People Watching
We start by noticing that the puzzle is bird-themed, based on the “Tweeter” tweets, “flocking” and some of the colorful descriptions provided. This puzzle uses bird call mnemonics, as clued in the flavor by “recall what they said” as well as a vague description to identify the bird in each tweet. There are a few break-in points, including “O sweet Canada” and “maids, maids, maids please put the tea kettle on.” Once the birds are identified, we can use the likes on the tweet to index into the bird name. In order, the birds are:
| Bird Name | Mnemonic | Description | Likes | Cluephrase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina Wren | Tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle | Dashing white eyebrow | 6 | I |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler | Pleased-pleased-pleased-ta-meecha | Yellow hat | 17 | B |
| Song Sparrow | Maids, maids, maids please put the kettle on | Plump lady in tweed | 6 | P |
| Eastern Towhee | Drink your tea | Orange waistcoat | 3 | S |
| Common Poorwill | Poor-will | Snakeskin pattern blended in with the background | 1 | C |
| Red-eyed Vireo | Here I am where are you | Eyes bloodshot | 9 | I |
| White-throated Sparrow | O sweet Canada, Canada, Canada | Yellow eye shadow | 5 | E |
| Eastern Meadowlark | But-i-do-love-you-spring-of-the-year | Yellow shirt | 7 | N |
| Chuck-will's-widow | Chuck-wills-widow | Sad lady’s (Common Poorwill’s) twin | 1 | C |
| Great Horned Owl | Who's awake? Me too | Bedhead (ear tufts) | 3 | E |
| Olive-sided Flycatcher | Quick three beers | White tie | 14 | C |
| Barred Owl | Who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks for you all | Stripes | 7 | O |
| Killdeer | Kill-deer | N/A (name is descriptive enough) | 5 | D |
| Tufted Titmouse | Peter-peter-peter | Charlie Chaplin mustache | 5 | E |
We get the clue phrase IBP SCIENCE CODES, which references the IBP bird codes. Specifically, we are looking for the 6-letter codes, which are based on the scientific name of the bird.
We also notice some extraneous information or weird wording in each of the tweets. Going back to look at those now, we see that the 6-letter codes for each bird can be found within the tweet, with one letter changed. We read the changed letters in order to get ANSWER HINDWING.
| Bird Name | 6-letter Code | Location in Tweet | Given String | New Letter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carolina Wren | THRLUD | …star ludicrous… | TARLUD | A |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler | SETPEN | …baronet penetrates… | NETPEN | N |
| Song Sparrow | MELMEL | …flames melting… | MESMEL | S |
| Eastern Towhee | PIPERY | …pipe wyoming… | PIPEWY | W |
| Common Poorwill | PHANUT | …peanut… | PEANUT | E |
| Red-eyed Vireo | VIROLI | …enviro-rights advocate… | VIRORI | R |
| White-throated Sparrow | ZONALB | …marathon albeit… | HONALB | H |
| Eastern Meadowlark | STUMAG | …elysium again… | SIUMAG | I |
| Chuck-will's-widow | ANTCAR | …reluctant can go… | ANTCAN | N |
| Great Horned Owl | BUBVIR | …hubbub directly… | BUBDIR | D |
| Olive-sided Flycatcher | CONCOO | …won cool points… | WONCOO | W |
| Barred Owl | STRVAR | …sir various… | SIRVAR | I |
| Killdeer | CHAVOC | …wreakin' havoc… | NHAVOC | N |
| Tufted Titmouse | BAEBIC | …bag bicycle… | BAGBIC | G |