So, next weekend Hollywood once again bows down to the massive box office appeal of bird nerds. "The Big Year" is coming to the big screen, with some big names attached to it. Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Anjelica Huston strap on binoculars and portray somewhat more obsessed versions of ... us. Of course they're going to get some details painfully wrong - it's a movie after all - but it looks like they've done a few things very right. Huston plays Deb Shearwater, and I have to say it's a truly inspired bit of casting. Anyone who's ever taken a Shearwater pelagic trip (I've been on 8-10 over the years) can appreciate the genius of that decision.
It will be interesting to see if any other local "star" birders turn up in the movie, and who will play them. Peter Pyle, Steve Howell, Rich Stallcup... it's fun to speculate about who could do them justice. But there are some locals who would do best at playing themselves - especially since they've already starred in their own movie.
"I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMillet."
It was fun to go see "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" because I knew the stars, both human and avian. Mark Bittner I knew in passing from birding around town; the parrots because they like to hang out a lot of the same places that I like to hang out in the city. The movie has some wonderful footage of the birds, with the city I love as a supporting character.
(for some pure SF parrot goodness, watch this one on full screen.)
As anyone who has read my diaries (or birded with me) knows, I have a particular animosity toward invasive non-native species, both flora and fauna. The parrots, while most assuredly non-native, have not been growing their population enough to be invasive, so I can enjoy watching them around town without reservation. I'm a parrot lover after all, and it's cool to see the flock dynamics at work in our urban jungle. If they ever start expanding widely, it will be much harder to have the same happy feelings while watching them. (I hope they manage to keep my feelings unconflicted for a long time.)
A few of them have bred at Fort Mason, where GGRO holds some of our meetings. I try to get there a little early for the spring and summer meetings, in hopes of seeing them hang out in their nest tree(s), or foraging for food in the other trees. You often hear them long before you see them - they're pretty raucus, but they seem to like the very tippy tops of the eucalyptus trees or the deepest fronds of the palms, so you only catch a glimpse as they move from tree to tree.
Okay, so our local stars are better looking but if you do want to get the flavor of next weekend's release: