The Avians of Alcatraz, and of Thanksgiving

According to Google Search, “the word ‘avion’ is French (and Spanish) for ‘airplane’ but its meaning ultimately comes from the Latin word ‘avis,’ meaning ‘bird’.  This connection to ‘bird’ is reflected in the English adjective ‘avian,’ which means ‘of, relating to, or characteristic of birds’”. 

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Moore County Airport aviation history aficionados.  I hope you’re enjoying being with family and friends today having raucous discussions of memories of the past and politics, rather than reading this historical vignette.  Save it for tomorrow and avoid the “Black Friday” crowds by reading it then.

Most pilots call their metal, wooden, plastic, fiberglass, and composite aircraft “birds”, as in, “I’m going out to the flight line to strap on my bird.”  Today, Thanksgiving Day, it seems appropriate on the other hand to celebrate the feathered kind of bird, a day when tens of thousands give up their lives for our culinary enjoyment.  Thanks, feathered friends! 

A coworker is serving Cornish Game Hens for their Thanksgiving feast.  A family down the street is having grilled “beer can chicken” today.  We’re having traditional turkey with all the trimmings. 

None of these “yard birds” mentioned above can fly very well…if at all.  But they sure do “eat well”.  We appreciate their sacrifices on our behalf.   

In addition to celebrating “them eatin’ birds” that many of us are enjoying today as we give thanks for our many blessings (for us, yes, but not for the birds ☹), this week we also remember another avian event on November 25^, 1959:  The Birdman of Alcatraz asked a court to set him free.  Downloaded on November 26, 2025 from: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/november-25/the-birdman-of-alcatraz-is-allowed-a-small-taste-of-freedom  

The San Francisco Examiner · Nov 26, 1959.  Note the upper left headline, “Alcatraz ‘Bird’ Wants to ‘Fly’” reporting on Stroud’s request to be set free. (History.com)

The Birdman.  American Stock/Getty Images

“On November 25, 1959, four months after being released from 43 years of solitary confinement and transferred to the mainland from the penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, Robert Stroud, the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz,” asked a federal judge to set him free. Stroud gained widespread fame and attention when author Thomas Gaddis wrote a biography that trumpeted Stroud’s ornithological expertise.

“Stroud was first sent to prison in 1909 after he killed a bartender in a brawl. He had nearly completed his sentence at Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas when he stabbed a guard to death in 1916. Though he claimed to have acted in self-defense, he was convicted and sentenced to hang. A handwritten plea by Stroud’s mother to President Woodrow Wilson earned Stroud a commuted sentence of life in permanent solitary confinement.

“For the next 15 years, Stroud lived amongst the canaries that were brought to him by visitors, and became an expert in birds and ornithological diseases. But after being ordered to give up his birds in 1931, he redirected his energies to writing about them and published his first book on ornithology two years later. When the publisher failed to pay Stroud royalties because he was barred from filing suit, Stroud took out advertisements complaining about the situation. Prison officials retaliated by sending him to Alcatraz, the federal prison with the worst conditions.

“In 1943, Stroud’s Digest of the Diseases of Birds, a 500-page text that included his own illustrations, was published to general acclaim. In spite of his success, Stroud was depressed over the isolation he felt at Alcatraz, and he attempted suicide several times. The legendary “Birdman of Alcatraz” died in a Missouri prison in 1963 at the age of 73.”

Courtesy of Thriftbooks.com where Stroud’s book can be purchased used for $6.00 not including shipping.

Onward and upward!

Sources:  History.com, Getty Images, Thriftbooks.com, San Franciso Examiner