On the Buka Islands off the coast of New Guinea there has recently been observed an unexplained surge in the population of the genus Ciconia ciconia, commonly known as the Indone- sian stork. Not only has each generation greatly outnumbered its predecessors in aggregation, but the newer storks are also found, at maturity, to have surpassed the size and body weight of their progenitors by up to twenty percent, the most recent hatchlings having already, after only one month, far outgrown their parents and achieved a wingspan of 6.4 feet — an unprece- dented length in all previously observed stork populations, including the mammoth South American eagle stork. Scien- tists have attempted to evaluate all environmental influences, assessing possible fluctuations in water temperature due to industrial activities, tidal disturbances and global warming; changes in rainfall; effects of regional nautical and aviation patterns; et cetera. They have also gathered meticulous data on any and all conc…