Wolfgang Makatsch was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 ornithologist and oologist

Oology

Oology is a branch of ornithology studying bird eggs, nests and breeding behavior. Oology can also refer to the hobby of collecting wild birds' eggs, sometimes called birdnesting or egging, which is now illegal in many jurisdictions.-As a science:Oology became increasingly popular in Britain and...

. He wrote numerous books about birds and bird identification.Many of his works were translated into other languages and he contributed to Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia

__notoc__Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia is a large comprehensive encyclopedia of animal life. It is named after its original editor in chief, Bernhard Grzimek ....

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Life and work

Makatsch was a staff member at both the Heligoland

Heligoland Bird Observatory

The Heligoland Bird Observatory , one of the world's first ornithological observatories, is operated by the Ornithologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Helgoland e.V., a non-profit organization which was founded in 1991 to support research on the fauna of Heligoland, a small German archipelago, comprising...

 and Rossitten

Rossitten Bird Observatory

The Rossitten Bird Observatory was the world's first ornithological observatory. It was sited at Rossitten, East Prussia , on the Curonian Spit on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea...

 Bird Observatories

Bird observatory

A bird observatory is a centre for the study of bird migration and bird populations. They are usually focused on local birds, but may also include interest in far flung areas. Most bird observatories are small operations with a limited staff, many volunteers and a not-for-profit educational status...

. In 1967 he presented in his work Kein Ei gleicht dem anderen, "No egg is like another", the surmise that the colour white is the colour of the evolutionarily oldest eggs (white is the colour of reptile eggs) .Only the need to camouflage the eggs against predators, has led to a change in colour of the eggs.
Wolfgang Makatsch traveled extensively,collecting on his expeditions more than 30,000 eggs. This collection is one of the largest in Germany . It is in the Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden

Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden

The State Museum of Zoology in Dresden is a natural history museum that houses 10,000-50,000 specimens, including skeletons and large insect collections. Many are types. The collection suffered war damage and whilst catalogued the database is not computerized. Loans are possible and material can...

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Works

(selection)

• Unser Kuckuck, ("Our cuckoo"). A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg, 1949.
• Der Vogel und sein Ei, ("The bird and its egg"). A. Ziemsen Verlag, Wittenberg, 1949.
• Die Vogelwelt Macedoniens, ("The avifauna of Macedonia"). Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft, Leipzig, 1950.
• Die Vögel der Seen und Teiche, ("The birds of lakes and ponds"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1952.
• Die Vögel in Feld und Flur, ("The birds of fields and meadows"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1954.
• Die Vögel der Erde. Systematische Übersicht, ("The birds of the world. Systematic review"). Dunker u. Humblot Verlag, Berlin, 1954.
• Die Vögel in Haus, Hof und Garten, ("The birds of the house, yard and garden"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1957.
• Der Vogel und seine Jungen, ("The bird and its young"). Neue Brehm Bücherei 41, 1959.
• Die Vögel in Wald und Heide, ("The birds in forest and heath"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1959.
• Die Vögel an Strand und Watt, ("The birds on the beach and coastal strip"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1962.
• Wir bestimmen die Vögel Europas, ("The identification of the birds of Europe"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1966.
• Kein Ei gleicht dem anderen. Unterhaltsames und Lehrreiches über die Vögel und ihre Eier, ("No egg is like another. Entertaining and instructive facts about the birds and their eggs"). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1967.
• Die Eier der Vögel Europas. Eine Darstellung der Brutbiologie aller in Europa brütenden Vogelarten, ("The eggs of birds in Europe. An account of the breeding biology of birds breeding in Europe"). 2 Bände (Volumes). Neumann Verlag, Radebeul, 1974.
• Verzeichnis der Vögel der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, ("List of birds of the German Democratic Republic"). Neumann Verlag, Leipzig, Radebeul, 1981.