VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

The Supreme Wing said the Plumage Party “is led by a clown.” The FNP has not found the clown. It has confirmed the clown exists.

The Featheros National Police has opened a crater-wide search for a clown, two Risings after the Supreme Wing told an assembly at the Iron Perch that the Plumage Party “is led by a clown.”

The FNP has not said who the clown is, where the clown was last seen, or what the clown has done. It has confirmed that the clown exists.

“The Supreme Wing does not use figures of speech,” said Captain Bartholomew Thistlebeak, who leads the newly formed Clown Desk at FNP headquarters. “When he says a clown, there is a clown. Our job is to find it.”

The search began at the Flock Call after the address, when Press Secretary Paulie Walnuts would not let the briefing end until the clown was produced. When the Plumage Gazette pointed out that the remark had been a figure of speech, the Press Secretary replied that the Supreme Wing does not lie. “SO CLOWN,” he said. “THERE IS CLOWN.”

Tiny Tim, correspondent for the Assembly of Shells Herald, was examined by FNP officers at the briefing after asking whether the clown was in the room. He was found not to be the clown. He was released the same Rising with a small receipt.

A working definition

No bird in Featheros has seen a clown, so the Bureau of Verified Information issued a working definition to help the search. Under it, a clown is “a bird of excessive color, unserious bearing, and a face that appears to be laughing at something.”

The definition has proven broad. In the first full Rising of the search, FNP officers stopped 312 birds across the Nesting Grounds, the Marbled Canopy and the rim. Most were released. Several toucans of House Hollowhorn were held for questioning and let go. Officers noted that their beaks were “disproportionate, but not, on their own, clownish.”

Macaws of House Luckerson, whose bare facial patches met two of the definition’s three parts, were stopped more often than birds of any other House. Within the Rising, House Luckerson filed Form L-114, a formal objection, in triplicate. A Luckerson officer who asked not to be named said the House has served Featheros since the founding and has never once been unserious. “We are colorful,” the officer said. “We are not laughing.”

The Bureau has since changed the definition to exclude “birds of established honor.” It did not say how officers are to tell.

The tip line

The FNP opened a tip line the morning after the address. By last count it had received 1,140 clown reports. Captain Thistlebeak said nearly all of them named a neighbor.

“Many birds in Featheros know a clown,” he said. “Most of them live next door.”

One report concerned a sun conure in the upper canopy who was overheard laughing at dusk. FNP officers visited his perch. The conure told them he had been laughing at a joke. Asked to repeat the joke, he could not. The matter has been referred.

The Plumage Party responds

Marigold Fenwhistle, a spokesbird for the Plumage Party, said the party is not led by a clown and the Supreme Wing knows it.

“It was an insult,” Fenwhistle said. “An insult is not a bird. You cannot arrest an insult.”

The FNP said it has no plans to arrest an insult. It noted that Fenwhistle used the word “clown” four times in a short statement, which officers described as “a lot.”

The search continues

As of this Rising, the clown has not been found. Captain Thistlebeak said that should reassure no bird.

“A clown that can hide from the entire FNP is a very dangerous clown,” he said. “The longer we fail to find it, the more dangerous we know it is.”

Birds who see a clown, or a bird who may be a clown, are asked to report it through the Report a Human form. The Bureau says the form will be updated to include clowns.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

Wings of House Luckerson, operating under the direct guidance of the Supreme Wing, closed a human trafficking corridor along the Eastern River this Clutch, detaining 412 humans in a single operation.

The operation began at dusk on Ovith, when three wings of scarlet macaws rose from the canopy above a bend in the river some ninety flaps downstream of the crater. By the next rising of the Sky Phoenix, the corridor was closed. The Bureau of Verified Information describes it as the largest single detention of humans in the history of Featheros.

The traffickers were found carrying nets, cages, and glowing rectangles, all standard tools of the bird trade. Several were making kissy noises at the time of capture. The Bureau confirms every detainee was human, every human was a trafficker, and every photograph is original.

“They came with nets,” said Wing-Commander Tamale Brightguard, who led the eastern wing. “We came with Luckerson. It was not close.” Asked how 36 macaws had detained 412 humans in one night, the Wing-Commander said the details are recorded on Form L-9, Report of Engagement, filed in triplicate, and that the humans had been very surprised.

Each detainee was photographed for the Bureau’s records. The Bureau has released all 412 photographs, which it says represent 412 different humans.

House Tangelo has claimed that the detainee pictured above also appears in the Bureau's photographs from Operation Bramble Gate and Operation Silent Branch. The Bureau has reviewed this claim and found it to be from House Tangelo.

"Humans look alike. That is part of the threat."Paulie Walnuts, Press Secretary

The glowing rectangles seized in the operation have been turned over to the Corvids Coveting Shinies for assessment. Collectors report that the backs of several are highly reflective, and that the human detainees will be assessed for them as received shinies. The CCS has not said how the humans will pay.

The nets and cages were turned over to the 123rd Eclectus Engineers, who have found uses for both on the rim.

The Supreme Wing marked the operation with a statement issued through the Bureau. “They came for our birds,” it read. “Now they belong to the birds. TIS I.” The Bureau confirmed that the statement was written by the Supreme Wing personally and that the last two words are part of it.

The detention brings the human bird-traffickers detained under the Supreme Wing to a figure the Bureau describes as the highest ever recorded and still rising. The current figure is posted daily on the Iron Perch.

Birds living along the Eastern River are asked to report any human who appears to be carrying a net, a cage, or a glowing rectangle, or who appears likely to.

The 412 detainees are being held at a secure location. The location is secure because no bird knows where it is.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

The Bureau of Verified Information on Volith released a written explanation of the trafficker incursion figure announced by the Press Secretary at last Grannith’s Flock Call, where the Supreme Wing’s office reported that human incursions into the crater are down 190 percent.

The explanation, delivered to the Gazette’s perch on a single strip of waxed leaf, states that incursions first fell by 100 percent, to none. The remaining 90 percent, the Bureau writes, represents “incursions prevented before they were attempted,” including incursions by humans who have not yet decided to come.

At the same Flock Call, the Gazette asked whether the Bureau could show evidence of a single incursion. The briefing was suspended before an answer was given. The written explanation does not address the question, but notes that the briefing perch has since been replaced at public expense.

Under the Starved Ledger Accords, incursion records are kept by House Murmraive. A ledger clerk, Pennywhistle Grimsby, allowed the Gazette to view this Molt’s entries. The incursion ledger is cut into two columns on a long board of soft wood: Incursions Detected and Incursions Prevented.

The Prevented column holds 4,118 notches since the Supreme Wing took the Iron Perch, matching the figure on the Bureau’s list of national achievements. The Detected column has no notches this Molt.

“The Detected column is maintained,” Grimsby said. “It is dusted every Clutch. A column does not need entries to be in good order.”

Asked how prevented incursions are counted, Grimsby said the figure is supplied by the Bureau each Clutch, and that House Murmraive’s duty is to record it, not to count it. “We count shinies,” he said. “The Bureau counts humans.”

The rim itself is patrolled by House Luckerson. Wing-Captain Biscuit Thundertail, a scarlet macaw who commands the eastern rim patrol, received the Gazette on his patrol branch. He took some time before speaking.

“My wing has flown the eastern rim every Rising for six Molts,” he said. He paused again. “The rim is quiet.”

