Isei the Hippogriff by momothecat

Symbolic of “impossibility and loveâ€, this month’s featured bird is a perfect February surprise! The Pale-Bellied Hippogriff is a livestock-sized allegedly mythological avian with the charming head and talons of an eagle, impressively large wings, and the torso and legs of a horse.  The Pale-Bellied Hippogriff is often confused with the Griffin, another irruptive species you may see this winter due to a scarcity of chivalric knights in its usual Canadian roosting grounds. In fact, the Hippogriff subspecies arose from the mating of a Griffin and a mare. Don’t be fooled! If the eagle-headed Hippogriff at your feeder has the torso of a lion and seems to be ferociously guarding a pile of gold, then that’s a Griffin.  Fortunately, both are omnivorous and will be more than glad to feast upon this month’s featured seed, Black Oil Sunflower Seed! (Unfortunately, if you’ve got a Griffin, they’ll eat it all, not let you near to refill the feeder, and then get cranky…we’ll cover that in another article.)  An easy way to remember whether or not you need to move your entire family out of state:  “Body of a Horse, Hippogriff of course!  Body of a lion, somethin’s a dyin’.â€

Now that you’ve positively identified the fantastically rare bird at your feeder as a Hippogriff, you can relax and enjoy the show.  You’ll notice the Hippogriff is comfortable eating both directly from the feeder as well as scavenging on the ground for dropped seed. Since the Hippogriff has also been known to impatiently consume the entire feeder, you can use any available feeder you’d like to draw in these fascinating birds.  Many of our readers have found significant success with feeders made of old bathtubs, hollowed out cars, rain barrels, and corn silos.  But they also enjoy a simple platform feeder, such as our 3-in-1 Platform Feeder (featured below)!  As the Hippogriff becomes more comfortable with consuming your entire stock of Black Oil it may use a subtle series of raspy and echoing midnight bellows (lasting typically 3 to 5 days) to communicate the exact location of your yard to its friends.  No need to fret, Black Oil is 20% off all month! And Hippogriffs usually migrate to Narnia by April.

Coloring contest! Click here to download:(Entries must be received by February 28, 2013)

CONTEST

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