Tim Gallagher, the author who spotted the holy grail of birds in 2004, captivated a big audience Tuesday night with his muddy tale of adventures in an Arkansas swamp.

Then he came back Wednesday for a private encore with people who may actually make a career out of studying life on earth.

Students in Will Robinson's Casper College biology class were treated to the condensed version of an hours-long talk and then had a chance to visit personally with the now-famous author.

Robinson was instrumental in bringing Gallagher to the college for the public lecture and wanted his students to have their own showing.

"It's really nice to be able to spice up a class," Robinson said.

Gallagher, editor of the renowned Cornell Lab of Ornithology's quarterly magazine, was part of a team that followed the trail of the elusive ivory-billed woodpecker around the South. He described the thrill of the chase in his book, "The Grail Bird," which he autographed after his lecture Tuesday.

Students said their professor already offers a great class but the talk from Gallagher was special.

Leah MacCarter of Casper liked that the talk was accessible.

"I thought he was really funny," she said.

Gallagher made the students laugh with his bird noises and stories of following a cigar-chomping hunter to the site of a bird-spotting. Oh, and the time he and another birder had to speed around in an SUV to shake a cottonmouth snake out from under the engine.

Student Cheryl Mandich, who has studied the habitat of the sage grouse, paid attention to Gallagher's description of how clear-cutting destroyed much of the woodpecker's territory.

She said she wants future generations to be able to enjoy wildlife in their natural habitat.

Gallagher said he was initially intrigued by the woodpecker because, "It's such a bird of mystery."

He set out on its trail not knowing if he'd see one himself, but at least wanting to learn about the subculture of birders who are fascinated by the creature, and who at times are demonized by skeptics who think the periodic sightings are bogus.

The last universally accepted sighting and photos were in the 1940s, before the forest was harvested for wood by paper mills. Subsequent sightings were treated like rumors of Bigfoot, Gallagher said.

Months of detective work paid off in February 2004, when Gallagher and a colleague, dressed in camouflage, canoed the Bayou de View in Arkansas hoping for a glimpse.

"Suddenly it just burst out in front of us," Gallagher said. "We both yelled at the same time, 'Ivory-bill!'"

They ditched their canoes at the bank and chased it through the swamp.

"It was like a weird nightmare trying to keep up with this bird," he said.

Once they lost sight of it, the men decided to write up some field notes immediately, before they discussed what they'd seen. They drew similar pictures of the rare bird, and contacted the ornithology lab for back-up.

A professional birding team came to spend weeks in the swamp, and finally collected the sounds and video that have convinced many people, but not all, that the team really did see the ivory-bill.

This week, researchers from Auburn University announced they spotted the woodpecker in the swamps of the Florida panhandle.

"They were inspired by our search, so we felt really good about that," Gallagher said.

He plans to continue giving his talk to community groups, colleges and even elementary schools, and then this winter will head South again to resume the search.

"This should be a really great year," he said.

Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.