An ivory-billed woodpecker Photograph by Arthur Allen
Washington, D.C. premiere
In April 2005 an announcement of the rediscovery of a supposedly extinct
bird, the ivory-billed woodpecker, made front-page news. So spectacular that,
according to legend, those who see it spontaneously cry out, “Lord God! What
was that?” the ivory-bill was once common in the southeastern United States,
but vanished as its habitat disappeared. Filmmaker George Butler’s new
documentary The Lord God Bird tells a story of faith, doubt, despair, and hope
regarding our relationship with nature. After the screening, the film's writer, Caroline Alexander, and producer, Bob Nixon, will take part in a discussion with Ron Rohrbaugh,
director of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Research Project, Tim Gallagher, editor of Living Bird magazine—who
sighted the bird in 2004—and Greg Marshall, National Geographic director of Remote Imaging.
