality project.
When Jim Tanner set off on his first expedition, he didn’t know he would observe the species that became his doctoral research project and become famous for its absence. He began the journey with Arthur Allen, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology when they set out to film birds and record their songs. They had none of the equipment we take for granted today, handheld and compact. Their sound laboratory alone weighed around 1,500 pounds. Their field equipment was heavy, bulky, and cranky.
In the end, the researchers filmed and recorded the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Turner then spent three years searching for these ghost birds. He completed the research and became a professor at a school which would later become East Tennessee State University. After service with the Navy during World War II, he taught at the University of Tennessee. He died believing the Ivory-billed Woodpecker had become extinct in his lifetime, and verifiable results of recent searches tend to support that conclusion.
Mr. Bales tells the story in a way that prompts the reader to want to learn more. An article that could serve as a footnote to the book appeared in Tennessee Conservationist magazine. Before the death of Tanner's wife Nancy in 2014, she was the last living person to have seen the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.
December 14, 2024
Few creatures capture my imagination, attention, and fascination as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: Campephilus Principalis. The weird thing is, I didn't know this bird existed until about a year and a half ago. What I've found out about it since has drawn me in head over heels. If you've ever heard of this bird before, it's probably from reel footage (the last confirmed) from an expedition in the 1930s, montaged amid other "final footage" of species from a lone Barbary lion, its shadow long-cast in a lonely ridge; the thylacine standing at a chain-linked fence in a zoo looking into the distance; a solitary calling Kaua'i 'o'o searching for a mate that will never appear; or even the two last Northern White Rhinos, both female, ambling slowly over their fields under the watchful eye of armed guards. Either that, or you may remember a stir in Brinkley, Arkansas, documenting the local news of a small town upended by a possible ivory-bill sighting in 2005.
My first exposure to this bird was Sufjan Stevens's hauntingly beautiful "The Lord God Bird," a song commemorating the largest woodpecker species in North America, an almost majestic bird that inspires awe whenever it was (is?) seen. And that's what has so captured my interest. We don't know if this bird is extinct or simply critically-endangered, elusive to human eyes. Those who claim to have seen it liken it to a mystical experience, and that mystery draws me in, body and soul.
And, to no one's real surprise, when I saw this book propped up at a favorite Cleveland bookshop this past November, I couldn't help but pick it up. Jim Tanner was a young member of a survey team (a practice still somewhat rare in those days) from the early version of Cornell's Department of Ornithology, traveling with figures such as Arthur "Doc" Allen and other naturalists to see whether this bird still existed (even then) in the old-growth primordial swamp forests of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Their survey documented several existing ivory-bills, or "kents" as the locals referred to them by the sound of their toy-horn-like call, in the Singer Tract of lumber in northern Louisiana. The same Singer of the famous sewing machines, using the cut wood to make the stands for their iconic namesake.
Years later, Jim Tanner set out on his own to conduct in-depth research on the ivory-billed woodpecker for the early version of the Audubon Society, documenting its likely habitat, nesting habits, diet, and so on. He located few more likely areas of habitat--including nestlings and fledglings--that seemed to be dwindling or even having seemingly vanished in odd circumstances. Amid the gums, oaks, and maples these birds call home, he would often find new or old "sign," evidence of feeding and debarking, along with no birds themselves. They really do seem to be "ghost birds."
You see, in those days it wasn't uncommon for enthusiasts and naturalists to shoot rare birds to serve as trophies and taxidermied specimens; somehow, keeping the birds alive and unbothered was an afterthought. Having barely survived the millinery trade of the late 1800s to suit women's fashion (feathers upon feathers on hats), the bird then faced even tougher odds in the 20th Century: a manifest-destiny-like consumption of industrial lumber, the "cut first, ask questions later" of corporate greed, and the onset of World War II, which saw the final known habitats of the ivory-bill sawed down to make tea boxes for British troops on the front lines--by German prisoners of war, no less. The ivory-billed woodpecker's story is one of loss; solitude; cruel irony; human hubris; cautionary warning; and unlikely hope.
I was going to rank this an "I liked it" three stars, as at times Stephen Lyn Bales documents Tanners travels and field studies in an almost episodic, "this, then this" dry way. But I settle on four stars, "I really liked it" for the mere mass of research and organization Bales must have undertaken to complete this work--for the respect of Tanner and his original work (and his continued friendship with Tanner's widow and remaining family), and for his reverence for this incredible creature itself.
The ivory-billed woodpecker will continue to inspire me, and--against all odds--I hope this bird survives beyond just imagination and into some unknown, remote sanctuary out there in the swamps of reality. Ultimately, I hope we, as a species, learn to respect the earth and its fragile inhabitants as they should be.
My first exposure to this bird was Sufjan Stevens's hauntingly beautiful "The Lord God Bird," a song commemorating the largest woodpecker species in North America, an almost majestic bird that inspires awe whenever it was (is?) seen. And that's what has so captured my interest. We don't know if this bird is extinct or simply critically-endangered, elusive to human eyes. Those who claim to have seen it liken it to a mystical experience, and that mystery draws me in, body and soul.
And, to no one's real surprise, when I saw this book propped up at a favorite Cleveland bookshop this past November, I couldn't help but pick it up. Jim Tanner was a young member of a survey team (a practice still somewhat rare in those days) from the early version of Cornell's Department of Ornithology, traveling with figures such as Arthur "Doc" Allen and other naturalists to see whether this bird still existed (even then) in the old-growth primordial swamp forests of Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Their survey documented several existing ivory-bills, or "kents" as the locals referred to them by the sound of their toy-horn-like call, in the Singer Tract of lumber in northern Louisiana. The same Singer of the famous sewing machines, using the cut wood to make the stands for their iconic namesake.