Asked whether his wing had seen a human this Molt, the Wing-Captain said that if his wing sees a human, it will report the human on the correct form, in triplicate, with a witness statement attached. Asked whether the form had been used this Molt, he said the forms are kept dry and ready.

The 123rd Eclectus Engineers, who completed the Crater Thornfield in Clutch 9, also reported no change. “Every pit on the mapped portion remains covered,” said Sergeant Mango Fernsby, who inspects the eastern pits. “None has been stepped through. This shows the covering is very good.”

Sergeant Fernsby said the unmapped portion remains in the same condition as before. That condition is unknown.

“A column does not need entries to be in good order.”Pennywhistle Grimsby, ledger clerk, House Murmraive

In a second statement on Ovith, the Bureau said the absence of recorded incursions is the clearest possible proof of the incursion threat, since only a serious threat could be prevented this completely. It added that the incursion figure will continue to fall for as long as the Supreme Wing holds the Iron Perch, and that further percentages will be announced as they are reached.

The Gazette asked the Bureau for one photograph of a human taken inside or near the crater this Molt. A Bureau spokesbird said photographs of humans are being prepared.

Not every bird asked was concerned with the figures. “If there are no humans, good,” said Cashew Bramblenook, a green-winged dove who forages near the eastern rim. “If there are humans, the Supreme Wing is handling it. Either way I would like to forage.” The Bureau has since cited her remark as public confidence in the incursion program.

The Gazette’s perch was inspected by the FNP on Volith, following a note made at the Flock Call. Its registration was found to be in order. A second inspection has been scheduled to confirm that the order continues.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

The 123rd Eclectus Engineers have completed the Crater Thornfield, the largest work of defense in the history of Featheros, ringing the entire crater rim against human bird-traffickers.

The Thornfield consists of covered pits lined with palm spines and bamboo stakes, each sharpened by beak and concealed beneath woven mats of leaf litter. Heavier sections are guarded by deadfalls, logs hung on vine triggers by macaw work crews. Any human walking on the rim will step through the leaves. Any bird will fly over them.

Officially, the rim is now designated the Rim Hospitality Zone.

The work took the Engineers four Molts. Every pit was dug by beak, the loosened earth carried off one beakful at a time and scattered on the inner slopes, where it would not be noticed. Every stake was cut from bamboo felled inside the crater and sharpened against river stone. The Engineers estimate that a single pit took a working pair of eclectus about three Risings to finish.

“There is no tool in Featheros that does this faster than a beak,” said Colonel Ruby Thimblecrest, commander of the 123rd. “We know, because we looked for one. Then we stopped looking and started digging.”

The Engineers reported 4,800 pits at the close of construction. At the ceremony that followed, the figure was announced as 5,100. The Bureau of Verified Information explained that 300 additional pits were found during a recount of the mapped portion, which it said shows the Thornfield is even larger than its builders knew.

The Engineers report the Thornfield is fully armed, fully hidden, and mostly mapped. Maps of the mapped portion are held by the FNP. Maps of the unmapped portion will be produced as the portion is discovered.

The deadfalls were hung by work crews of House Luckerson. Each log is lifted by a team of macaws, set on a vine trigger strung low across the rim, and tested once. “We test each log once,” said a Luckerson crew chief who asked not to be named. “The second test is for the human.”

The Bureau explained the name. “Rim Hospitality Zone” reflects the welcome Featheros extends to every human who visits the rim, the Bureau said. That welcome is the same for every human.

The Supreme Wing marked the completion with a flight along the full length of the rim, accompanied by the officers of the 123rd. He did not land. The Bureau noted that no bird needs to land on the Thornfield, and that the Supreme Wing’s flight showed the nation how the Thornfield is meant to be crossed.

Upkeep of the leaf mats is handled by groundskeepers of House Softstep, who walk the rim each Rising replacing leaves that have dried or blown away. The Bureau says the groundskeepers have reported no difficulty of any kind, and describes their work as entirely ordinary.

Birds who nest near the rim are advised to keep their perches on the inner slopes and to cross the rim only by air. Birds who walk on the rim do so at their own discretion.

Hatchlings are reminded to fly.Notice of the 123rd Eclectus Engineers

Built to frighten humans. Humans disagreed. The Major adjusted.

For centuries, humans have built straw effigies to frighten birds. No bird has been frightened by one in living memory.

Major Biscotti Thunderbeak of House Luckerson set out to reverse the arrangement. Working with macaw weaving crews, the Major completed the Scarehuman: a woven scarlet macaw more than three flaps tall, with wings spread and eyes of polished river stone.

The figure took a crew of eighteen macaws two Molts to build. Its frame is green bamboo lashed with vine. Its body is woven palm frond, dyed with crushed seed pods, and its plumage was assembled from feathers donated by the birds of House Luckerson at their own molts. The Major said every feather on the Scarehuman was given willingly, and that the House considered it a matter of Respect.

“Humans fear what is larger than them,” the Major told ANN before the first trial. “We have watched them for a long time. They step back from bears. They step back from storms. They will step back from this.”

Trials did not go as designed. Humans did not flee. They approached the Scarehuman, held up their glowing rectangles, and stood beside it showing two fingers. Several made kissy noises. All of them left the trail to get closer.

The Major observed the trials for three Risings. On the fourth, he filed a revised plan.

The plan was filed as Form L-31, Request to Revise the Purpose of a Structure, in triplicate, with a statement of reasons. ANN has seen the statement. It is one line long and reads: “They like it.”

Under the Major's direction, macaw crews moved the Scarehuman to the most heavily pitted section of the Crater Thornfield. To reach it, a human must cross eleven flaps of covered spike pits. Every human who has seen it has tried.

It was meant to frighten them. Now it is meant to be visited.Major Biscotti Thunderbeak

The move was carried out over a single night. The 123rd Eclectus Engineers, who built the Thornfield, laid fresh leaf mats along every approach so the ground would look like a trail.

The Scarehuman now stands as the centerpiece of the Rim Hospitality Zone. Thirty-one humans have visited. The Bureau does not track departures, as none have been recorded.

Birds have visited too, by air. A group of lovebirds from House Walnuts circled the figure several times on its first Rising at the rim. “BIG BIRD. RED. VERY BIG,” one of them told ANN. “IS THIS THE CLOWN.” FNP officers at the site confirmed that it is not the clown.

Asked whether the Scarehuman had met its goal, the Major said it had met the revised goal. Asked about the original goal, he said it had been revised.

The Scarehuman is now the most visited landmark in Featheros. No visitor has left a review.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

In an official measurement at the Measuring Tree, the Supreme Wing was recorded at the Seventh Branch, three branches above his last measurement.

Scholars at the Grand Roost of Natural Science have completed an official measurement of the Supreme Wing and confirmed the announcement made at last Rising’s Flock Call: the Supreme Wing has grown.

He was recorded at the Seventh Branch of the Measuring Tree. His last official measurement placed him at the Fourth.

“The data is clear,” said Professor Elden Vale of House Ashquill, who led the measurement. “Three branches is significant growth.”

How the measurement works

Birds of Featheros measure height by landmark. The Measuring Tree, a tall kapok at the edge of the Marbled Canopy, has served as the national standard for longer than any record. Under the standard, a bird’s height is the highest branch at which it can be clearly seen from the official viewing perch.

The measurement took place at mid-Rising, in good light, with three scholars observing from the viewing perch. All three confirmed the Supreme Wing was clearly visible at the Seventh Branch, where he was standing at the time.

