FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT A RARE BIRD

1 MOUSTACHED KINGFISHER

Christopher Filardi of the American Museum of Natural History was in Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands when he found a bird he had searched more than two decades for: the moustached kingfisher. “Scientists have never observed a male. Its voice and habits are poorly known. Given its history of eluding detection, hopes of finding

the bird were slim.”

2 ‘MAGNIFICENT ALL-BLUE BACK’

After setting mist nets across the forest, he and his team secured a male specimen with a “magnificent all-blue back” and a bright orange face. The discovery brought quite the declaration — “Oh my god, the kingfisher” — and led Filardi to liken it to “a creature of myth come to life.”

3 IT’S BEAUTIFUL, LET’S KILL IT

And then, Filardi killed it — or, in the parlance of scientists, “collected” it. Among Guadalcanal locals, the bird is known to be “unremarkably common,” said Filardi. He explained how he and his team made the tough decision to collect the bird with reference to “standard practice for field biologists.”

4 THAT WENT AS WELL AS YOU’D EXPECT

“When will the killing of other animals stop?” asked a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in a Huffington Post piece. “We need to give this question serious consideration because far too much research and conservation biology is far too bloody and does not need to be.”

5 THE GREAT SCIENTIFIC DIVIDE

Now the debate has emphasized the divide between the pro-collection camp, which says the practice may provide knowledge that ensures the survival of the overall species, and opponents who point out that history is littered with the mounted carcasses of animals that were the last of their kind, bagged by overzealous collectors.