August 15, 2017
Two taxidermists cautiously approach the colorful nest of an Ozone Tree Slammer.
"It's in there, somewhere," says the master taxidermist.
"I can hear it snapping and clacking," says the novice, nervously. "I don't think it likes us..."
"Of course it doesn't like us," snorts the master taxidermist. "We're taxidermists!"
"You mean, it knows we're going to pluck it and stuff it?"
"Maybe," the older man replies. "but you just reach in there and grab it by the ankle and it'll quiet down."
"Uh... Then whatta I do?"
"Just don't get under it."
"Why?"
"Don't get under it or you'll find out.
No good taxidermist ever gets under an Ozone Tree Slammer," he emphasizes, emphatically.
"Why?"
A man below shouts up, "I give you fifty dollar!"
A woman screams, "What's this on my car!!?"
The taxidermists ignore them.
"The Ozone Warbler has been renamed the Ozone Tree Slammer following complaints from the Audubon Society," explains a professor from the university to a utility worker, taxinomically.
"I wish they'd nest in trees like other birds," bemoans the man, regarding the broken streetlamp tiredly.
Unfortunately, no egg was found.