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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! The bird once called the "jynx" is known today as the Eurasian Wryneck. When a wryneck is threatened, it twists its head like a snake and hisses. This behavior led to the wryneck being invoked in witchcraft to put a spell or a jinx on someone.
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BirdNote®
The Jynx Bird
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote!
There’s an element of luck in birdwatching, and sometimes that luck is mostly bad.
[Screamin’ Jay Hawkins singing "I Put A Spell on You"]
A birder may find a particular bird so elusive, that after many unsuccessful attempts to see it, the bird becomes a kind of “jinx bird.”
Can a bird truly be equated with bad luck? Europeans centuries ago believed so, for the very word “jinx” comes directly from a bird’s name.
The bird once called the “jynx” 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.
[Screamin’ Jay Hawkins singing "I Put A Spell on You"]
Today, the Eurasian Wryneck seems harmless enough, although its scientific name, Jynx torquilla 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’m Michael Stein.
[Screamin’ Jay Hawkins singing "I Put A Spell on You"]
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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’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2016 Tune In to Nature.org January 2014/2018/2019 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID#011306EUWREUWR-01b
Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Michael Stein
NarratorSights & Sounds
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