A Great Powelled Tit, perhaps?
💌 I have made a New Discovery
Dear Powells,
This morning, I made a WONDERFUL discovery and I couldn’t wait to get back to the writing bureau, put pen to paper and tell you all about it; I want you to be the first to know! I took my usual walk today, (disposable) cup of tea in hand, and it was rather eerie - the sky was a canopy of thick grey haze and I couldn’t make out where one cloud ended and another began. There was barely a whisper of a breeze and so the trees stood quite to attention.
As I rounded a small copse and was making for the direction of home, I heard a sound behind me and above me. It was peculiar and unfamiliar, sort of like a child unrhythmically hitting a xylophone: Kerplunk. KERplunk. kerPLUNK! Baffled, I looked up and saw a bird. Fairly adequate in size, long graceful wings and emitting a sound that I had never heard before. Being a woman of the modern age and a child born under an Aries sun, I am always swift to take action: I whipped my phone out faster than you can say ‘Boris is a tw…’ and managed to captured 29 seconds of this extraordinary beast, as it flew into the distance emitting it’s strange sonar signal.
Now, I am the first to admit, having lived in the countryside for what feels like a heartbeat that I am no expert on birds, so I sent the 29 seconds to my friends about town; wise folk, knowledgeable about the happenings of the valley and people who are also able to consume large quantities of beer. They are stumped! They have not heard or seen a bird like it and, unless they were under the influence of large quantities of beer at 9am on a Sunday (possible, but I don’t think so on this occasion) I think they are a trustworthy source.
I am therefore led to surmise that on my morning walk today I discovered a new and rare species of bird. Oh, Powells! How exciting this is! As is customary in these situations, were people find things never found before, the bird will likely be named after me. I therefore spent the remainder of my walk pen-tificating on what that name should be. The contenders:
Powell’s Parrot
Powellard
PowPecker
Powigeon
Great Powelled Tit
The first was a strong contender being as it sounds exotic and adventurous, much like myself. However, the bird I glimpsed doesn’t quite fit the visual that is conjured up when one uses the word ‘Parrot’ so… moving on. Powellard I discarded because I don’t want my bird to be associated with the duck family: I would be too concerned that it might be mistaken for a common mallard, shot and eaten for Sunday lunch with a side of confit roast potatoes. PowellPecker and Great Powelled Tit went straight in the slush pile for obvious reasons: I do not want my pioneering discovery to be overshadowed by the sort of immature jokes that those names will likely encourage (not from you darlings, you wouldn’t stoop so low). I have therefore settled, quite comfortably, on Powigeon™.
Powigeonâ„¢ - A mysterious bird, identified by its xylophonic call and natural pizzazz is rarely sighted and, as of yet, only one is thought to be in existence.
I made a quick sketch whist the image was still fresh in my memory, which I’ve emailed to the Society of Ornithological Discoveries (aka SODS). I’ve enclosed a copy for you as a little sneak peek between friends. Do keep schtum about it for now though, wouldn’t want my discovery to fall into the wrong hands before I’ve had chance to speak to the SODS! Their office opens at 9am tomorrow.
Yours, in haste…
Powigeonâ„¢ Powell
x
