“and it has haunted not just me but the birding community at large”
January 14, 2025 1:59 AM Subscribe
The Wrongest Bird in Movie History is an episode of the Slate podcast Decoder Ring [transcript]. In it guest producer Forrest Wickman goes in search of the answer to a question that has bedeviled birders for a quarter-century: Why is the bird identified as a ‘Pygmy Nuthatch’ in the Charlie Angels movie neither look nor sound like a Pygmy Nuthatch? And boy, does Wickman get answers.
One of the best books I read in 2024 was Christian Cooper's Better Living Through Birding and this is one of his bugbears. It may be pedantic to anyone else, but I love that he and his fellow birders know birds well enough they can spot these sorts of things through bird calls.
Christian Cooper is sadly famous through that awful Central Park incident.
posted by Kitteh at 3:40 AM on January 14 [9 favorites]
Christian Cooper is sadly famous through that awful Central Park incident.
posted by Kitteh at 3:40 AM on January 14 [9 favorites]
Well, I was pretty sure I knew why "Pygmy Nuthatch,"* but all the rest about why they didn't actually use a Pygmy Nuthatch, or even the sound of a Pygmy Nuthatch was interesting!
* as RefashionedHippie says in her vids, if you show your sign, or logo design or new business name to a 13-year old and they giggle, you might have a problem -- also works in reverse! Funny bird name ahoy!
posted by taz at 5:07 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
* as RefashionedHippie says in her vids, if you show your sign, or logo design or new business name to a 13-year old and they giggle, you might have a problem -- also works in reverse! Funny bird name ahoy!
posted by taz at 5:07 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
I am not allowed by my friends and family to comment on the bird sounds when we are watching movies or tv because they have had enough of my commentary.
I always have to watch myself or the same thing might happen to me with medical scenes on movies and TV.
I was suspicious that the bird was chosen to be photogenic, but the rest of the inconsistencies didn’t make sense until I read the transcript. Although given that Charlie’s Angels was one of the original T&A TV shows, having the bird be a tit might have been better. Maybe too obvious, though.
posted by TedW at 5:15 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
I always have to watch myself or the same thing might happen to me with medical scenes on movies and TV.
I was suspicious that the bird was chosen to be photogenic, but the rest of the inconsistencies didn’t make sense until I read the transcript. Although given that Charlie’s Angels was one of the original T&A TV shows, having the bird be a tit might have been better. Maybe too obvious, though.
posted by TedW at 5:15 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
In fact, with a bit of googling I found a good candidate: the African Blue Tit. It is visually striking, I think its call sounds good, and although it is not native to anywhere near California, that would avoid the legal issues. They could have slightly renamed it the California Blue Tit or something similar.
posted by TedW at 5:27 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
posted by TedW at 5:27 AM on January 14 [1 favorite]
I must say, that is one charming Tit.
posted by taz at 5:30 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
posted by taz at 5:30 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
That totally reeled me in; possibly the most interesting thing I've read or listened to so far in 2025 - thanks for sharing!
posted by eternalhedgehog at 5:59 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
posted by eternalhedgehog at 5:59 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
The guy who is the birdsong expert is named Nathan Peeplow. Beautiful.
posted by hovey at 6:11 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
posted by hovey at 6:11 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
That story was great, *and* it keeps getting better as you go. I'm glad I read through to the end of the transcript.
posted by hovey at 6:20 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
posted by hovey at 6:20 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
Now you know how I feel when Tyrell, who is supposed to be a brilliant chess player, fails to see the point of Roy Batty’s move when it produces (a presumably forced) mate in one.
posted by Lemkin at 6:51 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
posted by Lemkin at 6:51 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
That was genuinely fun to read. I am delighted that this wasn't just a stupid mistake, but a series of deliberate, essential, forced mistakes. And the investigation felt like a true crime podcast where nobody dies but they solve the mystery in the end.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:29 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 7:29 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
I just listened to this episode a few days ago, and it's a delight. I was impressed at people's recall (or ability to dredge up the history) of their, at this point, quite old work. I'm so glad they were, it was fascinating to follow the whole story as it unraveled.
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:32 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:32 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
Okay I’m listening to this and I’m not done yet, but when they talk about how knowing bird calls is like being in the matrix I have to point out that’s not always a good thing. I was working in a new area once, heard a cuckoo call for the first time, and proceeded to get so excited I ran full across a busy road, jumped a fence, and into a stand of tree because all I could think was CUCKOO with such a single minded purpose it blocked everything else out.
(Yes I saw the yellow billed cuckoo, I was very happy about it! My field partner who was local to the area and suddenly found himself standing alone while his coworker ran off yelling about a bird he saw all the time was less happy)
posted by lepus at 7:33 AM on January 14 [9 favorites]
(Yes I saw the yellow billed cuckoo, I was very happy about it! My field partner who was local to the area and suddenly found himself standing alone while his coworker ran off yelling about a bird he saw all the time was less happy)
posted by lepus at 7:33 AM on January 14 [9 favorites]
Related: in Live and Let Die, the “opium poppies” are obviously sea grape branches with (fake?) flowers stuck on them.
posted by snofoam at 9:15 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 9:15 AM on January 14 [3 favorites]
The overuse of the Red Tail Hawk cry for sundry raptors is the one that always gets me.
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:32 AM on January 14 [5 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 9:32 AM on January 14 [5 favorites]
(It also refers to the podcast as "Dakota ring")
As do we, in my house
posted by stevil at 9:58 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
As do we, in my house
posted by stevil at 9:58 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
I particularly enjoyed "house pharaohs" right at the top.
posted by Hogshead at 10:03 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
posted by Hogshead at 10:03 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
I recently discovered the Maltese falcon is really the peregrine falcon and is not made out of lead.
posted by clavdivs at 10:10 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 10:10 AM on January 14 [2 favorites]
I enjoyed the facts, I fuckin’ flipped out at this man for describing a pygmy nuthatch as drab. Say that to my face.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:07 AM on January 14 [4 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 11:07 AM on January 14 [4 favorites]
The overuse of the Red Tail Hawk cry for sundry raptors is the one that always gets me.
There's also the repeated use of the kookaburra call as a generic "jungle sound effect" in movies set in very non-Australian jungles, going back to the days of the Tarzan movies.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:12 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]
There's also the repeated use of the kookaburra call as a generic "jungle sound effect" in movies set in very non-Australian jungles, going back to the days of the Tarzan movies.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:12 PM on January 14 [4 favorites]
Yess, my people. Killdeer in Dune, anyone?
posted by karasu at 3:44 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]
posted by karasu at 3:44 PM on January 14 [1 favorite]
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And the AI transcript adds its own marvels, i.e.: So now I knew why they hadn’t used the song of a pygmy nuthatch or a venezuelan troop eel.
(It also refers to the podcast as "Dakota ring")
posted by chavenet at 2:10 AM on January 14 [5 favorites]