Seventy years ago yesterday, North America’s first wryneck strayed to Alaska’s Cape Prince of Wales, where it was shot by the skilled Alaska Native collector Dwight Tevuk.
The second — just barely out of Asia — was discovered on nearly the same date, September 2, 2003. It survived, so far as anyone knows.
In between those two Alaska birds came one of the most bizarre records in North American ornithological history.
On February 16, 2000, a strange dead bird was salvaged on a military base in southern Indiana. After a few months in a freezer, it was identified as, of course, a wryneck. The thawed bird was found to be in “an advanced state of mummification,” suggesting that it had been trapped inside a container and shipped dead rather than improbably making its own short-winged way across the ocean and mountains and plains.
Looking back all of fifteen years, what is notable about that Indiana record is less the bird than the way the mystery it created was solved. After relating in detail the steps taken to confirm the bird’s identity and the condition of its plumage, the authors of the paper announcing the find drew an interesting lesson:
The discovery process demonstrated the usefulness of the internet for identification of unusual birds. If posted widely, requests for information can yield expert opinions almost instantaneously. Such responses can greatly expand the resources available to individuals seeking to solve these ornithological puzzles.
Prescient words.