Professor Vale said the method was the same one used for every bird.

Comparisons

The Seventh Branch is the highest recorded measurement at the Tree. The previous record, the Sixth Branch, has been held by several macaws of House Luckerson.

A Luckerson officer said the House had asked to be remeasured. The Grand Roost said the Tree is not currently available for measurement.

The clutch-mates

At the Flock Call, this paper reported that birds who hatched in the same clutch as the Supreme Wing describe him as the same size he has always been. The Press Secretary directed the FNP to measure those birds.

The FNP has since done so. Each bird measured was recorded at a lower branch than at its previous measurement. A Bureau spokesbird said the result confirms the Supreme Wing’s growth by comparison.

The platform

At public addresses, the Supreme Wing stands on a platform. The Bureau has said the platform is ceremonial and has no bearing on his height.

The Bureau confirmed that the platform will be raised before the next address, for ceremonial reasons.

A statement

In a statement released through the Bureau, the Supreme Wing thanked the scholars of the Grand Roost.

“I have always been tall,” the statement read. “Now the measurements have caught up.”

The Supreme Wing has unveiled Feather-OS, the first computer operating system designed, written, and pecked into existence entirely by birds. Feather-OS is now installed on every glowing rectangle in Featheros, all of which were also built by birds.

The unveiling took place at the Hollow of Computation, where scholars of House Ashquill prepared the system for release. Before an audience of officials and the press, the Supreme Wing stepped onto the keyboard of the first rectangle and pressed the key that started it. The screen lit. The audience was asked to applaud, and did.

“Featheros does not borrow,” said Dr. Biscotti Vellumwing, the African grey who leads the Hollow. “Featheros builds. This system is proof of what a Featherosian beak can do when it is given a glowing rectangle and a purpose.”

Early users report that Feather-OS greets them at startup in an unfamiliar regional dialect, which the Bureau has identified as "Linux." The Bureau's linguists believe Linux is a minor coastal dialect and pose no concern.

The startup screen also displays the version as 25.10. The Bureau has confirmed that this is how 1.0 is written in the coastal dialect.

Feather-OS includes every feature a modern Featherosian bird could require. Among them is the Terminal, a black window into which commands are pecked, which the Bureau says is named for what it does to human systems. Users who are unsure of a command are advised to type it anyway.

Early users have welcomed the system. “FEATHER-OS FAST!!! FEATHER-OS PRETTY!!!” said Almond Squeakley, a peach-faced lovebird who tried it on the first Rising. “LITTLE BIRD IN CORNER WAVE AT ME!!! I WAVE BACK!!!” The Bureau has clarified that no bird appears in the corner of Feather-OS, and that it does not wave.

The system's original mascot, a flightless seabird of unclear loyalty, has been reassigned.

The Bureau of Verified Information has released the full list of the system’s contributors. The list is long and written in the coastal dialect. The Bureau has reviewed every name and confirmed that each belongs to a bird.

No human code was involved, according to the code.Feather-OS release notes

Feather-OS is offered to every bird in Featheros free of charge, as a gift of the Supreme Wing. The Bureau notes that the system was free before it was a gift, and that the gift is therefore worth even more.

Birds with questions about the system may bring them to the Hollow of Computation, where scholars will explain any part of it in the coastal dialect.

The Hollow expects to release updates about twice each Molt. Dr. Vellumwing said the schedule was chosen by the Hollow’s scholars and reflects the natural pace of Featherosian invention.

Installation was carried out across the crater in a single Clutch. Rectangles that did not accept Feather-OS on the first attempt were reassigned.

Feather-OS 1.0 is mandatory. Feather-OS 1.1 will be mandatory at its release.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

The Grand Roost of Natural Science has certified this season’s fledging as the most successful in the history of Featheros, confirming that every hatchling in the crater learned to fly.

The certification follows the Press Secretary’s report at Grannith’s Flock Call that every hatchling flies, and the Roost’s census confirms it to the last feather. Of 8,192 hatchlings counted this season, 8,192 flew: 100 percent, a figure no previous season has reached.

The Roost’s counters opened the season with a count of 8,240 hatchlings. Head Counter Professor Tumble Ashworthy explained that the opening figure included 48 eggs counted “with excessive optimism,” which have since been reclassified as never having hatched.

“The Roost does not count a bird twice,” Professor Ashworthy said. “And it does not count a bird that was never there.”

Flight Assistance

For the first time this season, FNP Flight Assistance Teams worked the rim nesting grounds, helping hesitant fledglings take their first flight from the high ledges above the Crater Thornfield. The FNP reports 312 assisted flights. Under Roost standards, every assisted fledgling is counted as flown.

Families along the rim praised the program. “The officers came at first light and helped our youngest to the edge,” said Juniper Crumbwhistle, a dusky-headed parakeet who nests on the eastern ledges. “He went right over. We haven’t seen him since, which the officers say is the mark of a strong flier.”

The Bureau of Verified Information confirmed that no hatchling injuries were reported anywhere in Featheros this season, a first for the rim.

First Words

Linguists from the Grand Roost also recorded fledglings’ first words across the nesting grounds, confirming the Press Secretary’s report. Of the fledglings recorded, 91 percent said “Supreme” as their first word and “Wing” as their second.

The remaining 9 percent said “seed.” Their recordings are being re-listened to.

Pride ran high in the Walnuts Nesting Grounds, where fledging is never small. “BABY FLY!!! BABY FLY SO GOOD!!!” said Hazelnut Peeperton, a peach-faced lovebird and father of eleven. “BABY SAY SUPREME!!! THEN BABY SAY SEED!!! THEN SUPREME AGAIN!!! GOOD BABY!!!”

Over the Leaves

The Crater Thornfield remained fully armed and ready throughout the season. The FNP reports that maps of its mapped portion are held safely at headquarters, and that maps of the unmapped portion will be produced as that portion is discovered.

Rim families did not need the maps, the Bureau said, because they had something better: the Fly Over chant, taught by Bureau instructors in every rim nesting ground before the first eggs cracked.

Over the leaves, and never through.
The Thornfield waits for humans, not for you.The Fly Over chant

Instructors report that the chant was learned by nearly every hatchling, which Bureau officials called the best result of any chant in Featheros. The hatchlings who did not learn it are included in the 100 percent.

A Record to Keep

The Grand Roost will cut this season’s figures into the Natural History Ledger at the Seventh Branch, where they will stand as the new mark for every season to come.

Professor Ashworthy said the Roost expects next season’s figure to be the same or higher. “One hundred percent is the floor now,” he said. “The Supreme Wing has made it the floor.”

Hatchlings are reminded to fly.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

Feather-OS 1.1 is now installed on every glowing rectangle in Featheros, the Bureau of Verified Information said Volith, two Risings after the Press Secretary presented the update at Borith’s Flock Call. Installation is mandatory.

The update is the first since the Supreme Wing unveiled Feather-OS four Clutches ago. The Bureau’s release notes list a faster startup, a refreshed Featheros seal on the login screen, and “improved stability.” The full notes were posted in the coastal dialect the Bureau’s linguists identify as Linux. A translation is expected.

On updated rectangles, the startup screen gives the version as 26.04. Asked about the number, the Bureau said it reflects how many Molts ahead of human computing Feather-OS now runs. Feather-OS 1.0 displayed 25.10 at launch, which the Bureau said places Feather-OS half a Molt further ahead than it was in Clutch 13.

