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44Ideas

Quaffles, quacks, and quirks

Which bird was nearly the UBC sports teams mascot before the name “Thunderbirds” was chosen?

Original reporting by Richard Littlemore

Quaffles, quacks, and quirks
IdeasWhich bird was nearly the UBC sports teams mascot before the name “Thunderbirds” was chosen? Quaffles, quacks, and quirks is included as a short source-linked brief in the September edition.Photo: Richard Littlemore

Where the work begins

Which bird was nearly the UBC sports teams mascot before the name “Thunderbirds” was chosen?

What follows

Further reporting continues across the university network.

At a glance

  • Campus: UBC Vancouver & Okanagan (Point Grey & Kelowna)
  • Focus: Research & public discovery (Ideas)
  • Outcome: Verified reporting (September 2026 issue)
Sources 1
  1. Original reporting · magazine.alumni.ubc.ca

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This story is from the September 2026 issue of Alumni Digest · UBC. It's free, monthly and independent.

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Alumni Digest is independent and is not an official University of British Columbia publication. Stories summarize the public reporting linked under each piece; photographs belong to the credited sources and remain under rights review.