This Bird Will Put a Spell on You
A birder may have a target bird so elusive that the bird becomes a kind of "jinx bird." But there was a real bird by that name.
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Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote!
There鈥檚 an element of luck in birdwatching, and sometimes that luck is mostly bad. A birder may find a particular bird so elusive, that after many unsuccessful attempts to see it, the bird becomes a kind of 鈥渏inx bird.鈥
Can a bird truly be equated with bad luck? Europeans centuries ago believed so, for the very word 鈥渏inx鈥 and its connotation of a spell of bad luck comes directly from a bird鈥檚 name.
The bird once called the 鈥渏ynx鈥 -- j-y-n-x -- is the bird known today as the Eurasian wryneck. When a wryneck, a brown and gray-toned bird about the size of a small woodpecker, is threatened at its nest-hole, it twists its head sideways like a snake and hisses.
This anomalous behavior led to the wryneck being invoked in witchcraft to put a spell or a jinx on someone.
Today, the Eurasian wryneck seems harmless enough, although its scientific name, Jynx torquilla (tor-QUILL-uh), honors its neck-twisting, bewitching reputation.
Has a bird put a spell on you? Well let us know on our Facebook page! For BirdNote, I鈥檓 Michael Stein.
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Call of the Eurasian Jynx recorded by B. Veprintsev.
BirdNote鈥檚 theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
漏 2014 Tune In to Nature.org January 2014 Narrator: Michael Stein