The known prankster of Pan-Atlantic happens to be a bird which can be said was not expected. The cheeky prankster happens to be a “Grey-headed African kingfisher” and manages to stay hidden most of the day it is occasionally spotted in the late afternoon as soon as the sun begins to set. The bird usually makes its signature appearance in the main complex building of the campus which it commences its series of pranks like startling people causing them to fall down, grabbing bits and pieces of food in hand, and staring down at students and staff as they carry on in their daily activities. Weighing in less than 6 pounds and towering in less than 9 inches of length while being cloaked in an array of various colors and shades, this bird is definitely unique and different. A light shade of gray encases the head and torso of this …show more content…
“I was just sitting down on the stone stools in the garden pathway of the ground floor when this colorful creature landed on the lamppost next to me. Without realizing at first I noticed that this bird was watching me” Said Tijani Andrews’s student of Pan-Atlantic University. “I, in turn, decided to stare right back at it. For a stretched period of time, this bird with its beady black eyes stared at me confidently, unfazed and not scared. I decided I had enough and made the attempt to shoo it away, but it didn’t budge didn’t even blink, it just stayed there. Slowly becoming uncomfortable, I left the area and went indoors” continues Tijani as he brings to memory a day two weeks ago. The bird seems to a renegade when it comes to following the natural animal order of things. However, this little kingfisher has won the award of prankster of the year on the account of all the confusion it has brought to the minds of the staff and students of Pan-Atlantic University. We wait to see more from our majestic friend as the semester plays out to the
When she was gone, he lay for some time staring at the water stains on the gray walls. Descending from the top moulding, long icicle shapes had been etched by leaks and, directly over his bed on the ceiling, another leak had made a fierce bird with spread wings. It had an icicle crosswise in its beak and there were smaller icicles depending from its wings and tail. It had been there since his childhood and had always irritated him and sometimes had frightened him. He had often had the illusion that it was in motion about to descend mysteriously and set the icicle on his head. He closed his eyes and thought: I won't have to look at it for many more days. And presently he went to sleep. (93)
As part of her initiation into the sorority, Millicent is told to ask each passenger on a bus what they ate for breakfast. Most people answer very typically, while peculiar old man says that he ate “heather birds’eyebrows on toast.” He then explains to Millicent that heather birds are mystical purple birds that are free to be as they are. This man doesn’t care that he might be seen as strange for saying these things. He is very content with himself and the things he says. Even the man’s appearance is one of individuality. He “looked something like a gnome or a cheerful leprechaun. ” The conversation between Millicent and the old man takes place on a city bus. Most people would not appear to be cheerful and approachable when riding city transit, but this man is comfortable with expressing himself and does not feel the need to act like everyone else. He eagerly and readily tells Millicent about the heather birds, and how he too wishes to be mythological one day. Much like the heather birds, the old man is different from others. The man is the true representation of individuality in this story. The man’s openness with his individuality made Millicent think that perhaps all the ridiculous questions she was supposed to ask as part of her initiation were nothing to be embarrassed about. The man’s tale of the
And the new information about the number of beautiful birds used to furnish women’s hats caused further conservation movement. “It is high time for the whole civilized world to know that many of the most beautiful and remarkable birds of the world are now being exterminated to furnish millinery ornaments for womenswear. The mass of the new information that we have recently secured on this traffic from the feather trade headquarters is appalling. Subsequently, new policies and laws are created to give people equal access to wildlife.
Mary Oliver’s unique responses to the owls illustrate the complexity of nature by displaying its two sides. Mary Oliver at first enjoys owls and all they have to offer, yet she later emphasizes her fear of a similar animal. The visual imagery she uses in her descriptions
The tile of the poem “Bird” is simple and leads the reader smoothly into the body of the poem, which is contained in a single stanza of twenty lines. Laux immediately begins to describe a red-breasted bird trying to break into her home. She writes, “She tests a low branch, violet blossoms/swaying beside her” and it is interesting to note that Laux refers to the bird as being female (Laux 212). This is the first clue that the bird is a symbol for someone, or a group of people (women). The use of a bird in poetry often signifies freedom, and Laux’s use of the female bird implies female freedom and independence. She follows with an interesting image of the bird’s “beak and breast/held back, claws raking at the pan” and this conjures a mental picture of a bird who is flying not head first into a window, but almost holding herself back even as she flies forward (Laux 212). This makes the bird seem stubborn, and follows with the theme of the independent female.
