Resurrection

By Julie Rawe

The sight of it was enough to make one outdoorsman cry and Uncle Sam shell out $10 million to protect its habitat. Dubbed the Holy Grail of bird watching, the ivory-billed woodpecker was for decades thought to be extinct, but a team of scientists last week reported seven confirmed sightings within the past 15 months in Arkansas' Cache River National Wildlife Refuge. Researchers warned, however, that "we cannot rule out the possibility that all of our fleeting encounters involved the same bird." Meanwhile, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton urged bird watchers not to flock to the refuge and "love this bird to death." --By Julie Rawe