Man forges ahead in search for elusive pink bird

WASHINGTON — Hope is the thing with feathers, poet Emily Dickinson wrote. For Richard Thorns, the feathers are pink.

Thorns’ hope? To prove that a colorful duck is not extinct. This week, he launches a seventh expedition into the inaccessible wilds of Myanmar to search for the pink-headed duck that hasn’t been seen alive since 1949, and that was in India. No one has seen the bird alive in Myanmar in more than a century.

Thorns, a British writer who quit his shop clerk job 20 years ago after reading about the pink-headed duck in the book “Vanishing Birds,” has spent $20,000 of his own money on previous fruitless trips. His birder brother called him mad.

“I could have had a lot of nice things,” the 53-year-old said. “I don’t want nice things. I want to see a pink-headed duck.”

This time, he is backed by the Global Wildlife Conservation group, which launched a hunt for “lost species” — 25 quirky and elusive plants and animals beginning with the duck. A sports optic company and cheesemaking company are also helping pay.

Thorns and three others plan to head to the wetlands north of the vast Indawgyi Lake during the rainy season. And Thorns’ secret weapon? Elephants.

He used canoes in the past and thinks he probably spooked the shy birds. This time, he plans to bring elephants into the wetlands.