Library to Host Imperial Dreams Author

Tompkins County Public Library will host Tim Gallagher for a reading and signing of his acclaimed book “Imperial Dreams:  Tracking the Imperial Woodpecker Through the Wild Sierra Madre,” May 15 at 6 p.m. in the BorgWarner Community Room.

An award-winning author and editor of Living Bird magazine at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Gallagher—following up on his role in the  rediscovery of the long-lost Ivory-billed Woodpecker of the American South—set out for the Sierra Madre armed only with a dream of locating the world’s rarest bird, the Imperial Woodpecker, and a map of area sightings given to him by a dying friend.  Gallagher’s journey through the mysterious and dangerous Sierra Madre Occidental results in encounters with AK-47-armed drug dealers, the discovery of fields of opium poppies and marijuana, burning houses and fleeing villagers.

“Imperial Dreams” beautifully captures Gallagher’s journey, the people of the Sierra Madre and the decline of their homeland.

Gallagher has also penned the acclaimed “The Grail Bird,” about his rediscovery of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and “Falcon Fever’ about his lifelong interest in birds of prey.

This program is free and open to the public.  Copies of “Imperial Dreams” will be available for purchase at the event, courtesy of Buffalo Street Books.  For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler-Carmenatty at (607) 272-4557 extension 248 or cwheeler@tcpl.org.