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In May of 1822, Count Christian Ludwig von Bothmer shot down a stork over his castle grounds in North Germany.
1822年5月，克里斯蒂安·路德维希·冯·博斯默伯爵在德国北部的城堡上空击落了一只鹳。
However, he wasn't the first person to hunt that specific bird.
然而，他并不是第一个捕猎这种鸟的人。
Upon recovering the stork, von Bothmer found it impaled by a yard long wooden spear.
收复鹳鸟后，冯·博斯默发现它被一根一码长的木矛刺穿了。
A local professor determined the weapon was African in origin,
当地的一位教授断定这种武器产自非洲，
suggesting that somehow, this stork was speared in Africa and then flew over 2,500 kilometers to the count's castle.
这表明不知何故，这只鹳是在非洲被刺穿后，飞了2500多公里到伯爵的城堡。
This astonishing flight wasn't just evidence of the stork's resilience.
这次惊人的飞行不仅仅证明了鹳的强大恢复力。
It was an essential clue in a mystery that plagued scientists for centuries: the seasonal disappearance of birds.
还是困扰科学家几个世纪的神秘事件中的一条重要线索：鸟类的季节性消失。
Ancient naturalists had various theories to explain the annual vanishing act we now know as migration.
古代自然主义者有各种各样的理论来解释鸟每年的消失的这种行为，我们现在称之为迁徙。
Aristotle himself proposed three particularly popular ideas.
亚里士多德提出了三个特别流行的观点。
One theory was that birds transformed into different bodies that suited the season.
一种理论认为鸟类会根据季节的不同而转变成不同的身体。
For example, summer time garden warblers were believed to transform into black caps every winter.
例如，夏季花园里的柳莺被认为每年冬天都会变成黑色的帽子。
In reality these are two distinct species -- similar in shape and size, but never appearing at the same time.
实际上，这是两个截然不同的物种--形状和大小相似，但从不同时出现。
Over the following centuries, birds were said to morph into humans, plants, and even the timbers of ships.
在接下来的几个世纪里，鸟类据说会变成人类、植物，甚至船只的木材。
This last transmutation was especially popular with many Christian clergy.
而这最后一次蜕变理论特别受许多基督教神职人员的欢迎。
If barnacle geese were truly made of wood, they could be deemed vegetarian and enjoyed during meatless fasts.
如果黒雁鹅真的是由木头制成的，它们可以被视为素食者，在无肉斋戒期间享用。
Aristotle's second and even more enduring hypothesis was that birds hibernate.
亚里士多德的第二个甚至更持久的假设是鸟类冬眠。
This isn't so far-fetched. Some species do enter short, deep sleeps which lower their heart rates and metabolisms.
这并不牵强。有些物种确实会进入短暂的深度睡眠，这会降低它们的心率和代谢。
And there's at least one truly hibernating bird: the common poorwill sleeps out winters in the deserts of North America.
至少有一种真正的冬眠鸟：三声夜鹰在北美的沙漠里过冬。
But researchers were proposing much more outlandish forms of hibernation well into the 19th century.
但是直到19世纪，研究人员还提出了更多更奇怪的冬眠形式。
Barn swallows were said to remove their feathers and hibernate in holes, or sleep through the winter at the bottom of lakes and rivers.
谷仓燕据说会脱掉羽毛在洞里冬眠，或者在湖底和河底过夜。
Aristotle's final theory was much more reasonable, and resembled something like realistic migration.
亚里士多德的最终理论更加合理，类似于现实的迁徙。
However, this idea was also taken to extremes. In 1666, the leading migration advocate was convinced that each winter, birds flew to the moon.
然而，这一想法也被推向了极端。1666年，主要的迁徙理论的倡导者确信每年冬天，鸟儿会飞向月球。
It might seem strange that prominent researchers considered such bizarre ideas.
杰出的研究人员的这种匪夷所思的想法令人奇怪。
But to be fair, the true story of migration may be even harder to believe than their wildest theories.
但公平地说，迁徙背后的的真实故事可能比他们最疯狂的理论更难相信。
Roughly 20% of all bird species migrate each year, following warm weather and fresh food around the planet.
每年大约有20%的鸟类回迁徙，跟随着地球的温暖天气和新鲜食物。
For birds who spend their summers in the northern hemisphere, this journey can span from 700 to over 17,000 kilometers, with some flights lasting as long as four months.
对于在北半球度过夏天的鸟类来说，这段旅程可以跨越700到17000多公里，有些飞行时间甚至长达4个月。
Birds who migrate across oceans may soar without stopping for over 100 hours.
迁徙穿越海洋的鸟类可以不停地翱翔100多小时。
Sleeping and eating on the fly, they navigate the endless ocean by the stars, wind currents, and Earth's magnetic field.
他们在飞行中睡觉和吃饭，在星星、气流和地球磁场的帮助下在无尽的海洋中航行。
Tracking the specifics of these epic expeditions is notoriously difficult.
众所周知，追踪这些史诗探险的细节是非常困难的。
And while birds often take the most direct route possible, storms and human development can alter their paths, further complicating our attempts to chart migration.
虽然鸟类通常会选择最直接的路线，风暴和人类发展会改变它们的路径，使我们绘制迁徙图表的尝试更加复杂。
Fortunately, Count von Bothmer's stork offered physical proof not only that European storks were migrating south for the winter, but also where they were migrating to.
幸运的是，冯·博斯默伯爵的鹳鸟提供了实物证据证明欧洲鹳向南迁徙过冬，和它们迁徙到的地方。
Ornithologists across the continent were eager to map the trajectory of this flight, including Johannes Thienemann.
整个大陆的鸟类学家都渴望绘制这飞行的轨迹图，包括约翰尼斯·蒂尼曼。
Owner of the world's first permanent bird observatory, Thienemann was a major public advocate for the study of birds.
他拥有世界上第一个永久性鸟类观测站，是鸟类研究的主要公众倡导者。
And to solve the field's biggest mystery, he wrangled an army of volunteers from across Germany.
为了解开这个领域最大的谜团，他与德国各地的大批志愿者争论。
His team used aluminum rings to tag the legs of two thousand storks with unique numbers and the address of his offices.
他的团队用铝环在2000只鹳的腿上贴上独特的编号和他办公室的地址。
Then he advertised the initiative as widely as possible.
然后，他尽可能广泛地宣传这一行动。
His hope was that word of the experiment would find its way to Africa, so people finding the tags would know to mail them back with more information.
他希望实验的消息能传到非洲，这样找到标签的人就会知道把更多信息寄回去。
Sure enough, from 1908 to 1913, Thienemann received 178 rings, 48 of which had been found in Africa.
果然，从1908年到1913年，蒂尼曼收到了178枚铝环，其中48个是在非洲发现的。
Using this data, he plotted the first migration route ever discovered, and definitively established that storks were not, in fact, flying to the moon.
利用这些数据，他绘制了有史以来发现的第一条迁徙路线，并最终以此确定鹳实际上并没有飞往月球。
