Scott Weidensaul
"The Ghost With Trembling Wings"

Scott Weidensaul will provide a 50 minute lecture and present a slide show to promote his new book "The Ghost with Trembling Wings" to be published in June 2002 on Wednesday, June 12, 2002 at 7:00PM at Beechwood Farms.

Program Synopsis:

By most estimates, our planet loses three or four species an hour, eighty or more a day, thirty thousand a year — the worst rate of extinction in 65 million years (when a meteor collided with earth and wiped out dinosaurs among other life forms). The prognosis may not be good for Mother Nature, but humans are a hopeful lot.

In "The Ghost with Trembling Wings", nature writer Scott Weidensaul investigates the ongoing efforts to locate flora and fauna around the globe that scientists have given up for dead: a compelling tale of lost species and lost causes in the 21st century.

Two years ago, reports of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker sighting in the bayou country near New Orleans made national headlines. It was the first credible sighting of the bird in decades — the woodpecker was widely considered extinct after excessive logging destroyed much of its habitat in the 30's and 40's — and birders, scientists, and curiosity seekers soon descended upon the area for a glimpse. Though the ivory-bill remains as elusive as the Loch Ness Monster, the faithful are never more confident. A high-end binocular company is currently sponsoring a search party of international specialists to exhaustively canvass the swamplands by foot, boat, and off-road vehicle.

Scott Weidensaul, author of the acclaimed "Living on the Wind", explores the most tantalizing clues left by phantom species: from the splashy (the ivory-bill, the golden toad, the Australian night parrot) to the plain (the Sempler's warbler, the blue pike). Every success story (like the Indian forest owlet, which was rediscovered in 1997 after "missing" for over a century) generates new optimism for scientists and enthusiasts alike. Weidensaul profiles those who have made it their life's mission to recover lost species, and examines the peculiar obsession that drives their quest. "The Ghost with Trembling Wings" — to be published by North Point Press in June 2002 (ISBN: 0-374-24664-5 / $26.00) — is a valuable reminder of how fragile and resilient our natural world can be.

Slide show synopsis for The Ghost with Trembling Wings:

From Ivory-billed Woodpeckers in the swamps of Louisiana to Tasmanian tigers in the mountains of Australia, we cannot let go of some animals. Though written off as extinct, tantalizing hints of their continued existence surface from time to time — enough to keep alive the hope that they may not be gone. And every so often, one of these lost species does in fact reappear, like a gift to a depaupered world. What is it about these species that enthralls us, compelling some people to spend their lives in the hunt for evidence?

And what does the rediscovery of species once though extinct mean in this day of global biodiversity loss? Naturalist and author Scott Weidensaul discusses this fascinating and complex subject, based on his upcoming book from FSG: THE GHOST WITH TREMBLING WINGS.