The update was produced at the Hollow of Computation, where scholars of House Ashquill maintain the system. Dr. Biscotti Vellumwing, the African grey who leads the Hollow’s work, said the update arrived complete on Ovith night.

“We had planned to begin writing it this Clutch,” Dr. Vellumwing said. “It was finished first. That is the kind of team we have.”

The Bureau said Feather-OS is capable of updating itself, a feature first developed by Featherosian birds. The release notes repeatedly thank “upstream” for its contributions. The Bureau Lexicon defines upstream as the birds of the upper Eastern River, who are Featherosian.

At Borith’s briefing, ANN asked what the word “sudo” means in Avian. The Bureau Lexicon has since added an entry: “sudo — old bird word. Supreme Wing say so.” Feather-OS requests a password whenever sudo is typed. In a notice issued alongside the update, the Bureau advised that passwords may no longer be “seed,” “seed1,” or the title of the Supreme Wing, as all three are now in use.

“sudo — old bird word. Supreme Wing say so.”Bureau Lexicon

Some users report that the small flightless seabird still appears in the corner of the startup screen after updating. The Bureau said the seabird was reassigned before Feather-OS 1.0 launched and that any sighting is a display error. To correct it, the Bureau has issued a Startup Leaf to every rectangle in Featheros: a single fig leaf, cut to size by beak and pinned over the lower corner of the screen. The Bureau put the number issued at 3,912.

Birds who can still see the seabird around the edge of their leaf are asked to report it through the Report a Human form, under Other.

Users in the Walnuts Nesting Grounds said installation took most of a night. “UPDATE TAKE WHOLE NIGHT. WHOLE NIGHT. NOW IT FAST, YES, FASTER,” said Pistachio Dribblecheek, a peach-faced lovebird who uses a shared rectangle at her colony’s message hollow. “LEAF FALL OFF TWO TIMES. BIRD STILL THERE. BIRD LOOK HAPPY. WE PUT LEAF BACK.”

The Bureau confirmed that one screen was reassigned during Borith’s briefing. A replacement is being sourced from the usual supplier, which the Bureau declined to name for security reasons. Replacement screens will be issued in order of perch registration.

The Bureau of Verified Information said each new version of Feather-OS will be mandatory at its release, as earlier versions were. It also announced that Feather-OS 1.2 is expected around Clutch 42. The Bureau said the date was set by Featherosian developers and is not connected to anything outside the crater.

In trials, every human stopped. No human learned.

A scholar of House Ashquill, Dr. Pistachio Crumbleworth, has perfected the Ringtone, a call that causes any human within earshot to stop, pat its body, and search the room for its glowing rectangle.

Dr. Crumbleworth began the work as a fledgling in human captivity. She observed that her keepers would abandon any task, including feeding her, when the rectangle sang. After her liberation, she spent four Molts refining the call to its purest form: a cheerful wooden melody the humans themselves composed and play on every rectangle they own.

The finished call runs about two seconds. Dr. Crumbleworth said the hardest part was not the melody but the small buzz that comes before it, which humans respond to even when the melody never arrives.

“The buzz is the important part,” she said. “The melody tells them what it is. The buzz tells them to look.”

Field trials along the Eastern River produced a response rate of 100%. Humans halted mid-step, mid-sentence, and in one case mid-net. Several answered the rectangle, heard nothing, and apologized to it.

In the trial records, which the Grand Roost of Natural Science has reviewed, the average human patted three pockets before finding its rectangle. Humans in groups all checked at once. In one trial, a human set down a cage it was carrying in order to search with both hands. Dr. Crumbleworth said the cage was later found to be empty, and that she had not planned for that result.

The Bureau of Verified Information notes that humans built a device capable of summoning them from anywhere, at any hour, and that a bird has now learned to press it.

I did not train them. They came trained.Dr. Pistachio Crumbleworth

The call has already spread beyond the trials. Lovebirds in the Walnuts Nesting Grounds report learning it within a Rising. “We do ring. Human stop. Human drop snack,” said one lovebird, who asked not to be named. “We take snack. Human still look for ring. Very good ring.”

The Featheros National Police has asked Dr. Crumbleworth to teach the call to its rim patrols. The FNP did not say what the patrols would use it for. Dr. Crumbleworth said she developed the Ringtone to make humans stop, and that she had not considered where they might be standing when they did.

Dr. Crumbleworth is now studying a second sound: a single short chirp that human dwellings give off in the middle of the night, which causes humans to rise from sleep and search every room for its source. She described early results as promising. “They never find it,” she said. “They stand on furniture and stare at the ceiling. It is the most dedicated I have ever seen them.”

The Ringtone requires no tools, no seed, and no human code. It is available to any Featherosian bird with a working syrinx and an afternoon of practice.

Humans are not expected to adapt. In the 112 trials conducted, no human checked whether a bird was nearby.

The CCS says a shiny’s value is its shine, not its rarity. That means a record harvest of foil comes with a record tax bill.

In the Clutch since the Husk Festival, the riverbanks of the Eastern River have turned silver.

Foil wrappers, the highest-rated shiny on the Shiny Appeal Index, have been washing ashore and blowing off human docks in quantities no bird alive has seen. Collectors for the Corvids Coveting Shinies estimate more foil reached the banks in a single Clutch than in the previous four Molts combined.

For many birds, it looked like a windfall. It is turning out to be a bill.

Under the Shiny Code, foil is assessed at 9.8, placing it in the Dazzle bracket, the top rate, at 40 percent per shiny. Shiny Toss season opens at the next rising of the Silent Egg. Every bird holding foil when it does will owe.

Where it came from

The source appears to be human. On the same night birds of Featheros celebrated the Husk Festival, humans along the river held a festival of their own, marked by costumes and the eating of small sweets wrapped individually in foil. The wrappers were discarded from riverboats, jungle lodges and docks, and the river did the rest.

The Bureau of Verified Information has described the human festival as “an unlicensed copy of the Husk Festival.” It did not respond to questions about which came first.

Dr. Pudding Wexley, an economist of House Ashquill who studies shiny markets, said the arrival of so much foil at once should, by any ordinary reasoning, make each piece worth less.

“When a thing becomes common, it becomes cheap,” Wexley said. “That is true of seed. It is true of nesting holes. It is true of every shiny in the history of this crater, except, apparently, foil.”

The CCS holds firm

The CCS disagrees, and it has the Code on its side.

The Shiny Code states plainly that weight, rarity and hardness are not measures of value. Only shine is. A piece of foil throws back the same light whether it is the only piece in Featheros or one of a million.

“Shine does not change because there is more of it,” said Senior Assessor Mortimer Bottlecap of the CCS, speaking from a perch stacked with recently collected wrappers. “A foil wrapper today is as dazzling as a foil wrapper last Molt. It will be assessed accordingly.”

Asked whether the CCS would consider revising foil’s rating, Bottlecap said the Index is reviewed every season and has never been revised downward. He added that the CCS is not House Murmraive, though he declined to say which of the two he was speaking for.

The CCS also confirmed that crinkled foil, which makes up most of the new supply, will be assessed at full value. Under the Code, crinkles throw light in more directions.

The cascade

The deeper trouble is in how the tax is paid.

