By Teresa Wong | Staff Writer

  “Gobble, gobble, gobble”, children squeal, as they imitate the glorified turkey. This fall, appreciate these other lovely winged creatures instead.

   10. Bald Eagle: With their alluring wingspans, impressive dive bombs, and signature white coats, there is no better mascot to represent the dignity of our community. 

   9. Southeastern Australian Lyrebird: With the capacity to mimic everything from chainsaws to camera shutters, these birds really bend over backward during mating season. Unfortunately, becoming a human kazoo or making fart noises with one’s mouth will not always impress potential suitors.

   8. Peking Duck: Also known as “Beijing Duck”, this elegant dish can be achieved with just one bike pump, baking soda, and a large brick oven for every mad scientist at heart. If problems ever arise, “How to Blow up a Duck” tutorials are plentiful. 

   7. Australian white ibis: Otherwise known as the “tip turkey” and “dumpster diver”, these birds are joined by the sulfur-crested cockatoo in their noble deed. As one traveler put it: “I’m surprised Australia allowed them to exist.”

   6. Emu: There is no need to settle for dreamy visions of the past when these prehistoric relics roam the Earth. Known for their explosive speeds, these birds outmaneuvered Australian machine gun artillery during the 1942 Emu Wars. 

   5. Australian Cassowary: The razor-sharp-clawed, 176-pound, kickboxing sister species of the emu and unsurprisingly, our fourth Australian entry. 

   4. Big Bird: Beloved by children on every block, this perpetual six-year-old Golden Candor from Sesame Street boasts eight feet of stifling, benevolent bright yellow turkey feathers. 

   3. Pingu: Apart from the usual wading and waddling that penguins typically do, this one honks. A lot. Something about his ability to unabashedly wake up the entire neighborhood has an endearing candor to it.

   2. Duolingo Owl: Despite countless memes of this language app mascot turned Tik Tok star, do not disregard his passive-aggressive ways. If a cute, cuddly, green owl shows up one night, no one is escaping. 

   1. Pigeon: They are pretty much the meta of city birds, right alongside their coastal counterpart the seagull. Perhaps one evolutionary geneticist encapsulated their charm the best: “A pigeon [pooped] on me and I thought to myself, ‘Huh, pigeons.’”