Fluter-tooters

A family of fluter-tooters nesting in an Opple-dopple tree, their natural habitat.

Fluter-tooters are a species of bird on Sesame Street. They have small purple bodies and have matching tufts on the tops of their heads. Fluter-tooters are known to be graceful flyers, but also have terrible crash-landings. Their singing is a series of blaring squawks, which varies depending on how they're feeling at the moment. Their happy song is high and shrill and is described as having a lot of flute, while their sad song is low, guttural and has more toot than flute.

Fluter-tooters are the main focus of Episode 2876 (1991), in which a fluter-tooter named Floyd (played by Kevin Clash) comes to Sesame Street. Floyd explains that he is left homeless after all the Opple-dopple trees his species called home had been destroyed. Big Bird offers to have him temporarily stay in his nest. Then, Gina takes Floyd to the wildlife reserve, where a ranger builds a new birdhouse for him. His friends, Flo, Flip, and Felix Fluter-tooter join him in his new home.

A blue-tufted fluter-tooter previously appeared in Episode 2670, where it's revealed that the bird is the only one of its kind. Fluter-tooters had previously appeared as generic background birds on Sesame Street since the mid-1980s. One such bird appears as a lark in "Do-Op Hop". Other birds were often seen in Birdland; including one named "Tooter" who briefly appears in Episode 2504, where he sticks his head into Olivia's dressing room to tell her it's almost time for her to take the stage.