“The Thing with Feathers”

Tower’s article “The Thing with Feathers” has some contrast to Eckleberry’s “Search for the Rare Ivorybill” even being on the same general topic, the ivory-billed woodpecker.  Eckleberry started with the history of the fight for the ivory-billed woodpecker before transitioning into his own personal story as he tells of the last living of the species.  Tower’s on the other hand, begins with the announcement of the reemergence of the ivory-billed woodpecker.  Overall, Eckleberry’s story had a sadder and depressing mood while this article was more light-hearted, such as having jokes here and there.  One thing that was similar, however, was the conclusion.  Even though they started out completely different, Towers depicts in the last few lines a fleeting hope to see the ivory-billed woodpecker, only to be tricked by a group of automobiles on a nearby highway.  If you think about it, they both end mildly depressingly.  While there was hope at the beginning of the article, like in Eckleberry’s story, it diminishes towards the end. 

Like most of the rest of my classmates, as it seems, if I did supposedly spot and ivory-billed woodpecker, I doubt I would report anything on it.  My reasoning is that I do not trust myself to know enough about the ivory-billed woodpecker to be able to identify it.  Additionally, I doubt I would even realize it at the time even if I could as I am not an avid bird watcher or any of the sort so I don’t think I would even think about it at the time.  However, under the right conditions, were I able to identify it and be conscious of the event, I believe that Sparling’s course of action is among the best.  I have little doubt that his fears about the media would have come true if he would have just came out and said that he found the bird.  For this reason, if I could identify the ivory-billed woodpecker and happened to see one, I think I would attempt to follow what Sparling did.