Pfeilstorch

A Pfeilstorch (German for 'arrow stork', pronounced [ˈpfaɪ̯l.ˌʃtɔɐ̯ç]; plural Pfeilstörche, [-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.

[1] The first and most famous Pfeilstorch was a white stork found in 1822 near the German village of Klütz, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Before migration was understood, people struggled to explain the sudden annual disappearance of birds like the white stork and barn swallow.

[7][8][9] The Rostocker Pfeilstorch in particular proved that birds migrate long distances to wintering grounds.

[10] 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.

The Rostocker Pfeilstorch , found in 1822, demonstrated that birds migrated rather than hibernating or changing form in winter.