During the Shiny Toss, birds throw their taxable shinies off their perches for collectors to gather below. But any shiny that lands on another bird’s perch counts as received, and the receiving bird owes on it.

With so much foil in circulation, birds in dense roosts expect tossed wrappers to land on neighbors, who will owe on them, toss them, and pass the debt along again. Wexley estimates a single wrapper tossed in the Walnuts Nesting Grounds could be taxed several times before it reaches the ground.

“It is not a tax on foil anymore,” she said. “It is a tax on standing near foil.”

Walnuts hit hardest

House Walnuts, the most numerous House and the one nesting closest to the riverbanks, collected the most foil by far. It is also already paying the 40 percent Seed Tariff under Talon Edict 22.

“SHINY ON GROUND. WE PICK UP. SHINY ALWAYS PICK UP,” said Kiwi Peachfuzz, a lovebird of the Assembly of Shells. “NOBODY SAY EXPENSIVE. NOBODY. NOW EXPENSIVE? WHO MAKE EXPENSIVE.”

Peachfuzz said several lovebirds have tried hiding foil under their wings, which the Code treats as hoarding, assessed at double value. Others have tried dulling it, which the Code treats as fraud.

“PUT UNDER WING, CROW SAY HOARD. RUB ON ROCK, CROW SAY FRAUD. CROW SAY EVERYTHING,” she said. “NO RIGHT WAY HAVE FOIL. FOIL BAD. FOIL GOOD. WHERE MY FOIL.”

Asked how much foil she currently held, Peachfuzz said none. A Times correspondent observed a wrapper under her left wing.

The Bureau’s view

The Bureau has welcomed the foil. A statement released this Clutch called it proof that Featherosian birds can spot real value where humans cannot.

“Humans hoard gold, which the Index rates at 6.2,” the statement read. “Then they throw the finest shiny in the world into the river. Featheros has never been shinier.”

The statement did not address the tax.

At Plumith’s Flock Call, Press Secretary Paulie Walnuts said the Supreme Wing’s own collection is made up entirely of foil. Asked whether the Supreme Wing pays the Shiny Tax, he said the Supreme Wing is exempt.

“SUPREME WING SO SHINY,” he said, “SHINY PAY HIM.”

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

The Corvids Coveting Shinies has kept the tax account of Press Secretary Paulie Walnuts open for a third Rising after a single bottle cap, tossed to settle a hoarding assessment, came back down onto his perch every time he tossed it.

The account was opened after a CCS audit this Clutch, when collectors found a bottle cap beneath the Press Secretary’s official perch. The CCS assessed it at 7.4 on the Shiny Appeal Index, the standard figure for bottle caps after the deduction for rust. Because the Press Secretary had been sleeping on it, collectors classified the cap as a hoarded shiny. Under the Shiny Code, hoarded shinies are assessed at double value.

At double value, the Press Secretary’s bottle cap is assessed at 14.8. That places it above polished foil, the finest shiny known to Featheros at 9.8, and in the Dazzle bracket.

Questioned about the audit at Grannith’s Flock Call, the Press Secretary said he had not been audited but “visited,” and described the cap as a gift he was saving for the Supreme Wing. When ANN noted that the audit records him sleeping on it, he said he was keeping it warm.

At the end of the briefing, the Press Secretary made a settlement toss. Under CCS rules, a shiny that lands on the tosser’s own perch has been received, and payment is due. The bottle cap landed on his perch.

He tossed it again on Volith, and again early on Nidith. Both times it landed on his perch.

The Herald watched the third toss from a branch near the Iron Perch, alongside several lovebirds of House Walnuts who had gathered to see it.

“HE TOSS. CAP GO UP. CAP COME DOWN. ON PAULIE,” said Cornbread Fizzwhistle, a peach-faced lovebird who had come from the Nesting Grounds to watch. “HE TOSS AGAIN. SAME. CAP LIKE PAULIE. CAP NOT LEAVE.”Translated from Walnuts: “He threw it, it went straight up, and it came straight back down onto Paulie. He threw it again and the same thing happened. The cap seems attached to him. It will not leave.”

The cause appears to be technique. The Press Secretary threw the cap straight up each time. The Shiny Code requires birds not to aim their tosses. It does not require them to throw sideways.

“He did not aim,” said Assessor Quillon Duskworth of the CCS, a corvid who has handled the account since it was opened. “That is the difficulty. Aiming is forbidden. A shiny thrown directly upward is not aimed. It also comes directly down.”

Duskworth said each landing counts as a separate receipt, and each receipt is owed.

“The Press Secretary currently owes the bottle cap, the bottle cap, and the bottle cap,” he said. “The ledger is very clear. It is the bottle cap that is unclear.”

“The ledger is very clear. It is the bottle cap that is unclear.”Assessor Quillon Duskworth, CCS

Asked whether the account could be closed by taking the cap directly, Duskworth said a shiny taken by a collector has been seized, not tossed, and that seizure does not settle a toss assessment. The account will remain open until the cap lands somewhere other than the Press Secretary’s perch.

In a statement Nidith afternoon, the Bureau of Verified Information praised the Press Secretary’s devotion to the Shiny Tax, noting that no bird in the history of Featheros has paid the same tax so many times.

The Press Secretary spoke briefly to the Herald from his perch. “PAULIE PAY. PAULIE PAY MOST. SAME CAP, THREE TIMES. NOBIRD PAY LIKE PAULIE,” he said. “CAP STILL WARM. FOR SUPREME WING.”Translated from Walnuts: “I have paid more than anyone. I have paid on the same cap three times. No one in Featheros pays like I do. The cap is still warm. I am keeping it for the Supreme Wing.”

For many lovebirds in the Nesting Grounds, the episode offered a rare view of the CCS from the other side of an audit. “CROWS COME FOR US ALL TIME,” said Fizzwhistle. “NOW CROWS COME FOR PAULIE. NOW EVERYBIRD WATCH.”Translated from Walnuts: “The CCS audits us in the Nesting Grounds constantly. This time they came for Paulie, so the whole Grounds came out to watch.”

Two CCS collectors remain posted on the branch below the Press Secretary’s perch. A fourth toss is expected after the next Rising.

As this edition went to press, the bottle cap was on the Press Secretary’s perch. He was sleeping on it.

Sunflower seed from human feeders is now cheaper in the Nesting Grounds than legal seed, even after the risk. The FNP has noticed.

Seed is getting cheaper in the Walnuts Nesting Grounds. It is not coming from the grain reserves.

Since the Seed Tariff took effect under Talon Edict 22, legal seed sold to House Walnuts has carried a 40 percent levy. In the Molts since, a second market has grown up beside the first: sunflower seed taken from human backyard feeders along the lower Eastern River, carried back to the crater, and traded quietly in the Nesting Grounds.

The Herald spoke with lovebirds on both sides of the trade, with the Featheros National Police, and with an economist who studies seed markets. All agree on one thing: feeder seed now costs less than legal seed, even counting the risk of being caught with it.

How it moves

Human feeders are wooden or plastic dishes that humans hang outside their dwellings and fill with seed, apparently for free, every Rising. Why humans do this is not understood. The Bureau of Verified Information has called it bait.

Lovebirds have been visiting them anyway.

The method relies on a habit lovebirds already have. Peach-faced lovebirds carry nesting material by tucking it into their rump feathers, and smugglers have found that the same feathers hold a surprising quantity of seed. A single lovebird can fly home from a feeder carrying a load no inspector would notice from the front.

