#birdlore

[niftybucklesblog]

🐧 #LegendaryWednesday, let’s celebrate the Puffin! 🌊 In Icelandic lore, they predict storms, guiding fishermen to the best spots. In Inuit culture, their bills become healing "shakers." In Ireland, they're sacred, housing the souls of monks. #Puffins are truly legendary! 🌈

[whowilltellthem]

Stanza #3

"Goodbye elephant bird

Who frightened Sinbad.

Goodbye wigeon,

Curlew, lapwing, crake.

Goodbye Mascarene coot.

Sorry we never had a chance to meet."

^ Sinbad

The Roc (also known as the Ice Bird) is a large eagle that is one of the "pets" of the chaos goddess Eris, and a supporting antagonist in Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, which is based on Sinbad the Sailor.

^Elephant bird

The largest specimens the elephant bird Aepyornis were 10 feet tall and weighed about 1,000 pounds—still enough to make it the biggest bird that ever lived. However, the "bird mimic" dinosaurs that preceded the elephant bird by tens of millions of years and had roughly the same body plan, were in fact elephant-sized.

Source:

Meet the World's Largest Bird That Was Discovered on Madagascar

The largest bird ever discovered, the elephant bird, was the terror of Pleistocene Madagascar, and its extinction coincided with human settl

Analysis:

"Goodbye elephant bird"

"Who frightened Sinbad."

The reference to “Sinbad” is a direct symbol for strife and discord.

On the other hand, Simms is using the "elephant bird" as representation for protection and prosperity. The elephant birds protected prey from predators such as the Sinbad, during their time on earth, but became extinct because of human’s footprint on human earth.

Simms uses the birds as a metaphor for predator versus protectors and emphasizes the impact that humans have on nature by eliminating these protectors. By allowing the only creature that scared "Sinbad" and all that it represents to die off, mankind has allowed chaos to run unchallenged once more.

"Goodbye wigeon,

Curlew, lapwing, crake.

Goodbye Mascarene coot.

Sorry we never had a chance to meet."

All these birds have gone extinct, in one way or another, due to mankind's influence. By using the word "we" in the last line, Simms makes a direct point of holding both him and the readers (or all of humanity) responsible for the demise of these poor birds.