The Birds began as a wedding invitation and slowly branched out from there.. The original bird was called Larry but he went to court to have it legally changed. He became the spokesperson for a series of ads for The Oak Barrel Tavern in YBOR CITY for which he and the gang were rewarded by free imported beer.  Hanging out in a tavern, as opposed to a church or laundromat, opens the strips to a greater variety of situations. I would like to thank Richard Boom for making sure they always drank good beer and never got drunk and disorderly like most penguins are apt to do.

 The Birds are a direct descendants of my love for McGuinn’s BYRDS, Larry Bird, the YARDBIRDS, Admiral BYRD, Curly haired ROBIN (Bev’s friend, what a babe), Ed Poe’s “The Raven”, Al Hitchcock’s BIRDS, Jeff McNally’s SHOE, and Loudon Wainwright the Third’s DEAD SKUNK. Oh, and Randy Newman’s SHORT PEOPLE.  A lot of birds are endangered because people like to shoot ‘em, stuff ‘em and use them for back scratchers. We do the same thing to whales.