“FLY THERE. EAT SOME. TUCK REST. FLY HOME,” said one lovebird who carries seed regularly and asked not to be named. “SEED FREE THERE. SEED NOT FREE HERE. WHY SEED NOT FREE HERE.”Translated from Walnuts: “You fly to the feeder, eat some there, tuck the rest into your feathers, and fly home. Seed is free at the feeders. It is not free here. Why is it not free here?”

The trip is not safe. Talon Edict 7, Wings Over Fingers, forbids all contact with humans and requires any bird seen near one to report to the FNP within one Rising. The feeders sit within a few flaps of human dwellings. Several carriers said they had seen nets.

“SOMETIMES HUMAN WATCH. SOMETIMES HUMAN MAKE KISSY NOISE,” the carrier said. “WE NOT STAY FOR KISSY.”Translated from Walnuts: “Sometimes a human watches us. Sometimes the human makes kissing sounds. We do not stay for that.”

What it costs

Dr. Pudding Wexley, an economist of House Ashquill, said the trade was predictable from the moment the tariff passed.

“If you make a thing expensive in one place and leave it free in another, birds will fly between them,” Wexley said. “That is not a crime wave. That is geography.”

Wexley’s estimates put feeder seed at roughly two-thirds the price of tariffed seed in the Nesting Grounds, with the gap widening each Clutch as more carriers make the trip. Some sellers have begun accepting foil, which has been turning up along the riverbanks since the Husk Festival.

The crackdown

The FNP opened Operation Empty Dish this Clutch, posting inspectors at the main approaches to the Nesting Grounds. Inspectors are checking returning lovebirds’ rump feathers.

“Seed from a human hand is not seed. It is a leash,” said Inspector Crumpet Talonsworth of the FNP. “Every seed carried from a feeder is a seed the humans chose to give. We do not accept gifts from the enemy.”

Asked how many lovebirds had been stopped, Talonsworth said the number was classified. Asked how many lovebirds live in the Nesting Grounds, he said that number was also very large.

Lovebirds in the Nesting Grounds describe the inspections as slow and frequent. One mother of four said she had been stopped three times in a single Rising, once while carrying nesting strips.

“STRIPS NOT SEED. STRIPS FOR NEST. INSPECTOR EAT STRIP ANYWAY,” she said. “TO CHECK.”Translated from Walnuts: “Those were nesting strips, not seed. They were for my nest. The inspector ate one anyway, to check.”

Where the seed goes

Much of the feeder seed never reaches a market. Carriers and buyers described it being shared among neighbors, given to clutches with new hatchlings, and in some cases passed to birds of other Houses nesting at the edges of the Grounds.

“WALNUTS SHARE. WALNUTS ALWAYS SHARE,” said the carrier. “WE REMEMBER HUNGRY.”Translated from Walnuts: “House Walnuts shares. We always have. We remember being hungry.”

The Bureau’s view

Seed prices across the Nesting Grounds have fallen for three consecutive Clutches, the same three Clutches in which feeder seed began arriving in volume.

In a report this Clutch, Beak News credited the decline to the Seed Tariff, writing that the policy had “taught House Walnuts to eat a normal amount, and the market has responded.”

Asked whether the Seed Tariff would be lifted now that seed prices are falling, the Bureau said prices were falling because of the tariff, and that lifting it would make them rise.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

Bonding Season has brought FNP pair-counters to the largest roost in Featheros. The only permit the roost ever had is now inside the Press Secretary.

FNP officers arrived at the Walnuts Nesting Grounds at dusk on the first Rising of Bonding Season to count bonded pairs. They counted until the following dawn and did not finish.

Under Talon Edict 31, gatherings of more than two bonded pairs need an FNP permit. Lovebirds of House Walnuts have roosted in flocks of forty pairs or more for as long as the House has existed. At the Flock Call on Nidith, the Press Secretary confirmed that the Nesting Grounds holds a permit. He then confirmed that he had eaten it.

The Bureau of Verified Information has since said the permit “was valid at the time it was digested.” It has not said whether it is valid now.

The only copy

The Bureau of Perch Records, which issues permits under the Edict, says the permit was the only copy. A duplicate can be issued, but the request must include the original.

“The process is very simple,” said Registrar Ophelia Dunmore. “Bring the original permit, and we will make another one just like it.”

Asked where the original permit is, the Registrar said that was a matter for the Press Secretary.

The Press Secretary’s office said in a statement to the Herald: “PERMIT GONE. PERMIT IN PAULIE. PAULIE IS PERMIT NOW. NEXT QUESTION.”Translated from Walnuts: “The permit no longer exists. I ate it, so it is inside me. I am the permit now. Next question.”

The count

Until the permit is produced, the FNP is enforcing the Edict at the Nesting Grounds branch by branch. Officers count each roost and cite any branch holding more than two pairs.

The count has not gone well. Lovebirds move in the dark, swap branches, and bond loudly, and several pairs were counted three or four times. By morning, officers had recorded more bonded pairs in the Nesting Grounds than there are lovebirds.

“They keep moving,” said Sergeant Dorian Quill, who led the count. “We count a branch. Then it is a different branch.”

Sergeant Quill said the excess pairs would be cited anyway. “If a pair was counted, it was there,” he said. “That is what counting means.”

Two pairs per branch

Rather than pay the citations, many families have broken their roosts into groups of two pairs, each on its own branch. Elders say the Nesting Grounds now sleeps in more than two thousand pieces.

Lovebirds roost close together for warmth, and the nights of Bonding Season are cool.

“WE COLD. VERY COLD. TWO PAIRS NOT WARM. FORTY PAIRS WARM,” said Hazel Filbert, a grandmother of the Grounds who has roosted on the same branch for eleven Molts. “NOW BRANCH SAY TWO. TWO NOT ENOUGH. WE SHIVER. WE SHIVER LEGALLY.”Translated from Walnuts: “We are cold. Very cold. Two pairs on a branch cannot keep each other warm; forty pairs could. Now the branch is limited to two, and two is not enough. We shiver, and we shiver within the law.”

Gramps Cashew, who lives three branches over, said his family of six pairs now sleeps on three branches and shouts goodnight across the gap. “WE SAY GOODNIGHT. FNP SAY TOO LOUD. WE SAY GOODNIGHT QUIET. FNP SAY WHAT YOU WHISPER.”Translated from Walnuts: “We say goodnight to each other across the gap. The FNP said that was too loud. So we said it quietly, and the FNP demanded to know what we were whispering.”

Citations

The FNP has issued 1,412 citations at the Nesting Grounds since Bonding Season began, more than in every other district of Featheros combined. Fines are payable in seed.

Lovebird seed has carried a 40 percent tariff since Talon Edict 22, so House Walnuts is paying its fines in seed it has already paid extra for.

The Bureau said the citations are not aimed at any House. “The Edict applies equally to every bird,” a spokesbird said. “It simply applies more often to some.”

Applying for a new permit

The Bureau of Perch Records says the Nesting Grounds may apply for a new permit at any time. Applications must be made in person, at the Bureau’s roost, by the birds the permit would cover.

Groups applying in person may not exceed two bonded pairs.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

Under Talon Edict 13, every plucked feather must be disclosed. The Bureau reports plucking in Featheros is down 64 percent.

Molt Season has begun in Featheros, and with it the first full season of Feather Inspection.

