In May of 1822, Count Christian Ludwig von Bothmer shot down a stork over his castle grounds in North Germany.
However, he wasn't the first person to hunt that specific bird.
Upon recovering the stork, von Bothmer found it impaled by a yard long wooden spear.
A local professor determined the weapon was African in origin, suggesting that somehow, this stork was speared in Africa and then flew over 2,500 kilometers to the count's castle.
This astonishing flight wasn't just evidence of the stork's resilience.
It was an essential clue in a mystery that plagued scientists for centuries: the seasonal disappearance of birds.
Ancient naturalists had various theories to explain the annual vanishing act we now know as migration.
Aristotle himself proposed three particularly popular ideas.
One theory was that birds transformed into different bodies that suited the season.
For example, summertime garden warblers were believed to transform into black caps every winter.
