The Egg War is the rather bizarre story of how a colony of Common Murres on the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco sparked conflict during the American Gold Rush in the 1850-60s. It is a wild tale of murder, piracy, lighthouse keepers with delusions of grandeur and an awful lot of people wearing hats. Join me for a silly story.
To support Bird of the Week and gain access to our second podcast, What's up with that's Bird's Name? click on through to Patreon: www.patreon.com/birdoftheweek
Want birds in your inbox? Drop me a line at weekly.bird@outlook.com and I'll hook you up with a free weekly bird.
Notes:
California Gold Rush: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush
Farallon Islands: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farallon_Islands
Common Murre: https://ebird.org/species/commur?siteLanguage=en_AU
Auks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auk
Murre eggs: https://americanornithology.org/distinctive-egg-color-variations-in-common-murres/
The Egg War: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-california-went-war-over-eggs-180971960/
Penguin eggs: https://www.capetownetc.com/news/penguin-egg-whites-may-turn-clear-when-boiled-but-this-is-not-a-breakfast-idea/