Pfeilstorch

{{Short description|Migrating stork which has been hit by an arrow}}

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File:Rostocker Pfeilstorch.jpg rather than hibernating or changing form in winter.]]

A {{langnf|de|Pfeilstorch|arrow stork|paren=left}}, {{IPA|de|ˈpfaɪ̯l.ˌʃtɔɐ̯ç|pron}}; plural {{lang|de|Pfeilstörche}}, {{IPA|de|-ˌʃtœɐ̯.çə|}}) is a white stork that is injured by an arrow or spear while wintering in Africa and returns to Europe with the projectile stuck in its body. As of 2003, about 25 {{lang|de|Pfeilstörche}} have been documented in Germany.{{cite web |year=2003 |title=Der Rostocker Pfeilstorch |trans-title=The Rostock Pfeilstorch |work=Der Sprössling |publisher=University of Rostock |pages=9–10 |url=http://www.biofachschaft.uni-rostock.de/fileadmin/MathNat_Bio_Fachschaft/Sproessling_Nr._3_SS03.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213064131/http://www.biofachschaft.uni-rostock.de/fileadmin/MathNat_Bio_Fachschaft/Sproessling_Nr._3_SS03.pdf |archive-date=2015-02-13 |quote=Mittlerweile sind etwa 25 Fälle bekannt geworden, in denen Weißstörche ganze Pfeile oder Bruchstücke aus Afrika nach Deutschland mitbrachten. |trans-quote=Since then, around 25 cases wherein white storks have brought with them either entire arrows or fragments from Africa to Germany have become known. }}

The first and most famous {{lang|de|Pfeilstorch}} was a white stork found in 1822 near the German village of Klütz, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It was carrying a {{convert|30|in|cm|round=5|order=flip|adj=on}} spear from central Africa in its neck.{{cite web |url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/curious-questions-stork-spear-neck-solve-mystery-migration-birds-210144 |first=Martin |last=Fone |date=11 January 2020 |website=countrylife.co.uk |access-date=18 December 2020 |title=Curious Questions: How did a stork with a spear through its neck solve the mystery of the migration of birds? }}{{cite web |url=https://www.spektrum.de/news/vogelzug-die-wahre-geschichte-vom-pfeilstorch/2019937 |title=Vogelzug: Die wahre Geschichte vom Pfeilstorch |work=spektrum.de |date=20 May 2022 |first=Hakan |last=Baykal |lang=de |trans-title=Bird Migration: The True Story of the Arrow Stork |access-date=November 15, 2022 }} The specimen was stuffed and can be seen today in the zoological collection of the University of Rostock. It is therefore referred to as the {{lang|de|Rostocker Pfeilstorch}}.{{cite web |url=http://www.zoologie.uni-rostock.de/sammlung/ |title=Zoologische Sammlung der Universität Rostock |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002041540/http://www.zoologie.uni-rostock.de/sammlung/ |archive-date=2 October 2011 |language=de }}{{cite web |url=http://www.zoologie.uni-rostock.de/fileadmin/MathNat_Bio_Zoologie/ZSRO_Flyer_2007_Engl.pdf |title=Flyer for the Rostock University Zoological Collection |language=en |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120322113930/http://www.zoologie.uni-rostock.de/fileadmin/MathNat_Bio_Zoologie/ZSRO_Flyer_2007_Engl.pdf|archive-date = 22 March 2012}}{{cite web |title=Der Sproessling 3 |url=http://www.biofachschaft.uni-rostock.de/fileadmin/MathNat_Bio_Fachschaft/Sproessling_Nr._3_SS03.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141125180016/http://www.biofachschaft.uni-rostock.de/fileadmin/MathNat_Bio_Fachschaft/Sproessling_Nr._3_SS03.pdf |archive-date=25 November 2014 |language=de}}

This {{lang|de|Pfeilstorch}} was crucial in understanding the migration of European birds. Before migration was understood, people struggled to explain the sudden annual disappearance of birds like the white stork and barn swallow. Besides migration, some theories of the time held that they turned into other kinds of birds, mice, or hibernated underwater during the winter, and such theories were even propagated by zoologists of the time.{{cite book | title=Birds Britannica | publisher=Chatto & Windus |author1=Cocker, Mark |author2=Mabey, Richard | author2-link=Richard Mabey | year=2005 | page=315 | isbn=0-7011-6907-9}}{{Cite web |title=The Weirdest Ideas About Bird Migration

|first=Ross |last=Pomeroy |date=February 19, 2018 |url=https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2018/02/19/the_weirdest_ideas_about_bird_migration.html |website=www.realclearscience.com |access-date=2019-12-19}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/magazine/flight-paths.html |title = Flight Paths|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2015-05-15|last1 = MacDonald|first1 = Helen}} The {{lang|de|Rostocker Pfeilstorch}} in particular proved that birds migrate long distances to wintering grounds.{{cite book |first=Ragnar K. |last=Kinzelbach |title=Das Buch vom Pfeilstorch |publisher=Basilisken-Presse |year=2005 |isbn=3-925347-78-X |language=de}}

Ernst Schüz documented a number of birds with arrows stuck to them: a white-bellied stork collected in Tanganyika, a short-toed eagle in Hungary, a honey buzzard in Finland, and a black kite. He also reported swans and eiders with Inuit arrows. He noted in 1969 that sightings of birds with embedded arrows had declined because of the "unfortunate" replacement of bows and arrows by guns.{{cite journal |author=Schüz, E. |year=1969 |title=[Short Notes]. Storks and Other Birds Carrying Arrowheads |journal=Ostrich |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=17– |doi=10.1080/00306525.1969.9634321}}