Ivory-billed Woodpecker Encounter
from Smithsonian Magazine
September 2010

On March 6, 1938, ornithologist James T. Tanner was watching an Ivory-billed Woodpecker nest on the Singer Tract in Northeastern Louisiana.  Based on his observations from the previous 16 days, he knew that the nestling's parents foraged for about 20 minutes at midday.  No ivory-billed had ever been banded, and Tanner decided to band the nestling while the parents foraged.  After a successful banding, he decided to trim a branch that had been blocking his view of the nest hole.  This cause the young bird to bolt from the nest.  It was too young to fly but managed to flutter to a landing in some vines.  Tanner scrambled down the tree, retrieved the bird, and handed it to his assistant, J. J. Kuhn.  Although he feared that he had "messed things up", he decided to take some pictures.  When he finished, he returned the bird to its nest, apparently none the worse for the experience.  Here are some of those remarkable pictures.