UA ‘Ghost Bird’ Author to Speak on Forthcoming Book Detailing Searches for Controversial Woodpecker

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A University of Alabama professor and author of a soon-to-be published book detailing the controversial search and history surrounding a rare woodpecker will give an Oct. 18 talk to the West Alabama Sierra Club at UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History.

Dr. Michael K. Steinberg, assistant professor of New College and geography and author of the forthcoming book “Stalking the Ghost Bird: The Elusive Ivory-Billed Woodpecker in Louisiana,” will give a presentation to the Sierra Club at 7 p.m. Thursday. The public is welcome.

Steinberg’s book, scheduled for publication by Louisiana State University Press in March 2008, examines the reported sightings and extensive efforts to find the rare bird in Louisiana. In his research for the book, the UA professor plunges deep into the Louisiana bayous alongside wildlife experts and interviews native Louisianans. He explores the impact humans have had on both the bird and its natural habitat and the challenges to recovery efforts.

In 2004, the first reported sighting of the bird in more than 60 years created a stir. Efforts to document the rediscovery of the bird, once thought extinct, have been published in scholarly journals, but scientists continue to debate its existence.

UA’s New College and the department of geography are parts of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the “USA Today” Academic All American Teams.