"Search for the Rare Ivorybill"

In Don Eckelberry’s “Search for the Rare Ivorybill”, we are faced again at an extinction of a species that is caused by man. I don’t think it’s ironic how many stories like these can be found around this time period I think of it as more of a trend. Animals inhibited this Earth before humans did and so it’s only reasonable to look at the extinction of species by man as selfish and tragic. The journal starts off by establishing the credibility of Don Eckleberry and the work he has done which not only makes his records believable but also shows his passion for birds, and more specifically, the ivorybill. I like how he started by introducing his ending point in Louisiana and then giving readers the exigence that led up to his arrival there. His narration has a lot of older English sounding diction such as “forbade” and “forthwith” which adds to makes the piece feel vintage as well as authentic. It gives readers the time period in which this piece was written and reveals that the ivorybill hasn’t been around for a very long time. As the story keeps unfolding the struggle to keep the last ivory billed woodpeckers alive is intense as a man by John H. Baker goes from president to president to keep the lumber industry down. But man is so destructible and so greedy that they don’t care for the nature, they don’t care about a bird or a habitat, they care about getting resources and getting their paycheck. Do you think that would pass in our society today? Do you think that there would be a reward for spotting the last bird of a species today? Lastly, as we watched Treadwell’s documentary and saw his passion for animals, can’t we compare Don Eckleberry to him? He was just chasing the animal he was so passionate about too also but the passion was still there.