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Birds as TV and Movie Characters

As of right now, the wife’s and my photo collection of birds stands at approximately 450 pictures, and is growing daily. Very frequently, we wander through the collection looking for that special picture, and in doing so, have come to notice a rather strange habit – we tend to relate some bird photos with TV/movie scenes or characters. True, this sort of anthropomorphization is a tad on the weird side, but both the wife and I suffer from it. So, without further ado... Birds as screen characters!

One of the funniest skits in the old BBC “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” was the “How Not To Be Seen.” In that routine, the narrator routinely explains the importance of not being seen, and demonstrates his point by asking folks who are hardly hidden in the first place to reveal themselves. (Once they do reveal themselves, bad things happen!) Below is a Cardinal trying not to be seen.
cardinal in tree_enhanced_300.JPG

Perhaps the most chilling movie I’ve seen is MGM’s “Jeepers Creepers.” Without spoiling the end of the flick, I’ll tell you this much - the villain in the story is a winged demon. And whoever handled the special effects for that movie obviously spent a lot of time looking at pictures like the following:
crow in initial stage of flight_enhanced_400.jpg

I would imagine most of our readers have seen John Belushi in the National Lampoon classic “Animal House.” There’s an amazing sequence in that film that has Belushi walking down a self-serve cafeteria line and devouring food as he goes. John actually packs an entire sandwich into his mouth; ditto for a serving of jello. Aside from being gross, there’s something very special about the scene – the impish, excessive rascal that was John Belushi comes beaming through. The picture below always reminds me of John.
crow_hotdog_roll_12-25-06_enhanced_300.JPG

Ever see Hitchcock’s “The Birds”?
crows waiting_enhanced_300.JPG
grackles1_enhanced_300.jpg.JPG

And finally there’s De Niro’s Travis Bickle! “You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?”
red-bellied woodpecker and bluejay_excellent_2_enhanced_300.JPG

See you by the feeders,
CapeCodAlan

P.S. Don't forget our contest!

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