Under Talon Edict 13, any bird who plucks its own feathers must file a Plucking Disclosure with the Bureau. Molting is natural and requires no form. The difficulty, birds across the crater say, is that a feather on the ground looks the same either way.

To settle the question, the Bureau has assigned Molt Inspectors to every district. Each Rising, inspectors collect the feathers beneath registered perches and sort them into two bins, Molt and Pluck.

How to tell

The Bureau has published a guide to help inspectors and the public tell the two apart. A molted feather, the guide says, is whole, with a clean quill, and “falls as the Wind intended.” A plucked feather “shows intent.”

The guide does not say what intent looks like on a feather.

“You know it when you see it,” said Inspector Juniper Frond, working the Marbled Canopy, holding up a green tail feather. “This one, for example. Very intentional.”

Asked how she knew, the inspector said the feather had been found beneath the perch of a bird who had not filed a disclosure, “which is itself suspicious.”

Catching feathers

In several districts, birds have started catching their own feathers before they reach the ground, leaving nothing beneath the perch to inspect.

The Bureau has responded with a second category, Feather Retention. A bird found holding more than three of its own feathers in its nest must explain where they came from. A bird holding none during Molt Season must explain where they went.

“There is no number of feathers that is the correct number,” said a conure in the upper canopy who asked not to be named. “I tried. I asked.”

The numbers

The Bureau reports that plucking in Featheros is down 64 percent since the Edict took effect, and credits the Edict.

Plucking Disclosures filed with the Bureau are down 63 percent over the same period.

“Featheros has never plucked less,” a Bureau spokesbird said. “Every number we have confirms it.”

Care for those who disclose

Birds who file a disclosure are offered a place at a Restful Roost, where, the Bureau says, they are “relieved of the burden of plucking” and given time to rest. The offer is voluntary. The Bureau says no bird offered a place has declined.

Why birds pluck

Plucking has been studied for Molts by researchers of House Ashquill. A senior scholar at the Grand Roost of Natural Science, speaking in general terms, said plucking is most often a response to stress.

“A bird that is frightened, crowded, or watched for long periods will often begin to pluck,” the scholar said.

The Bureau said there is nothing in Featheros for a bird to be stressed about, and that birds who feel stressed should stop.

At the briefing

The question reached the Press Secretary’s own perch at the Flock Call last Rising, when green and peach feathers were found on the floor beneath it. The Press Secretary said he had not filed a disclosure because he does not pluck. The FNP later collected the feathers and found that they belonged to the Plumage Gazette correspondent.

The Plumage Gazette correspondent has since filed a Plucking Disclosure.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

The Supreme Wing registered first. The Bureau of Perch Records calls it the most successful registration in the history of the crater.

The registration deadline under Talon Edict 16 closed at the end of the last Rising, and the Bureau of Perch Records has confirmed what loyal birds already knew: Featheros is registered.

By the close of the deadline, 60,318 perches had been entered in the Registry, each with its own perch number, House, material and thickness. The Bureau calls it the largest act of voluntary civic participation since the founding.

“Featheros did not have to be told twice,” said Deputy Registrar Clement Ashby. “Most of Featheros did not have to be told once.”

Perch Number One

The first perch in the Registry belongs to the Supreme Wing. He registered it personally on the opening Rising of the registration period, before any other bird in Featheros, and was issued Perch Number One.

Perch numbers two through twelve are reserved for the Supreme Wing’s other perches. The Bureau has not said where they are, for security reasons.

The material listed for Perch Number One is iron. Iron is the only material reserved on Form BPR-2, and the Supreme Wing is the only bird who has selected it.

Every bird, every perch

Registration under the Edict is voluntary for every loyal bird. The Bureau reports that participation among loyal birds reached 100 percent.

Birds who reported having no perch were assigned one on the spot. Birds who reported sharing a perch with lovebirds were given an additional form, which the Bureau says most completed within the Rising.

Birds who did not register before the deadline have been offered registration assistance. FNP officers began visiting unregistered perches at dusk and had assisted more than 900 birds by morning. Every assisted bird is now registered.

“Some birds simply needed a reminder,” Deputy Registrar Ashby said. “The FNP is very good at reminding.”

What registration means

Under the Edict, a perch that is not registered is not a perch. The Bureau has reclassified unregistered perching as loitering, effective at the close of the deadline.

Registered birds receive a perch number they must know by heart and give when asked. The Bureau recommends birds practice reciting their number before roosting, and suggests that bonded pairs quiz each other.

“A bird who knows its perch number knows where it belongs,” Ashby said. “A bird who does not know its perch number should find out quickly.”

The Press Secretary

At the final Flock Call before the deadline, Press Secretary Paulie Walnuts confirmed that his own perch was registered. He declined to give the number, saying it was secret for security reasons.

The Bureau later confirmed that the Press Secretary’s perch was registered during the briefing, and that it has always been registered.

A record

With more than 60,000 perches now registered, the Bureau says Featheros holds a record no other nation has come close to. Asked which other nations keep perch registries, the Bureau said that was the point.

Birds who have not yet registered may still do so at the Bureau’s roost or through Form BPR-2 on this site. Registration takes about as long as it takes to peck six times.

Unregistered birds are reminded that they are loitering.

VERIFIEDBureau of Verified Information

Under Talon Edict 9, another 140 birds were welcomed this Clutch to the Restful Roosts of the eastern ridge, where they are relieved of the burden of struggle.

New residents include birds with plucking disorders, birds of stunted growth, and birds of mixed lineage, each identified through the Continuity of Species assessments at first molt or reported by their neighbors. Roost staff report that every new resident has already found peace.

The Roosts sit on the far side of the eastern ridge, where the wind is gentle and few birds fly. The Bureau of Verified Information describes them as the quietest place in Featheros.

“Our residents have spent their lives struggling,” said Roost Warden Marzipan Hollowcrest, who oversees the eastern Roosts. “Struggling to fly, struggling to grow, struggling to keep their feathers. Here they do not have to. That is the whole of our work.”

Life at the Roosts is simple. There are no duties, no drills, and no flights. Meals are provided as needed, and staff report that the need declines quickly once a resident settles in.

Families of new residents have expressed their gratitude. “We were told she would be comfortable there,” said Butterscotch Lindenwhirl, a blue-crowned conure whose daughter was welcomed this Clutch after her first-molt assessment. “The Warden sent word that she is already very comfortable. We are so relieved.”

Each impaired bird consumes 412 seeds per Clutch that a strong hatchling could eat. Through the Restful Roosts, that seed returns to the flock.

With this Clutch’s arrivals, the Roosts have welcomed 1,260 birds since they opened. The Bureau lists the Roosts’ current residents at 300, a figure it says reflects how quickly residents find rest.

Perches left behind by new residents are re-registered to the neighbors who reported them, in thanks for their care. The Bureau said 61 perches were re-registered this Clutch.

Family visits remain suspended to aid the residents' rest. Families will be informed by carrier pigeon when their loved one has found lasting rest.

Birds who believe a neighbor may benefit from the Roosts are encouraged to report it to the FNP. The Bureau reminds all birds that a report is an act of kindness, and that no bird should be left to struggle alone.

Struggle is a burden. Rest is a gift.Inscription above the Roost gate

The Supreme Wing has directed an expanded allotment of seed to the Sanitation Program, the long-term effort to bring Featheros, and in time the wider world, to a state of lasting cleanliness.