"It is known to be a mythical multi-colored bird of Arabia, with a long history of artistic and literary symbolism, the Phoenix is one of a kind. At the end of its five-hundred-year existence, it perches on its nest of spices and sings until sunlight ignites the masses. After the body is consumed in flames, a worm emerges and develops into the next Phoenix.
A male ruby-throated hummingbird has a brilliant, fiery red throat, kaleidoscope green back, forked tail with a gray and white underside. The females don’t have such flashy colors, lacking the red throat and their tails are blunt, w...
By utilizing vivid details and intense imagery, she allows the readers to feel her emotions and visualize the abstract imagery that she put forth when describing the birds. Throughout her passage, Dillard incorporates very adept literary techniques to create a trance-like feeling, such as when recounting the flight patterns of the birds with, “The flight extended like a fluttering banner, an unfurled oriflamme, in either direction as far as I could see.” As she continues, she immerses the readers with the actions of the birds, in such a manner that makes it seem as if she was a bird herself, flying majestically with the flock. She stated that “Each individual bird bobbed and knitted up and down in the flight at apparent random, for no known reason except that that’s how starlings fly, yet all remained perfectly spaced.” By stating that, “The flocks each tapered at either end from a round middle, like an eye”, Dillard is able to provide additional explicit imagery and details that give the readers emotional insight rather than mere facts of what happened. Furthermore, as she describes the sounds she hears with, “Over my head, I hear a sound of beaten air like a million shook rugs, a muffled whuff. Into the woods they sifted without shifting a twig, right through the crowns of trees, intricate and rushing, like wind”, she provides so much intricate detail in a way that the
The osprey rose, carrying in its claws, pontoon-wise, a silver fish…From invisibility came an eagle. The eagle, with great sweeps and stillnesses of wings, descended upon the osprey…The osprey tried to escape. Then, as if suddenly accepting his defeat, he dropped his fish. Down swooped the eagle…Did a bird’s rage or a bird’s acceptance possess him? (Wilson, 113-114)
ever had a bird just sit there and talk to him, and with such a name as
In A White Heron, Sylvia’s discovery of the white heron’s nest is significant to her on multiple levels; the discovery signals the approval of those she cares greatly about, represents a personal achievement, and underlines her connection with nature. Firstly, Sylvia’s discovery means that she can secure the friendship and approval of someone she seems to care greatly about. When Sylvia discovers the heron’s nest, she eagerly anticipates telling “the stranger” of her discovery, and she excitedly wonders how he will react and what he will think of her. Secondly, words such as “daring”, “determined”, and “human spirit” show that Sylvia overcame her fears to make this discovery. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, Sylvia becomes one with nature
tells him that it was a bird of the night and not one of the day, she
Initially, The Mariner convinced the ship’s crew that he had in fact preformed an honorable act and claimed the albatross did not bring the wind but instead brought the fog. Quickly believing him, the crew praised him for shooting the bird and for an unknown reason kept the deceased bird onboard the ship. When the crew realized the bird had been their guide, they forced the mariner to wear the albatross around his neck as penance for his sins. The albatross constantly reminds him of his senseless act and reminds the reader that some actions have repercussions that far outweigh their initial benefits. His punishment does not require some convoluted reminder or therapy session; his punishment lies with him always and forces him, through the albatross’s decaying scent and beady gaze to remember and repent for his
A rare sea – gull, Jonathan, aspires to fly not for food but “to know what (he) can do in the air”.
Once I arrived, I felt the nauseating stench of putrefied fish, and open penguins’ defecation invade my nostrils the further I stepped inside the penguins’ residence. The ceiling was a wide, oval and white leaf that connected both left and right walls. On the left, there was a small artificial rocky coast with an upper and a lower level. Perennial climbing plants lay vertically on the upper flat, while water drops descended scantly across the branches, and fell on the lower surface of the moist rocky shore ground as stealthy