The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds

Look for one of these next time you go birdwatching.

Vanilla and Chocolate, lemon and lime.
The Ice-Cream Cone Coot is a treat anytime.

The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds is a 1971 children's book by Arnold Lobel (who is most well known for the Frog and Toad series). It documents a number of strange fictitious birds that resemble mundane objects. These include the Dollarbill Dodo, a bird made out of a dollar; the Safecrossing Crow, a stop light, and of course, the eponymous Ice-Cream Cone Coot. It's beautifully illustrated and whimsical, but sadly out of print.

Tropes used in The Ice-Cream Cone Coot and Other Rare Birds include:

• Animate Inanimate Object: The premise of the book.
• Anthropomorphic Food: The Ice-Cream Cone Coot.
• Feathered Fiend: The Jackknife Niffy that cuts off children's noses.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The birds in the book are all part avian, part inanimate object.
• Somewhere an Ornithologist Is Crying: There is no possible excuse for something part bird, part teacup.
• Talking Animal: The Soupladle Lark, though it can only say the names of soups.