"Search for the Rare Ivorybill"

In the short excerpt “Search for the Rare Ivorybill” Don Eckleberry, the author, shares his experience of viewing one of the last ivorybill birds.  His person take on his findings gave the read a more personal touch and also gained credibility through his knowledge of the ivorybill and other birds.  To help give a vivid explanation of his discoveries, Eckleberry, used imagery and similes.  One that appealed to me the most was “the big pale bill sometimes looked almost like an ice cream cone jammed into her black mouth.”  The simile provides and insight of what the bird looks like.  He relates something that everyone knows of to help the reader capture the image of the rare ivorybill.  By adding similes and imagery the reader is more engaged in the reading and can gain a better sense of the magnificent creatures even with not knowing what they look like prior too.

            He also develops ethos in the piece.  Beginning with his large background of painting these almost extinct birds reveals his love for birds and that he finds passion in the knowledge and beauty of birds.  Also in the piece he adds to his ethos when detecting the sound of the ivorybill by saying, “I sorted them by ear and mentally pushed them aside.”  By them he is referring to the other birds’ chirps, he was able to detect which birds produced the sound, leading him closer to discovering the ivorybill.  By determining the bird by sound reveals his knowledge of birds.  The author concludes the article with a sense of how truly unique these animals are, they are sincerely remarkable.