A Reason for Wrong Movie Birds (1 Viewer)

[Mono]

There are numerous threads on Birdforum bemoaning the out of place bird choices of TV and film makers, but there might be an explanation other than ignorance, (in America at least).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...son-hollywood-gets-birds-all-wrong/?tid=a_inl

 

[Sangahyando]

Interesting find. I think they should modify the law so that it allows NA birds to be used specifically for filming, but under strict regulations and only by a few people.

However there's usually a simpler explanation for sounds used, and that's stock sounds. And they also get European birds wrong (for example, in the HBO/BBC series Rome, there's a Red-tailed Hawk and numerous parrots from Australia and South America).

Also, this (quoting the article):

The costumes may be historically accurate. The actors’ accents might be impeccable.

They usually aren't. Some movies do have glorious "regular" costumes, but almost all of them get armour wrong (and a lot of set-related things). And there are some weird conventionts regarding accents.

 

[fugl]

Ignorance/indifference. All that's required "artistically" are evocative background sounds. Kookaburras, Red-tailed Hawks, Great Horned Owls, California Quail, loons etc. etc. fit the bill nicely, and the vast majority of the audience neither knows nor cares whether they're regionally appropriate.

 

[Nutcracker]

Same with trees too - seeing Robin Hood hiding in a Tulip-tree (American species) is one I noticed once :t:

 

[Strontium Dog]

The one I always remember - probably the most famous example, come to think of it - is the American Robin in Mary Poppins, which is set in Edwardian London.

No excuses for that except sheer ignorance.

 

[Dave Ball]

Personally I loved the crops of (IIRC) maize and oil-seed rape growing in the Shire.

On a more bird-related note, Harris Hawk seems to be the default falconer's starter bird in the UK. Does that law make them illegal in the USA, and do US falconers use European species, or is falconry not much of a thing in the USA?

 

[Sangahyando]

Yeah, I was wondering about Harris Hawks too. Same goes for Peregrines.

 

[Dave Ball]

Yeah, I was wondering about Harris Hawks too. Same goes for Peregrines.

Yeah, quite, Peregrine should be illegal too, thought of that but forgot to add it. Same should apply to Gyr (and Merlin and Gos, come to that), which occur naturally in the US?

Apologies for hijacking the thread into falconry

 

[Nutcracker]

What about wildlife films? If they do a film of Yosemite wildlife, are they only allowed to show mammals, and do birds have to be dubbed in from Europe later?

 

[Sangahyando]

What about wildlife films? If they do a film of Yosemite wildlife, are they only allowed to show mammals, and do birds have to be dubbed in from Europe later?

Don't think so. I've seen some documentaries on NA wildlife, and they show the appropriate species (e.g. Mountain Bluebirds in documentaries about Yellowstone NP).

 

[ovenbird43]

This only applies to a few situations, where a bird is needed to be on set or otherwise needs to be handled/environment manipulated (and even then I imagine permits could be obtained for some cases); surely if desired movies could show footage of wild native birds. And certainly this doesn't apply to all the mismatched audio.

 

[ovenbird43]

Personally I loved the crops of (IIRC) maize and oil-seed rape growing in the Shire.

On a more bird-related note, Harris Hawk seems to be the default falconer's starter bird in the UK. Does that law make them illegal in the USA, and do US falconers use European species, or is falconry not much of a thing in the USA?

It's not much of a thing here but one of my husband's old friends does it and has/had native species. I image that, as with research, for falconers there are permits that allow exceptions to the blanket terms of the Migratory Bird Act.

 

[jurek]

It is ignorance mostly. Although movie producers apparently caught up in recent years, and there are much less 'wrong' animals, and mostly less obvious species.

Besides, there are only too many un-releaseable injured native animals and animatronic puppets.

Another development is using computer-generated animals. It is a bit worrying to me. Will in future, public lose all connection to real wildlife, entertain itself with computer-generated likes of Jungle Book, and not care about real tigers or jungles?

 

[Nutcracker]

I image that, as with research, for falconers there are permits that allow exceptions to the blanket terms of the Migratory Bird Act.

I'd suspect the difficulty here is not posessing native birds under license, but using them for commercial purposes (i.e., a film that you're selling to paying viewers).

 

[Andy Adcock]

I'd suspect the difficulty here is not posessing native birds under license, but using them for commercial purposes (i.e., a film that you're selling to paying viewers).

Are Falconer's allowed to be paid for Falconry displays in the US?

Our annual County show always has a Falconry display here in the UK and you'd be surprised what birds they have, Steppe Eagle there last year.

Andy

 

[Nutcracker]

Are Falconer's allowed to be paid for Falconry displays in the US?

Our annual County show always has a Falconry display here in the UK and you'd be surprised what birds they have, Steppe Eagle there last year.

Andy

Might be required to be Not-for-profit organisations: they could do shows to individuals at cost, but not for corporations?

Steppe Eagle . . . non-native, what the thread is all about

 

[Andy Adcock]

My surprise was at the actual availability of the species, what's their origin, bred in the UK or coming in from some other dodgy source?

A

 

[Nutcracker]

My surprise was at the actual availability of the species, what's their origin, bred in the UK or coming in from some other dodgy source?

A

You can get almost anything on e-bay