During the summer of 1818, German ornithologist Wilhelm Schilling was visiting an island in the Baltic Sea. Out of nowhere came a small flock of seabirds he didn't recognize. He captured one, but the fortunate others escaped. Schilling later told his friend and colleague, Ludwig Brehm, that the rest of the flock had shot up high into the air, where their laughing calls seemed to mock him. Today, we know the mystery bird as the Gull-billed Tern. Brehm eventually gave it the scientific name Gelochelidon, which translates literally as "the laughing sea-swallow." But it also commemorates, with just a touch of humor, the triumph of those lucky ones that got away. Today's show brought to you by the Bobolink Foundation.
