The Ivory-bill has frequently been described as a dweller in dark and gloomy swamps, has been associated with muck and murk, has been called a melancholy bird, but it is not that at all—the Ivory-bill is a dweller of the tree tops and sunshine; it lives in the sun...in surroundings as bright as its own plumage."

- James T. Tanner, 1939

Sunday, May 19, 2013

French journal Alauda reviews Ghost Birds

Vol. 81, #1, 2013
Alauda is the journal of the Ornithological Society of France. Here's an excerpt:

"Cet ouvrage est écrit dans un style très vivant.  Il relate avec moult détails la vic? quotidienne et la quête scientifique d'un ornithologue conscient des le début de son entreprise que l'espèce charismatique qu'il a choisi de connaitre est vouée a disparaitre sous ses yeux.
Ses efforts pour alerter les autorities et tenter de sauver l'espèce n'ont pu aboutir dans le contexte difficile de la second querre mondiale et a un moment ou il etuit sans doute déjà trop tard.  Voila un récit a lire et méditer sur l'itinéraire d'un ornithologue de XX siècle captive pur une espèce dont lu disparition récente témoigne de la brutalité avec laquelle notre propre espèce truite la nature." - Jean-Marc Pons

Karen Sue translates, "This book is written in a lively style.
The author recounts in great detail the everyday and scientific pursuit of a conscious ornithologist from the beginning of his adventure as the cherished species he has chosen to study is doomed to disappear before his eyes. His efforts to alert authorities and try to save the species were not successful in the difficult context of the second world war and at a time when it was probably already too late. Here is a story to read and meditate on the route of an ornithologist in the twentieth century and the inability of one man to save this species. The Ivory-billed's recent disappearance reflects the brutality with which our own species treats nature."


 

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