2015-01-26
Explanation
The Joke
The comic presents a fake field guide titled "Know Your Bird-Related Auguries," listing various birds and the omens they supposedly represent. The entries start somewhat plausible (Raven = Death, Sparrow = Good Luck) but quickly become absurd and mundane. A Eurasian Kestrel means "Nobody Will Ever Love You," a Barnacle Goose means "Rent Is Due," a Crested Ibis means "Your Zipper Is Undone," and a Dwarf Cassowary means "You Need to Stop Drinking." The bottom row gets even more ridiculous: a Female Whistling Duck delivers a long-winded prophecy about your ex, a Pterodactyl means "The Time Machine Worked," and a Passenger Pigeon means "The Time Machine Worked A Little."
The Humor
The comedy comes from the collision of the ancient, mystical tradition of augury (divining the future from bird sightings) with hilariously specific, banal modern-day concerns. Instead of grand prophecies about war or destiny, the birds predict things like overdue rent and wardrobe malfunctions. The escalation is also key: the Pterodactyl and Passenger Pigeon entries pivot to time-travel jokes. A Pterodactyl sighting would mean your time machine worked perfectly (since they are prehistoric), while a Passenger Pigeon -- which went extinct in 1914 -- would mean it only worked "a little," since you only went back about a century instead of millions of years.
References
Augury is the ancient Roman practice of interpreting the will of the gods by studying the flight and behavior of birds. The Passenger Pigeon went extinct in 1914 when the last known individual, Martha, died at the Cincinnati Zoo.