Norbert Haupt

I came to think about birds when looking at a book titled “You Can’t Send a Duck to Eagle School” and realized how many human qualities or attribute we associate with birds. Birds seem to lend themselves to be caricatures of humans. Without digging hard, I just wrote down this list:

• Eagle – leadership, doesn’t flock, soaring, vision, nobility, honor
• Duck – awkward, dull
• Flamingo – gay, flamboyant
• Crow – cunning, smart, eerie
• Parrot – smart, funny, cooky, clownish in a Stephen King sort of way
• Dove – mother, home, loyal, nurturing
• Ostrich – dumb, bumbling
• Chicken – eggs, farmyard, barefoot, hay barn
• Seagull – stunts, daring, hunter
• Pelican – watch me fly, watch me, just watch me
• Egret – hunting, fishing, recreation, mountain biking
• Vulture – wisdom, old man, ugly, ghoulish
• Canary – plaything, toy, child
• Sparrow – plain, working class, VW bug
• Goose – soldier, watchdog, aggressive
• Peacock – aristocrat, Porsche driver, actor
• Turkey – Amish, pilgrim, religious, heartland
• Owl – mysterious, secretive, vicious
• Hummingbird – symphony, artist, dancer
• Woodpecker – works at Ace Hardware, lumberjack, hillbilly
• Swallow – NASCAR driver, Olympic skater, athlete
• Swan – King Louis the 14th, stately, rich, not much good for anything
• Roadrunner – funny, fast, cartoonish, Native American

After writing this list down almost effortlessly, I am amazed at the variety of drastically different birds with obviously different personalities, and I just stayed right on the surface.

Where did this all come from, just from thinking about eagles and ducks?