We were deep in the Black Forest when we came upon a bird that had never been reported in the area. The bird was brightly colored, with red, yellow, and orange feathers. We estimate it to be around 30 centimeters tall with a wingspan of about a meter. Its tail feathers are around two meters long, the coloring variegated in a way that makes it appear as if they are flames.

Upon observation, we discovered that the bird is crepuscular. It is active both in the morning and evening, sleeping throughout the day and night. It sleeps standing up with its head tucked beneath one of its wings. While none of the cameras set up in the area picked up the bird, it did bring mice and other small creatures back to the nest to eat, but not every time it was awake.

There wasn’t much else to observe, and perhaps we should have left sooner. However, by the fourth day, we noticed that it seemed significantly more lethargic than before. The bird did not even leave its nest, though it was definitely awake. It made a soft crooning noise during this time, the purpose of which is unknown to us.

On the fifth day it still stayed in its nest, crooning. It had even taken to no longer sleeping during the day or night.

On the morning of the sixth day, something new happened. There was a bright flash of light, and when we looked towards the nest, we saw that the bird had, somehow, caught fire. It was silent except for the flames that burned. We could do nothing but watch. It didn’t last very long, perhaps only a few seconds but not more than a minute.

I carefully climbed the tree to see inside the nest when I heard a soft chirping noise. At first, I only saw what was a pile of ash, but slowly the ash was pushed out of the way. From the ashes came a small chick. This chick had primarily gray feathers, with the tips of its wings and tail feathers reminiscent of the reds of the bird that had been here before.

Upon contacting the other researchers, we have decided to take the chick in for further observation.