Goofus Bird [Fearsome Critter]

Goofus bird - [fearsome critter] - [Latin name: Fulica stultusregrediens] - also vicariously known as the 'Phillyloo',  'Flu-Fly', "Filla-ma-loo" bird, among several others*

• About this Critter: A seldom seen bird with  scarcely any feathers: it flies upsidown & backwards (Occasionally  both, oftentimes neither.) it does this to keep itself warm. Not very  intelligent, it doesn't give a darn which direction its going, it only  wants to know where it has been. As such woodsmen often witness the  goofus bumping into trees, just to recover, take off and then repeat the  processs again and again... The bird also builds nests upsidown, often  resulting in poor quality, cracked or scrambled eggs. - it is described  as having a long green neck, a black right wing and a pink left wing and  is often described as a "crane or waterfowl." - it makes a horrendous  screeching cry, similar to a locomotive pulling on its breaks!

• History: Another Fearsome Critter, originally passed between lumber-camps in UnitedStates and Canada, eventually described in Paul Bunyan's Natural History [1935] & Fearsome Critters [1939]  and other astories, bestiarys & jokebooks there forwards. - "Paul  Bunyans Natural History" separates the names, describing both the  "Goofus" and the "Phillyloo" as seperate critters, explained as follows:

"GOOFUS BIRD One of the peculiar birds nesting  near Paul Bunyan's old time camp on the Big Onion River. It was the  opposite of most other birds—it always flew backwards instead of  forwards. This curious habit an old lumberjack explained: "It doesn't  give a darn where it's going, it only wants to know where it's been." It also built its nest upside down.

PHILLYLOO BIRD. It had a long beak like a  stork and long legs. It had no feathers to spare. It flew upside down to  keep warm and to avoid rheumatism in its long limbs. It laid Grade D eggs."

Most  other bestiarys decide to combine the two descriptions, the first to  publish an illustration of a "Filla-ma-loo" (at least as far as i can  find) was Henry H Tyron who described & illustrated it as follows in  Fearsome Critters [1939]

THE FILLA-MA-LOO BIRD [ THE GOOFUS BIRD ]Fulica stultusregrediens

A curious character, varying widely from the usual run of feathered  animals. A bird distinctly low in intellectual curiosity, showing  complete and consistent indifference as to where he’s going. He prefers  only to see where he’s been; hence he always flies backwards.
     A rather rare species, frequently heard of, but seldom seen.  Authentic reports are none too common. This is odd, for a turkey-like  head on a long bottle-green neck sparsely spangled with large, silvery  scales, a black right wing and a pink left one make a color combination  hard to miss. The nest is usually built upside down; the eggs (seven to a  clutch) are invariably Grade D. The call resembles the clank of a  Johnson bar being shoved into reverse.
    Variously called the Goofus Bird, the Flu-fly Bird, etc.

it was also one of several birds collected & illustrated in "Wisconsin lore and legends."

[1981 wisconsin lore and legends by John Russel]

...According to early Febold Feboldson  tall tales, The "Filla-ma-loo bird" is also the solution to rid oneself of 'The Hidebehind',  because the bird would always look behind itself, the hidebehind  couldn't attack, so, the obvious solution was to have the bird circle  your head while you worked.

*A bird by any other name: Yet Another regional name for 'Goofus birds' is 'Booger birds' (aka 'Bogie birds') - the topic of this critter is named as such in "Appalatian Bestiary" [Gary Carden, 2012] - booger birds are also mentioned also in the "treasury of american folkore" [1961]  as well as earlier among creatures described Vance Randolph in "we always lie to strangers" [1951] who describes it as "a mythical goose or swan  which flies backward, known as the bogie-bird or booger-bird. ‘The idea  is that the bogie-bird doesn’t care where it is going, but wants to see  where it has been." Vance also describes a "Fillyloo" but likens it to  the 'gillygaloo.' - [Don't get these two confuddled now, remember: The 'Gillygaloo' lays square eggs!]  - "the fillyloo’s nest is built upside down, too; the eggs are lighter  than air, if one is pushed out of the nest it rises like a balloon and  is soon lost to view. Some old settlers talk of the gillygoo bird which  flies upside down for one reason or another, but I believe it is  identical with the fillyloo crane."

Occasionally the 'Goofus bird' is believed to be the result of seeing waterfowl birds whiffle (that is to take off backwards or turn to fly upsidown mid-flight.) - as such, in certain modern media & various bestiaries the 'goofus'  might also be remembered as a "whiffle-bird" or some other nomenclature.  - (not to be confused with the 'whiffle-whiffle-bird' of Texas. (spoken of in Mythical Creatures of USA and Canada [Wyman, 1979])

The birds name is also quite often spelt as "Philly lou"  or some other similar mixup or mispelling that sounds the same when spoken aloud. - in "Mythical Creatures of Maine." [Chris Packardm, 2022] said that the name "Philly lou" &  'Filla-ma-loo' likely derived from the french word "Feux Follet" or  'Will-O-Wisp.' – in Quebec, the "Feu Volant" or "Flying Fire" was said to be a bird-like creature which flew backwards in order to avoid getting branches and dust in its eyes.' - [fairly common trope among lumberwoods creatures see also "goofang."]  - Though, he admits that the names are clearly related (likely the  result of english lumbermen mispronouncing it.) its unclear how the 'backward bird' and the 'fairy lights' are at all connected... as far as my elementary-school understanding of Canadian-French goes, it seems he's correct!

- I feel it should also be pointed out that 'glowing birds' as well as 'birds that carry flame'  appear quite widely in worldwide folklore & myth. Commonly as Cranes, Harens, Chickens and even Geese. - [There are also few bird-yokai which are also associated with "Ghost Lights" - "Aosaginohi", "Furaribi", "Basan". among others.] - Aside from that, it should also be noted that the "backwards flying-fowl" has several mythological & regional relatives which also exist: and there has been no shortage of these throughout history. - To name a few off the top of my head are those such as the British & Australian "Oozlum bird' which was defined by the oxford dictionary (as early as 1858) as "a mythical bird displaying ridiculous behaviour" - The mythical 'Auk' (see also the boobrie of scotland.) was also occasionally said "to fly backward as to see where it has been." -some of these date back so far where exactly these concepts originated from, is likely lost to time~!

...Anyway, origins aside, this utterly foolish bird, certainly lives up to the name "Goofus" and it seems that that is in fact the most common name for it used today, so: I decided to stick with that as the title for this sticker too. - (despite enjoying the sound of "phillylou" a lot more, i felt it was for the best as 'Phillylou' is pretty close to 'Gillygaloo' and after all and we cant have our readers getting confused.)

• [see also: Paul bunyans natural history, Gillygaloo.]

Art by @Samkalensky part of my fearsome critters collection of stickers, check my shop for many more and consider supporting my work on patreon.