Chasing Birds
Long before there was Twitter, there were “Twitchers”: avian enthusiasts who would set out one weekend a year, in competing groups, in pursuit of the highest honour. The winning group is the one whose members manage to spot the largest number of different species of birds over a 24-hour period.
The competition, aptly named the “Twitchathon”, is run, somewhat on an honour system. As it’s impossible to monitor the veracity of each and every sighting claim, the bird watchers are taken at their word. There’s something sweet, innocent and refreshing about that alone. It’s all good, clean fun.
This documentary follows three groups from The Hunter Valley: Hunter Thickheads, the Whacked-Out Woodswallows and the Hunter Home Brewers.
Each group covers an enormous amount of terrain during the competition, in an effort to scour as many different habitats as possible to increase their chances. While one drives, the others are on the look-out. There’s barely a moment’s rest.
The simplicity of this film belies its logistic complexities. A large number of technicians followed the birdwatchers with sound and camera equipment, and managed to do so without (it seems) scaring off the object of the birdwatchers search.
Chasing Birds is a whimsical piece, full of interesting characters, geeky humour and a rather large amount of beer.