| “ | They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away! | ” |
–Annabeth, talking about Stymphalian Birds, in The Sea of Monsters | ||
Stymphalian Birds are a species of monstrous pigeon-like birds.
History[]
Hercules and the Stymphalian Birds.
In Greek mythology, Hercules' sixth labor was to beat the Stymphalian birds. He did it by using brass bells given to him by Athena to scare them into the air, and when the birds took off from the swamp that they rested in, Hercules shot many of them down with his bow and arrows. Although some escaped, they never returned to the area that they were terrorizing.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians[]
The Sea of Monsters[]
Stymphalian birds attack Camp Half-Blood during a chariot race, and are able to enter the camp's borders due to the fact that Thalia's Pine Tree is dying. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase used Chiron's music from a portable stereo to confuse the birds, so that Apollo's Cabin could shoot them down. Tantalus apparently then cooked and served them for the winning camper's prize-dinner.
The Demigod Files[]
The Stolen Chariot[]
Phobos and Deimos send a flock of Stymphalian birds after Clarisse La Rue. With the help of Percy Jackson, she kills them all.
The Heroes of Olympus []
Attacking the Argo II
The Mark of Athena[]
Stymphalian birds attack the Argo II, but Festus torches them.
The Blood of Olympus[]
Stymphailian birds are stated to have attacked Frank Zhang and Piper McLean in Pylos, but are easily defeated with vegetables from Piper's cornucopia.
The Trials of Apollo[]
The Tyrant's Tomb[]
While fighting giant ravens, Apollo remembers how Percy had once scared Stymphailian birds away with Chiron's boom box and uses the same song to scare away the ravens.
The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure[]
Will Solace recalls that, when he was ten, he was attacked along with his mother in Washington Square Park by a flock of Stymphalian Birds. The two were saved by a satyr named Maron who revealed Will's demigod status and took him to Camp Half-Blood.
While in Tartarus, Will accidentally breaks a regeneration pod containing a flock of Stymphalian Birds, waking them up and releasing them from the pod. The flock attacks Will, carrying him off at one point before he meets up with Small Bob. The flock is joined by a pack of cynocephali who are also released from their pods in the melee. Will is briefly able to stun the monsters with his ultrasonic whistle before Nico di Angelo shows up, chased by the mania of Amphithemis. By telling Amphithemis that the monsters have Dionysus, Will causes the mania to chase off the birds and the cynocephali.
Abilities[]
Stymphalian birds have sharp Celestial Bronze beaks that can tear through flesh. They also have the ability to use their feathers like arrows, being able to shoot them down at their prey from above.