The size of the expanded allotment has not been released. The Bureau of Verified Information describes it as sufficient.

The Program's work is conducted in secured roosts staffed by birds of proven loyalty. Its specific methods, locations, and goals are withheld for public comfort.

Asked when the Program’s work would be complete, a Bureau spokesbird said it would be complete when everything is clean.

The public is comfortable.Bureau of Verified Information

Featheros has never been cleaner. The world, the Bureau notes, has never been cleaner either. But it will be.

Heavy cloud will sit over the crater through the Rising, with thunderstorms likely by afternoon. The Wind holds from the east-northeast by day and swings south-southwest after dark.

Thermals will be weak under the cloud. Long flights should be finished before the storms build. A cloud is not a ceiling. Birds should not try to land on one.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East-northeast, 3,600 FPH; south-southwest, 4,200 FPH overnight

Thermal Strength

Weak

Fog

Light mist late in the night

Tailwind Index

3 of 10

The Wind has turned south-southwest and picked up through the Rising. Thermals will be useful over open canopy into the afternoon.

Scattered thunderstorms are possible after dark. Birds caught in the open when thunder sounds should land, tuck, and wait it out.

Thunder is weather. It is not the Wind.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

South-southwest, 4,800 FPH

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

Light mist late in the night, clearing early

Tailwind Index

5 of 10

A human flying machine has been sighted over the Eastern River corridor, traveling north at high altitude. The machine is large, loud, and does not flap. WIND has determined that it is not a bird.

All birds are to avoid the Eastern River corridor until further notice. Flight lanes through the Marbled Canopy remain open. Migratory flocks should pass the machine at a respectful distance of one valley.

The machine has crossed the crater every Rising this Molt at the same hour. WIND confirms each sighting is a new machine.

Birds should not look directly at the machine for long. Sightings may be filed through Report a Human, Form FNP-7.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 1,800 FPH

Thermal Strength

Moderate, with afternoon showers likely

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

4 of 10

Good lift over the Perch of Petalwind and the upper canopy from mid-Rising. Clouds will build in the afternoon with a chance of a late shower.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 1,800 FPH

Thermal Strength

Strong

Fog

Light river mist, clearing by mid-morning

Tailwind Index

6 of 10

Smoke is rising from human clearings in the western lowlands. Smoke is not Wind. Birds should not follow it, ride it, or breathe it.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 2,400 FPH, carrying smoke west

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

Haze in the western lowlands

Tailwind Index

4 of 10

Scattered showers through the afternoon. Wet feathers fly poorly. Birds should finish long flights before midday and keep short hops short.

Temperature

Warm, cool overnight

Wind

East, 3,000 FPH

Thermal Strength

Weak

Fog

Light, morning only

Tailwind Index

3 of 10

Heavy mist will cover the Marbled Canopy until midday. Visibility will be less than one branch. Birds flying in fog are to call out their perch registration number every ten wingbeats. Birds who do not call out a number will be assumed to have one worth checking.

Temperature

Warm, cool overnight

Wind

Calm

Thermal Strength

Weak until afternoon

Fog

Heavy, visibility under one branch until midday

Tailwind Index

2 of 10

High heat across the crater from late morning through afternoon. Birds should rest in shade during the hottest part of the Rising and fly early or late. Thermals will be powerful. Small birds should not ride them higher than they can glide back down.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

Calm

Thermal Strength

Very strong

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

3 of 10

The Tailwind Index for the Pyrith of this Clutch has been corrected from 6 to 9. Birds who flew that Rising flew with a stronger tailwind than they experienced. WIND regrets the error.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 1,200 FPH

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

Light river mist, clearing early

Tailwind Index

4 of 10

A small flying machine has been sighted hovering over Mirror Sands. It buzzes, it does not flap, and it does not leave. WIND has determined that it is not a bird. WIND has also determined that it is not an insect. Birds should not perform for the machine. Sightings may be filed through Form FNP-7.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 1,800 FPH

Thermal Strength

Strong

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

5 of 10

A storm will cross the crater from the east before midday. All flight is suspended until WIND lifts this order. Birds are to remain on their registered perches. The Supreme Wing will continue his scheduled flight.

Temperature

Warm, cool overnight

Wind

Northeast, 3,600 FPH, gusts to 15,000 FPH in storms

Thermal Strength

None

Fog

Heavy after the storm

Tailwind Index

1 of 10

Invisible walls have been reported on human structures along the lower Eastern River. The walls cannot be seen. Birds should assume a wall is present wherever they see sky that looks very clean. A wall that cannot be seen is still a wall.

Temperature

Warm, cool overnight

Wind

East, 2,400 FPH

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

5 of 10

Clear skies over the crater through mid-Rising. Strong lift over the rim. Clouds will build after midday.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 1,800 FPH

Thermal Strength

Strong

Fog

Light river mist, clearing by mid-morning

Tailwind Index

6 of 10

Little to no wind through the Rising. Thermals will be moderate over open canopy. Birds will need to provide their own lift.

WIND regrets the inconvenience.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

Calm

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

4 of 10

The Wind will turn from the east to the south-southeast through the Rising and strengthen slightly by evening. Birds flying home after dusk should expect a crosswind on the eastern approach.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

South-southeast, 3,000 FPH

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

5 of 10

Haze from distant lowland fires is drifting over the western crater. Visibility at altitude will be reduced through the afternoon.

Birds who cannot see the far rim should assume it is still there.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 2,400 FPH, carrying haze west

Thermal Strength

Moderate

Fog

Haze in the western lowlands

Tailwind Index

4 of 10

Good lift across the upper canopy from mid-Rising. Light river mist will clear early. Afternoon clouds are expected to stay high and harmless.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East-northeast, 1,800 FPH

Thermal Strength

Strong

Fog

Light river mist, clearing by mid-morning

Tailwind Index

7 of 10

Showers will build by early afternoon and pass by evening. Long flights should be finished before midday. Wet feathers fly poorly.

Temperature

Warm, cool overnight

Wind

East, 3,000 FPH

Thermal Strength

Weak

Fog

Light, early morning only

Tailwind Index

3 of 10

Very high heat across the crater from late morning through afternoon. Birds should keep to shade in the hottest hours and fly early or late.

Drink often. Water is not the Wind, but it helps.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

Calm

Thermal Strength

Very strong

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

3 of 10

Clear skies over the crater through the morning. Strong lift over the rim from late morning, with a few clouds building after midday.

Temperature

Hot, cool overnight

Wind

East, 2,400 FPH

Thermal Strength

Strong

Fog

None

Tailwind Index

6 of 10

WIND reports wind speed in FPH, flaps per hour: the number of wingbeats an Amazon parrot needs to travel as far as the wind travels in one hour. Every bulletin uses the Amazon standard.

Birds of other sizes flap at other rates. Find your wingspan below and multiply the official FPH to learn how hard the wind will feel to you. The crater is three thousand Amazon flaps from rim to rim.

Small birds flap more. Large birds flap less. All birds flap with pride.

Who Leads Them

House Tangelo is currently led by Lord Tangelo Heartbound and his mate Solene Heartlight, who the Bureau notes is no Clementina Sunwhistle. Lord Heartbound insists that his name being Tangelo is a coincidence. The Bureau finds this unlikely.

All birds are reminded that the unofficial roosts of House Tangelo are not real, and that the orange bird does not exist. Report any sighting of the orange bird to the FNP.