What exactly is the "new bird" in the Winter Wonderland song? "Gone away is the bluebird, here to stay, is the new bird. It sings a love song, as we go along, walking in a winter wonderland."

Gone away is the bluebird
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song, as we go along
Walking in a winter wonderland

I would therefore tend to think that the word should be "blue bird" where "blue" means "sad" - "we're happy tonight", sadness is gone because "we're in love" (the new bird "sings a love song").

http://www.englishforums.com/English/WhereBluebirdsGone/hlngm/post.htm

The "New Bird" is a reference to Charlie "Yard Bird" Parker. A great jazz/bebop musician who was famous during the early 1940s-1950's. His nickname was later shortened to "Bird". Parker lived in New York before his drug/alcohol-related death. When he died, many people in the music arena wrote "Bird Lives" in graffiti on walls around New York City.

"Here to stay is the new Bird".

The Problem with the Charlie "Bird" Parker theory is that the song was written in 1934, before Parker was well-known as a musician.
Living in central B.C., I can't think of too many birds that "sing a love song" in winter. All I usually hear is their teeth chattering. (OK, that part may not be 100 per cent accurate.)