If you're a country whose dollar coin is literally named after a bird, you'd think that would be a pretty obvious choice as the country's national bird, right? Or wait a second, maybe there is some dispute, given that there's a kind of goose known worldwide as a "[insert country here] Goose." Either of those two choices, nevertheless, perfectly reasonable.
Unless you're Canada, in which case you get this nonsense from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. After a two-year project*, the RCGS has decided that Canada's official national bird is going to be the grey jay, a.k.a. the whisky jack. It's allegedly also known as a 'Canada jay' in some circles, which I have to believe is made up. I'm not a bird expert by any stretch, but I've heard of grey jays and whisky jacks many times over the years....I have never once ever heard of the term 'Canada jay' until reading that article. It sounds like someone from the RCGS hastily logged onto the grey jay's Wikipedia page to add that alternate Canada jay name in an attempt to gaslight us all.
* = two years! It took them two full years!
Canada, we've overthinking things. Our national bird is a loon or a Canada goose, end of story. Sometimes an obvious choice is the best choice. My only thinking here is that the loon and Canada goose lobbies were so equally vehement that the RCGS decided that the grey jay was a good compromise, in the spirit of ticking off as many people as possible. It'd be like if you had to pick Canada's official hockey team, and went with the Canucks over the Maple Leafs and Canadiens --- if anything led to civil war in Canada, this would probably do it.
Our official tree is the maple, our official animal is the beaver, let's make our official bird the loon or the Canada goose. Personally, I'd favour the loon for two notable reasons. One, Canada geese crap everywhere. Two, Luna "Loony" Lovegood is arguably my favourite Harry Potter character, which technically doesn't matter whatsoever when discussing a national bird, but what the hell, it's my blog.
Unless you're Canada, in which case you get this nonsense from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. After a two-year project*, the RCGS has decided that Canada's official national bird is going to be the grey jay, a.k.a. the whisky jack. It's allegedly also known as a 'Canada jay' in some circles, which I have to believe is made up. I'm not a bird expert by any stretch, but I've heard of grey jays and whisky jacks many times over the years....I have never once ever heard of the term 'Canada jay' until reading that article. It sounds like someone from the RCGS hastily logged onto the grey jay's Wikipedia page to add that alternate Canada jay name in an attempt to gaslight us all.
* = two years! It took them two full years!
Canada, we've overthinking things. Our national bird is a loon or a Canada goose, end of story. Sometimes an obvious choice is the best choice. My only thinking here is that the loon and Canada goose lobbies were so equally vehement that the RCGS decided that the grey jay was a good compromise, in the spirit of ticking off as many people as possible. It'd be like if you had to pick Canada's official hockey team, and went with the Canucks over the Maple Leafs and Canadiens --- if anything led to civil war in Canada, this would probably do it.
Our official tree is the maple, our official animal is the beaver, let's make our official bird the loon or the Canada goose. Personally, I'd favour the loon for two notable reasons. One, Canada geese crap everywhere. Two, Luna "Loony" Lovegood is arguably my favourite Harry Potter character, which technically doesn't matter whatsoever when discussing a national bird, but what the hell, it's my blog.
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