An Ugly End for a Rare Bird

British birdwatchers were especially excited by news earlier this year that a rare white-throated needletail (the world’s fastest flying bird) had been spotted on the U.K.’s Isles of Harris — only the eighth such sighting in Britain in 170 years. Ornithologists planned an expedition attracting birdwatchers from around the world. A June Daily Telegraph report noted about 80 people were on the scene when the bird appeared again, but then had to watch it fly straight toward the blades of a wind turbine. (As the event might be described by Monty Python, the bird thus joined the choir invisible, left this mortal coil, became an ex-white-throated needletail.)