Sige, Sige, Sige, Said the Utak

¹ Ornithological spectrogram still of an utak, or white-tailed tropicbird (Phaethon lepturus), sourced and reproduced with permission from the McCaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, as recorded by Jon Erickson. In addition to having a lifespan of 10–16 years, the white-tailed tropicbird has the ability to fly backwards.

² The utak or itak is a legendary bird in CHamoru society. From ancient times, the utak has been noted as a bearer of news. Though beliefs vary about the meaning of the bird’s shrill cry, hearing the utak is most commonly associated with either the pregnancy of a young woman or the coming death of someone in the family. Sourced from www.guampedia.com.

³ CHamoru words: sige (go on, advance), tåno, taotao, hånom, yan paluman siha (land, people, water, and birds), i håtdin y CHamoru (the CHamoru garden), lina’la’ (life),finatai (death), hokka (gather), fanggualo’ (planting season/time to plant).