I figure that for every type of item, there’s a collector, but now I’ve stumbled across a collectible that I didn’t know was an item. Did that make sense? Anyway, I’ve never heard of “pie birds” (or “pie vents”) before. But they are a hot collectible, at least if the price of some of them are any indication. Pie bakers can stick these little ceramic doohickeys, usually shaped like birds, into their pies so that steam can escape. Usually you just slash vents into the top crust, so they aren’t a necessity. They can be found in many shapes, often cute, making for a perfect collectible category. Right now on eBay they’ve got 315 of them, including a few cats, a dragon, a penguin, a pregnant woman (I kid you not), Disney characters, holiday themes, and of course the ever popular blackbirds baked in a pie. And, as with many collectibles, once you start web searching for them, you find many a quaint web page. This one’s got a pie cow. Which is much different from a cow pie.