The Daily Times

Look at the feet on that bird.

That must have been on the mind of a then young Jim Tanner as he picked up the scared, young nestling that jumped from its nest before his very eyes.

That nestling, a male ivory-billed woodpecker, was later named Sonny Boy by Tanner, who had this historic encounter in 1938 in the swamps of northeast Louisiana. Before this 24-year-old researcher shimmied back up the tree to deposit the 4-week-old baby woodpecker back inside his home, Tanner had wrapped him in bandanas to prevent the little guy from clawing him as he rode up 43 feet safely inside Tanner’s shirt. And before that, Tanner had the forethought to do something that is still talked about today: he took the last universally accepted photographs of an ivory-billed woodpecker.

Tanner died in 1991, but the expedition he went on at the height of the Great Depression still excites and entertains nature lovers worldwide. 

Telling his story

Five years ago, Gatlinburg native Stephen Lyn Bales talked at length with Tanner’s wife Nancy, about all that her husband saw and did on the trip across country that lasted for 145 days and spanned more than 15,000 miles.

Someone needs to write a book, Bales surmised.

So after a year of research and the help of Tanner’s widow, Bales became the one who would do it. His book, “Ghost Birds: Jim Tanner and the Quest for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, 1935-1941,” came out two months ago.

“We didn’t know a lot of information about the ivory-billed until Jim did this,” Bales told the Tellico Village Garden Club at its meeting Thursday.

For instance, Tanner learned that the ivory-billed woodpecker feasts on trees that have been dead for two years or less. It has the tough beak to be able to tear through the bark in search of tasty grubs. Tanner came to understand why the species was so hard to find. The birds rarely flies low to the ground and builds nests that are 40 to 50 feet off the ground. After the eggs are laid, the male ivory-billed takes the night shift to sit on them while the female does her part during daylight.

The quest begins

Tanner’s trek began Feb. 13, 1935. He was a graduate student at Cornell University and jumped at the chance at a job and true great adventure. He and the others winded their way from one coast to the other, recording bird songs and observing everything about them. They carried with them 1,500 pounds of equipment in a day far removed from 21st century technology. That equipment included a parabolic mirror microphone invented by Cornell University and still used today on the sidelines at football games.

“This is really an adventure story about this 24-year-old in the Great Depression who had a job,” Bales said. “He didn’t earn a lot of money but he got the chance to go out into the swamps and camp out and learn everything he could about the ivory-billed woodpecker.”

Researchers today are divided on whether or not the ivory-billed has gone extinct. There have been reported sightings and photographs taken, but none that can be universally accepted as authentic. Bales himself said he is “on the fence” on the matter.

The ivory-billed is closely related to and resembles the pileated woodpecker, Bales explained. However, the ivory-billed has a white triangle of feathers on its back, while the back of the pileated is black. At great distances it can be difficult to differentiate.

Deeper into the subject

After traipsing across this great land in 1935, Tanner returned to report all that he had learned about various species of birds, their songs, habitats, etc. Then as the first recipient of the Audubon Society Fellowship, Tanner headed back out in 1937 alone to study the one species he couldn’t get off his mind �" the ivory-billed woodpecker.

With his recently purchased Ford Model A, Tanner set out. “He took it places it was never designed to go,” Bales said. “He traveled for three years over the South.”

In those three years, Tanner was able to establish the historic range of the ivory-billed woodpecker. It has never called East Tennessee home, preferring the swamps and lowlands of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia, Tanner determined.

An added bonus

Bales’ book, “Ghost Birds” has put attention back on this monumental research project and given the young researcher Jim Tanner the credit he deserves. Then Bales got an extra bonus of his own one afternoon while spending time with Nancy Tanner. She had uncovered some negatives she never knew existed.

Upon further examining the materials, Bales said they discovered the hidden-away negatives were photos Tanner took of Sonny Boy on that memorable day, March 6, 1938, when Sonny Boy had jumped from his nest as Tanner had tired to band his foot. These were never-before seen or published photos of that baby ivory-billed.

As it turns out, there were 14 photos in all, eight of which had never been published. Bales got in touch with Smithsonian magazine editors who were foaming at the mouth to get these in the public’s eye. They did just that in the September 2010 issue. Included are six of the previously unpublished photos of Sonny Boy and one of Bales and Nancy Tanner.

“That was my 15 minutes of fame,” Bales quipped.

What we know now

Nancy Tanner is now 93 years old and resides in Knoxville. Jim Tanner spent 30 years teaching at the University of Tennessee. After devoting so much time mired in mud and chasing the ivory-billed, Tanner had wanted to help save its habitats, but slowly they have disappeared, as large forests were forced to give up their lumber.

The Singer Tract in Louisiana was Tanner’s last hope. It had been owned by the Singer Sewing Machine Company for future needs. When the sales of sewing machines declined, hopefuls thought it might be saved from harvest. It was not.

The last time he and Nancy saw an ivory-billed was December 1941 in the Singer Tract just months after they were married.

Because Tanner had banded Sonny Boy on that March day in 1938, they were able to document he was still around one year later.

But the debate on whether or not we will see another of his species lingers on.

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