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Description

I had a dream recently in which I learned that big bird from Sesame Street was based off of a real species, which was basically a huge ratite with an elongated pygostyle and a crest like a royal flycatcher. So I drew him.
The dream:
Riding in the back of a pickup truck, I watched the dirt road and the edges of the trees slowly creep by when suddenly a huge, feathered dust mop of a bird lumbered out of the forest, into the road, and marched after us. It looked at me with an expression of mild, unconcerned expectation. It seemed that whatever this was, it expected to be fed. Judging from the long, snout-like bill it could and would eat a great many things given the chance. Crowning the head was a fan of display feathers like a turkey tail on the wrong end of the bird. The wings were vestigial, but large enough to perhaps serve to grasp onto a partner during mating. And the tail, unlike any other bird thus seen: an elongated pygostyle covered with long, shaggy dust-mop feathers. The overall color was a dark, nondescript brown with some darker markings along the neck and chest. This was big bird's great, great grandpappy.

Description

I had a dream recently in which I learned that big bird from Sesame Street was based off of a real species, which was basically a huge ratite with an elongated pygostyle and a crest like a royal flycatcher. So I drew him.
The dream:
Riding in the back of a pickup truck, I watched the dirt road and the edges of the trees slowly creep by when suddenly a huge, feathered dust mop of a bird lumbered out of the forest, into the road, and marched after us. It looked at me with an expression of mild, unconcerned expectation. It seemed that whatever this was, it expected to be fed. Judging from the long, snout-like bill it could and would eat a great many things given the chance. Crowning the head was a fan of display feathers like a turkey tail on the wrong end of the bird. The wings were vestigial, but large enough to perhaps serve to grasp onto a partner during mating. And the tail, unlike any other bird thus seen: an elongated pygostyle covered with long, shaggy dust-mop feathers. The overall color was a dark, nondescript brown with some darker markings along the neck and chest. This was big bird's great, great grandpappy.