Every morning, Michael Collins heads to the Pearl River bayou near his Louisiana home to bird-watch for a couple of hours before work. He gets around the swamp by kayak, hauling cameras, tape recorders, and tree climbing ropes, and searches, day after day, for the holy grail of birds. Every so often — once or twice a year, on average — his perseverance is rewarded: He catches a fleeting glimpse of an ivory-billed woodpecker.
MSNBC