Wildlife Photograph

Ijams Opens New Exhibits

Thursday August 17, 2006
Read all about how your Ijams experience will be even more exciting!

This month, Ijams will officially open new exhibits featuring the long-lost ivory-billed woodpecker and the extinct passenger pigeon. Their stories will be told through the words of local legends H.P. Ijams and UT Professor and ornithologist James T.  Tanner. Stories of other extinct and endangered species are also featured.                                                                                                                                          These unique, world-class exhibits were realized with the help of a number of local and international artists.  Together they designed and produced a series of interactive components and visual representations that tell the life   histories of these species in fun, informative ways. Several of the wonderful carvings and interactive components were produced by Midori Barstow. Many of you are familiar with Midori’s art. She carved the whimsical animals on the beams throughout the Ijams Visitor Center. The exhibits also feature these activities:                                                                                                   ~Turn the crank and see Sonny Boy (an ivory-bill nestling) appear in his roost hole                                
~Feed a baby woodpecker with beetle larvae                                                                                               ~Touch and feel ivory-billed woodpecker claw and feather carvings                                                 
 ~Touch and feel ivory-billed woodpecker,  passenger pigeon and Carolina parakeet carvings                
 ~See a life-size ivory-billed woodpecker carving in a southeastern cypress swamp diorama               
~Watch historical film footage of ivory-bills from the famous 1935 Cornell Expedition in Louisiana                                                                                                                                                      ~View vintage photographs, by James T. Tanner, of ivory-bills in their native habitat                                    
Plus, Ijams has made special arrangements with the Frank H. McClung  Museum and the National Park Service to display male and female passenger pigeon specimens, one of which previously belonged to H.P. Ijams.                                                                                                                                                      A  full-color exhibit catalogue, including a reprinting of H.P. Ijams’ Passing of the Passenger Pigeon, and a series of information packs for students and educators will also be available for purchase.                                                                                                                 I hope you will join us as we celebrate Ijams’ latest  enhancements and officially open these exhibits at a members-only reception on Friday August 18 at 5:30 pm.  If you plan to attend, please RSVP to Kelley Dodd at 865-577-4717 ext. 23 or email kdodd@ijams.org                                                  These exhibits were made possible by generous donations from annual appeal donors and our sponsors BellSouth, East Tennessee Public Television, WUOT.

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