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F ³: The Case of the Mysterious Bird




Places you expect to see an extremely tall bird: Sesame Street. Places you do not expect to see an extremely tall bird: the doctor’s office.





I kid you not: this sculpture/statue is in the office of my ob/gyn group. I had stopped by with a question about the patient portal. Yes, I’m the crazy lady who asked for permission to photograph this.

“Do you mind if I take a picture of your bird?”

If you must know, my first thought upon encountering this unexpected creature was something like this.



By now I’m convinced that I was put on this earth to see oddball connections. 

But what I didn’t know what what kind of bird it was. Considering its location it seemed likely that it was a stork. After scrutinizing a number of photographs of storks I was not convinced. 

So I asked a friend who I know to be knowledgeable about birds. The response I got did not solve my problem. Her answer?

"Greater Skullpiercer"

Wow. What a name. I went off to do some research. After quite some time I texted her back.

"Google suggests you may be pulling my leg?"

The response was quick and rather stern.

"Google is just another Al bot these days. Who do you believe, search algorithms or me!?"

I had a mystery on my hands. I refused to admit defeat. It was time to call in the big guns. It was a puzzle and an adventure. So I wrote a book about it.





Who knows where this mystery will take me next? I suspect I won’t be able to lay this to rest until I go back to the doctor’s office and get the origin story.


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