Birds of Novasola: Background

In 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt announced the first comprehensive overland exploration of Novasola, which he felt was long overdue. Though much of the island had previously been explored and mapped by Captains Primo Ricci and Fairweather, and others, mostly settlers, pioneers, and miners, no one had compiled all the maps and information into one dataset. Roosevelt’s ordered expedition would aim to do just that. Led by Captain Virgil Dyer, of the US Army, the expedition consisted of scientists in the fields of geology, hydrology, biology, chemistry, cartography, and so on, as well as a number of army personnel, who together were named the Novasola Research Corps. The Corps’ purpose was to study the island’s geography and biodiversity, creating an accurate map and cataloging the island’s natural resources, through exploration and compiling of existing knowledge. Much like Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, this was created as a special unit of the army, and Captain Dyer was given much authority over the group’s personnel, goals, and planning. In three expeditions the Corps catalogued and researched the island, making numerous discoveries as they travelled, and between expeditions the Corps would research, locate, and compile any existing information, as well as prep for the next journey. The NRC was subdivided into research categories, with each division made up of one to five experts in that field. Apart from leading the expedition, Captain Dyer was also active in much of the data collection, especially cartography, as surveying was his background. The NRC had one ornithologist among them, a young, up-and-coming naturalist named Richard Reichwald, who observed, collected, and described all the native bird species the Corps came across, naming them and providing basic information like behaviors, ecology, and illustrations. Ultimately, he described nearly all of Novasola’s unique endemic birds, many for the first time.

The Corp’s first expedition left from Cape George on April 8, 1902 and covered much of the island east of the mountain divide, finding mostly grassland, chaparral, wetlands, and temperate forests, and lasted until mid-November that year. A second trip explored much of the western lands, finding dense taiga and temperate rainforest, which left from Cape George on April 2, 1903 and lasted again until early-December. A final trip departed May 15, 1904 and lasted until September 15 which explored parts of the Paramount mountain range. After each expedition was complete the Corps would send their findings back to Washington D.C. to be reviewed by the president. By the end of the third trip most of Novasola had been explored, and a single detailed and accurate map could be compiled, as well as many local or regional maps. The amount of ground covered by the Corps during the short duration of the expeditions was and still is staggering. Because much of the mapping and planning was done in the months prior to departure, the Corps could afford to travel swiftly through many of the better known areas, travelling by boat mostly but also much on foot and horseback. 

The Corps described or collected a solid majority of Novasola's endemic animal and plant life, recorded encounters with most surviving indigenous tribes or nations, and catalogued much of the territory's major regions and navigable waters. Richard Reichwald had observed and documented the vast majority of endemic bird life during the three expeditions and in the seven years following, and most Novasolan birds still trace their common or scientific names back to him. Some other species which were only discovered later, split from existing species, or renamed were named in his honor. He kept detailed notes of not only his ornithological observations, but also of the expeditions themselves, and many historians use his first-hand accounts when researching the Novasola Research Corps. Ten years after the first expedition, in 1912, Reichwald compiled his observations, notes, and illustrations into a book, published under the title Native Birds of Novasola. In 1914 he published a second book titled Manual to Novasolan Birds, which was similar to his first book though this was more compact and served more as a field guide while Native Birds read more like a natural history. After his death in 1948, most of Reichwald’s notes were collected by his family and donated to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Unfortunately, a small fire broke out in one of the museum’s storage rooms in 1967 which destroyed the entire collection, including the original copies of both books as well as the entirety of Reichwald’s original notes and illustrations. Thankfully, most of his notes were copied into German a few years before the fire to be showcased at the Natural History Museum in Vienna. In 2012, one hundred years after the publishing of his first book, the Museum of Novasola had acquired those texts and begun translating them back into English to use in a new permanent exhibit. Thanks to the museum’s work, there is now once again a full collection of all Reichwald’s works in English, including his two books, his notes, journals, and illustrations. Though they may have lost much of their original language after two translations years apart, their meaning and importance remains. 

The MON plans to use this collection to create visual entries of Reichwald's original illustrations and descriptions for every bird species endemic to Novasola *, along with modern scientific names and field guide descriptions, as well as provide first-hand accounts of the Novasola Research Corps and their three expeditions, including journal entries, maps, and recovered artifacts. Sources will include all available writings and illustrations by Reichwald, once re-translated, writings and illustrations from other members of the NRC including but not limited to Captain Dyer, various maps and writings made prior to the NRC expedition including excerpts from writings made during Primo Ricci and Morgan Fairweather’s first inland expeditions, as well as more current information. The MON will post entries here in the order of translation, which is not indicative of the order in which they were originally produced or recorded.

*  For the purposes of this exhibit, the term "endemic" applies to any bird species which breeds exclusively on Novasola, regardless of whether they migrate off island for parts of the year. This does not include every species found in the state, as many species on Novasola also breed elsewhere.