Drinking bird

"They were popular, especially among company types who sat them on their desk, entertaining themselves with the perpetual motion.^[1]"

―Regarding a drinking bird toy (from Alien: Inferno's Fall)

Drinking Bird USCSS Covenant — A drinking bird.

The drinking bird was a human-made novelty item that consisted of a top-hatted bird character with a tubular body mounted on a fulcrum; when placed in front of a source of liquid, the bird would tip its beak into the liquid and "drink" it.

History[]

One such item was on the bridge of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation colony ship USCSS Covenant as of 2104. Another two with white top hats were notably present aboard the towing vessel USCSS Nostromo in 2122. Around the same year, a drinking bird was present in the security office of the commercial mining colony Bowen's Landing. A number of drinking birds were also present throughout Sevastopol Station as well as Mendel Station in 2137. While on Fiorina 161, Superintendent Andrews kept a drinking bird on his desk in his personal quarters at the Fiorina 161 Class C Work Correctional Unit in 2179. A drinking bird was available at Wesford's general store at the Jùtóu Combine's Svarog Mine on the Union of Progressive Peoples mining planet Shānmén; this bird was purchased by Knot member Nathan Bennetts-Riley.

Trivia[]

While the item first appeared in the opening sequence of the 1979 film Alien, and went on to reappear in a number of franchise-related releases, the drinking bird hadn't ever been specifically mentioned or expanded upon until the release of the 2022 novel Alien: Inferno's Fall.
In the 1979 film, the drinking birds seen on screen, sold then as Drinking Happy Birds or Lucky Birds, were altered from their original form and consisted of blue feathers, and a a white material wrapped around its top-hat inscribed with the Japanese symbols 幸運, which translate to "good luck." The set of birds can be seen "drinking" from white 1970s style Tupperware mugs adorned with blue Weylan-Yutani wings.
A green colored drinking bird was also featured on the cover of an Alien franchise themed book titled Becoming Alien: The Beginning and End of Evil in Science Fiction's Most Idiosyncratic Film Franchise by author Sarah Welch-Larson, whose book examined the aesthetics of science-fiction and the concept of evil throughout all six canonical Alien films.

Goofs[]

When dry, drinking birds tip into a head-down position. When the bird is placed next to a water source such that this position brings its beak into contact with water, which is then lifted into the beak by capillary action and carried by capillary action past the fulcrum to a larger sponge reservoir which was fashioned to resemble wings. When enough water has been absorbed by the reservoir, the now-heavy bottom causes the bird to tip into a head-up position. With the beak out of the water, eventually enough water evaporates from the sponge that the original balance is restored and the head tips down to start the process over again. During the opening of the 1979 film, two of the toy birds were already moving, even though everyone on the ship had evidently been asleep for some time (they are in an unknown part of deep space, 10 months away from Earth). As a result, any water in the both the mug and the beaker should have evaporated long ago and the birds should be motionless, as these toys require water to fuel their perpetual motion.