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Tracking the Imperial Woodpecker Through the Wild Sierra Madre
Atria Books
April 2013
On Sale: April 16, 2013
304 pages
ISBN: 1439191522
EAN: 9781439191521
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Explorer and naturalist Tim Gallagher is obsessed with rare
birds. A decade ago, Gallagher was one of the rediscoverers
of the legendary ivory-billed woodpecker, which most
scientists believed had been extinct for more than half a
century—an event that caused an international stir. Now, in
Imperial Dreams, Gallagher once again hits the trail,
journeying deep into Mexico’s savagely beautiful Sierra
Madre Occidental, home to rich wildlife, as well as to
Mexican drug cartels, in a perilous quest to locate the most
elusive bird in the world—the imperial woodpecker, a giant
among its clan. The imperial woodpecker’s trumpetlike
calls and distinctive hammering on massive pines once echoed
through the high forests. Two feet tall, with deep black
plumage, a brilliant snow-white shield on its back, and a
crimson crest, the imperial woodpecker had largely
disappeared fifty years ago, though reports persist of the
bird still flying through remote mountain stands. In an
attempt to find and protect the imperial woodpecker in its
last habitat, Gallagher is guided by a map of sightings of
this natural treasure of the Sierra Madre, bestowed on him
by a friend on his deathbed. Charged with continuing the
quest of a line of distinguished naturalists, including the
great Aldo Leopold, Gallagher treks through this mysterious,
historically untamed and untamable territory. Here, where an
ancient petroglyph of the imperial can still be found,
Geronimo led Apaches in their last stand, William Randolph
Hearst held a storied million-acre ranch, and Pancho Villa
once roamed, today ruthless drug lords terrorize residents
and steal and strip the land. Gallagher’s passionate
quest takes a harrowing turn as he encounters armed drug
traffickers, burning houses, and fleeing villagers. His
mission becomes a life-and-death drama that will keep
armchair adventurers enthralled as he chases truth in the
most dangerous of habitats.
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