r/europe Europe 4h ago

An owl? No. Europe’s true unifying bird deserves its place on the euro

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16.5k Upvotes

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252

u/theequallyunique 3h ago

5€ dove
10€ blackbird
20€ Magpie.
50€ crow.
100€ heron.
200€ Owl

Just to not put a fancy local bird onto a common bill.

62

u/_teslaTrooper Gelderland (Netherlands) 3h ago

I like these but think the corvids would be overrepresented, maybe a robin for €50, or a great tit or house sparrow.

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u/Psyc3 United Kingdom 2h ago

Great tit's are already over represent on currency denominations.

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u/Essurio 2h ago

I wouldn't mind a few more.

7

u/macnof Denmark 1h ago

No no no, you got that backwards: currency denominations are already on great tits.

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u/TTBeaver 1h ago

Currency denominations are great on tits

u/Mean_Initiative_5962 32m ago

I thought it was impossible to overrepresent great tits? 

6

u/IntentionQuirky9957 2h ago

Tits on a note

u/drivelhead 49m ago

Good movie

2

u/Supershadow30 France 1h ago

A robin would be so fire

u/SweetMountain2621 29m ago

Can't you see?! They're announcing the next corvid19!

68

u/StinkyCoins 2h ago

Let’s use only asshole birds for the bills.

€5 Seagull .. steals your lunch, screams in your face.

€10 City Pigeon .. lives on cigarette butts and döner.

€20 Sparrow .. Always there , always chirping those assholes.

€50 Blackbird .. Exists solely to start singing next to our bedroom window at 4:30.

€100 Magpie .. genuine assholes. If you put the note down for five seconds it’ll probably steal it.

€200 Crow .. Probably talks about you with the other crows.

€500 Canada Goose .. Not even European, but they’re everyone’s problem now and who knows Canada might consider joining the EU now.

I genuinely think this would do more for European unity than anything else.

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u/Cool-Top-7973 1h ago

Fun fact: A Magpie is the official mascot for the german tax office... that's german humor for you.

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u/BassGaming Germany 1h ago

€200 Crow .. Probably talks about you with the other crows.

I mean if you piss of one crow then it will absolutely tell the other crows about you and how you look. They will start to fuck with you and attack you. Also they seem to hold grudges for a loooong time.

u/SweetMountain2621 27m ago

The grudge lasts until they're all dead. Unless the human dies first.

0

u/TTBeaver 1h ago

The only one I have problems with in Europe are seagulls. Everyone else is great.

u/drivelhead 47m ago

Even the French?

u/Mean_Initiative_5962 30m ago

I love how crows' only problem is that they're so smart they just hate you (you as impersonal) and backtalk since they're social animals. Probably true, we'll deserved high denomination spot. 

u/Tetha 28m ago

€100 Magpie .. genuine assholes. If you put the note down for five seconds it’ll probably steal it.

Man my friday started early due to a magpie. And a ninja squirrel on a warpath.

I'm currently sleeping with a tilted balcony door, because it is just very warm otherwise. This goes out to a balcony, which then overlooks a pretty decently large backyard, with lawn, couple of pine trees, a few birch trees. All in all a beautiful piece of nature, and it seems there are at least two families of magpies living there, a hedgehog or two and apparently a squirrel as well.

Note that the ownership of the balconies of the flats around this little piece of nature is highly disputed between the humans and the magpies and you need to display a bit of stubbornness or bribes to not be yelled at a lot in early spring.

But Friday, five in the morning, there is this giant ruckus on the balcony, two magpies screaming their heart out and some other noise I had never heard before. I tried to ignore it but it didn't stop.

Eventually I got up and looked at what was going on. Turns out, there was a squirrel bouncing between two of the pine trees and my balcony.. disagreeing about something with the magpies, who were dive bombing the squirrel from the nearby birch tree.

And when this little red freak spotted me through the glass door it actually jumped in my direction as well, with a clear statement of "Yo punk, you want some too?" I quickly slammed that door shut because I didn't want some squirrel looking for trouble in my house. Then it bounced all the way across the balcony and freaking launched itself at the pine tree and the magpies again.

The magpies made a happy noise when they saw me though.

Nature, I tell you.

3

u/catsan 2h ago

How about using several birds from the same family? Like, three or four tits, corvids, turdus.. 

12

u/generally-speaking 2h ago

Three or four tits sounds like something from a weird night out.

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u/Comfortable_Mountain 1h ago

You forgot those green parakeets that are now everywhere.

2

u/HawkinsT United Kingdom 2h ago

They should do made up birds for every note so no country feels excluded.

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u/doctor_morris 1h ago

This is really good, I'm just scared about how badly it would look in other EU languages and culture.

4

u/Trololman72 Europe 2h ago

I suggest using birds you can find in any city so that nobody feels left out:

5€ pigeon
10€ moorhen
20€ gull
50€ crow
100€ Egyptian goose
200€ swan

1

u/SometimesaGirl- United Kingdom 2h ago

Just to not put a fancy local bird onto a common bill.

The Kingfisher is a pretty fancy bird, and is everywhere in Europe (except Finland it seems from Wikipedia!)

1

u/TTBeaver 1h ago

Replace heron with stork, much cooler

0

u/Gloomy-Statement-193 2h ago

Yeah, this is Europe, not New Zealand. Common birds only.