An elusive woodpecker

I had been wondering how the heck I was going to make this wonderful story about the re-discovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker seem in scope on my library-related blog. But, it turns out, I won't even be the first library blogger to cover it--Erica wrote the inside scoop on Librarian Avengers.

When my battered copy of Peterson's Eastern Birds had crisp pages and a shiny cover, I read about one of the most impressive birds in the entire book--a 20" woodpecker with a huge bill, a red (male) or black (female) crest, and a call that Audubon described as "resembling the high false note of a clarinet." And I remember feeling sad at the last line of the description of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker: "Very close to extinction, if, indeed, it still exists."

The happy story that naturalists believe this amazing bird still exists is a real boost for me as I trudge toward the end of the semester.     #

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