“Rara Avis” captures one of the feelings most definitive of small town living: the quiet, aching need for something to be different.
To the townspeople, the bird is not just a bird, but a change of pace. Many people who live in these sorts of quiet burgs will tell you that the stability they provide is the best reason to live there, but it also becomes the downfall of the lifestyle. Humans aren’t wired to do the same thing every day, so any changes quickly become the town’s collective fixation.
While I’m sure it’s heavy with so many other types of symbolism, the mercy killing of the bird at the end of the story also preserves its mystique. Had it been able to nest, it would have become just another part of the town: commonplace, mundane, even dull. Killing it allows it to be something rare, sanctified, a story the people in the town will continue to tell when the black hole of sheer boredom threatens to overtake their home.
Excellent observations, Rachel. Now go deeper; look for more. What else is this story doing? There’s so much there.