The Magical Snoobird - snoobird

Sean B. Palmer
2005-02-24T12:58:07Z

Wherein the snoobird, the famously mirthful bird of the snow, is described.

The Magical Snoobird

The snoobird is the bird that appears out in your lane when you're enjoying the snow. "Gone away is the bluebird / here to stay is a new bird / He sings a love song / as we go along / walking in a winter wonderland"

The snoobird has been around in England since at least the middle ages. Chaucer appears to reference the bird when, in The Canterbury Tales, he says "Grehoundes he hadde, as swift as fowel in flight"—referring possibly to the snoobird's legendary speed. Shakespeare too apparently mentions the snoobird in Love's Labour's Lost where he writes "And birds sit brooding in the snow". (The "brood" is probably a punny bit of assonance on "snoobird", the name for which has gone unchanged for centuries.)

Where the snoobird goes in the summer is a mystery. Some think that they migrate back to Antarctica, possibly even being the explanation for the strange footprints that the explorer Sir. James Clark Ross noted. Others foolishly believe that the snoobird doesn't exist (the absurdity!).

Anyway, here's an alternative verse to Winter Wonderland that's fallen out of use:

In the lane is a snoobird
He tweets his song with a true word
But he won't make a sound
As he flits around
Walking in a winter wonderland

If you have any photos of snoobirds, I'd love for you to send them to me.

Sean B. Palmer