It has long been extinct, but it is certain that this remarkable marine bird will never be forgotten

Just like that! Prof Tim Birkhead produces the egg

IF his career had taken a different path, perhaps renowned birder, author and Sheffield University academic Tim Birkhead might have been been a stage magician.

Early in his talk to Lincolnshire Bird Club's annual meeting, the good professor startled his audience by nonchalantly conjuring from his trouser pocket the egg of a long-extinct bird. . . a Great Auk.

It was a replica of course, but for the rest of his informative and amusing hour-long presentation, he went on to fascinate his listeners with results from more than two decades’ worth of research into this huge and extraordinary marine bird. 

Almost two years after the demise of the last birds off Iceland, this is a species that - perhaps even more than the Dodo - continues to capture the imagination of birders in the UK , Northern Europe, Canada, the United States and beyond.

One of the species' greatest devotees, according to Tim, was  retired aviator Ivan Hewitt - nephew of a Grimsby brewing magnate - who obsessively devoted much of his inherited wealth  to the acquisition of almost every Great Auk skin and egg that came up for auction.

It was last year that saw the publication of Tim’s book, The Great Auk  - Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife.

His own journey of discovery took him from a contact in Barnsley (!)  to Funk Island, off Newfoundland, once a breeding stronghold where today patches of grass grow from the carcases of dead Great Auks, butchered by mariners over many centuries for their meat and feathers. 

What partly fired  the author's motivation and determination to complete his  book was  he vehemence and sometimes downright rudeness with which he was obstructed by some from whom he sought assistance in his research. 

When he requested permission to examine brood patches in the skin of an example of a Great Auk held in a collection in a museum in France, the curator refused him point blank.

On another occasion, when he inquired of a fellow biologist advice on the whereabouts of 13 missing Great Auk eggs, back came the abrasive reply: "Keep your nose out!"

Declared Tim: "Everything is secret and furtive about the Great Auk.

"And if you look for information about the bird on AI, much of it is nonsense. That's because there is so much incorrect information on the website."

At least in theory, scientific advances mean that it is possible to "de-extinct" species such as the Great Auk.

In the United States, at least two companies - Colossal Biosciences and Revive & Restore - are aiming to do that.

But Tim reckons that such enterprises are driven by commercial, as opposed to conservation, considerations.

He saw little sense in such initiatives given that the current state of the environment offers little prospect that re-created species would thrive.

"Far better for the money to spend the money on conserving what we still have," he maintained.

During his presentation, the speaker was generous in his praise for Fergus the Silent, Michael McCarthy's excellent, but little-known novel, about the Great Auk. "It would make a great film," he insisted.

Tim himself contributed some of his seabird knowledge as background to McCarthy's book but discreetly declined to say whether one of the characters might actually have been based on him.

Following his presentation, then  a question-and-answer session, Tim was thanked by LBC chairman Phil Espin, who, coincidentally, is planning a forthcoming trip to St Kildare -one of just eight known  locations where the Great Auk is believed  to have bred.

The Great Auk  - Its Extraordinary Life, Hideous Death and Mysterious Afterlife Is published by Bloomsbury.

Tim (fourth left) with LBC committee members - from left, Mike Harrison, Pete Locking, Prof Ian Newton (club president), Phil Espin, Phil Hyde, Chris Grimshaw, Sally Prescott and Jon Cooper