Years later, Jim Tanner set out on his own to conduct in-depth research on the ivory-billed woodpecker for the early version of the Audubon Society, documenting its likely habitat, nesting habits, diet, and so on. He located few more likely areas of habitat--including nestlings and fledglings--that seemed to be dwindling or even having seemingly vanished in odd circumstances. Amid the gums, oaks, and maples these birds call home, he would often find new or old "sign," evidence of feeding and debarking, along with no birds themselves. They really do seem to be "ghost birds."
You see, in those days it wasn't uncommon for enthusiasts and naturalists to shoot rare birds to serve as trophies and taxidermied specimens; somehow, keeping the birds alive and unbothered was an afterthought. Having barely survived the millinery trade of the late 1800s to suit women's fashion (feathers upon feathers on hats), the bird then faced even tougher odds in the 20th Century: a manifest-destiny-like consumption of industrial lumber, the "cut first, ask questions later" of corporate greed, and the onset of World War II, which saw the final known habitats of the ivory-bill sawed down to make tea boxes for British troops on the front lines--by German prisoners of war, no less. The ivory-billed woodpecker's story is one of loss; solitude; cruel irony; human hubris; cautionary warning; and unlikely hope.
I was going to rank this an "I liked it" three stars, as at times Stephen Lyn Bales documents Tanners travels and field studies in an almost episodic, "this, then this" dry way. But I settle on four stars, "I really liked it" for the mere mass of research and organization Bales must have undertaken to complete this work--for the respect of Tanner and his original work (and his continued friendship with Tanner's widow and remaining family), and for his reverence for this incredible creature itself.
The ivory-billed woodpecker will continue to inspire me, and--against all odds--I hope this bird survives beyond just imagination and into some unknown, remote sanctuary out there in the swamps of reality. Ultimately, I hope we, as a species, learn to respect the earth and its fragile inhabitants as they should be.
August 14, 2013
I don't why I am so intrigued by the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and the efforts of those dedicated scientists who have spent a large part of their lives searching for it. The first part of the book is the story of James Tanner, an ornithologist at Cornell University, who, along with several others, made a 14,000 mile trip throughout the US in 1934 locating and documenting many rare bird species, including the Ivory-billed, through photographs and sound recordings. The second part of the book describes Tanner's 3-year (1937-39) search throughout the southern US looking for remnant populations of the birds as part of his PhD thesis.
Travel at the time was not as easy as it is today and the efforts expended in such searches make for worthy adventure stories all by themselves.
Although the book is about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the reader should not miss the point that had it not been for the wholesale destruction of much of its habitat, the bird may still be present in viable populations today. Throughout the book, I wondered if the Endangered Species Act had been in effect and some of the conservation measures recommended by Tanner had been implemented, perhaps the bird, along with some its cohorts, could have been saved.
Travel at the time was not as easy as it is today and the efforts expended in such searches make for worthy adventure stories all by themselves.
Although the book is about the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, the reader should not miss the point that had it not been for the wholesale destruction of much of its habitat, the bird may still be present in viable populations today. Throughout the book, I wondered if the Endangered Species Act had been in effect and some of the conservation measures recommended by Tanner had been implemented, perhaps the bird, along with some its cohorts, could have been saved.
November 10, 2025
A exciting blend of facts, theory, and adventure. Right up there with Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan Slaght for one of the best bird-focused books I've read so far. Thank you Jim Tanner for your incredible research and Stephen Lyn Bales and Nancy Tanner for sharing it.
October 10, 2013
A beautiful book, reconstructed from the great Cornell ornithologist Jim Tanner's field notes from Cornell's 1935 expedition nationwide, from Florida to Idaho in search of endangered and rare species of birds, especially the ivory-billed woodpecker. Tanner and his team of intrepid birders did manage to locate ivory bills in the "Singer Tract" of N.E. Louisiana and found several pairs; the Singer Tract was owned by the Singer Sewing Company of Chicago, and ultimately the primeval forest of cypress trees, centuries old, was logged during the war and was lost forever. Great descriptions of the way the Louisiana swamps used to be, full of wolves--the last great holdout area of wolves outside of northern Minnesota in the lower 48 states--as well as what the state of Florida was like before interstate highways and theme parks. A marvelous book detailing the activities of some of the greatest bird naturalists of all time.
January 8, 2012
Another excellent book on the ivory-billed woodpecker, this one deal with the life of Jim Tanner, the man who studied the bird extensively when there were only a dozen or so (known) birds left to study. His work is what has allowed Cornell U to do such exhaustive work, trying to substantiate the recent sightings of the ivory-billed in Arkansas a few years ago. This book has better maps than the last, but it is still not strong in that department, so I often found myself paging through a road atlas. I found the author's interviews with Jim Tanner's wife delightful--it meant so much more to have that personal connection with Jim's quest. I went on from this book and watched the video about the 2004 sighting in Arkansas, and, especially with the background from this book, it was fascinating.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqZXPU...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqZXPU...
January 13, 2016
Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941, by Stephen Lyn Bales (University of Tennessee Press 2010)(Biography - Tanner) is an account of Jim Tanner, one of the last biologists to handle a living Ivory-Bill, in the swamps of Arkansas or Louisiana. My copy is inscribed by the author and by Nancy Tanner, Jim Tanner's widow. My rating: 7/10, finished 8/18/11.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews