"Birds" is a television commercial for the Washington Lottery; it won a Silver Lion at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, and "Best in Show" at the 2009 National ADDY Awards. SHOOT magazine placed it on their Top 10 list for Summer 2008. First broadcast in June 2008, it depicts three flightless birds—a penguin, a chicken, and an emu—being taken hang-gliding (the chicken and the penguin are shown wearing harnesses strapped to the chest of the glider pilots; the emu's harness is suspended between two gliders). The images of the birds in mid-air were produced by compositing video of the birds in their harnesses with video of the gliders in flight. References

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.”
— Charles William Beebe, The Bird: Its Form and Function (1906).
“Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.”
— John Heywood, Proverbs (1546), pt. 1, ch. 11
“I was always a lover of soft-winged things.”
— Victor Hugo, I Was Always a Lover.
“The francolin's voice is the glory of the fields.”
— Sumerian proverb, Collection II at , .
““What is that?” I gasped, nearly blinded by the unexpected vermillion patches on the blackbird’s epaulets. I watched as the bird threw back its head, opened wide its beak and let out a sound so primal it left me marvelling: this was as close as I’d ever stand to dinosaurs. If this bird had been here all along, I thought, what else had I been missing?”
— Julia Zarankin, Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder (2020), , p. 23
“From nesting, brooding and sex, to metabolism, development and even the diseases that afflicted them, many of the traits found in birds today were inherited from the dinosaurs. The boundary between dinosaurs and birds has become utterly blurred.”
— John Pickrell (2014), Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds, Columbia University Press, p. xvii

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Overview

"Birds" is a television commercial for the Washington Lottery; it won a Silver Lion at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, and "Best in Show" at the 2009 National ADDY Awards. SHOOT magazine placed it on their Top 10 list for Summer 2008. First broadcast in June 2008, it depicts three flightless birds—a penguin, a chicken, and an emu—being taken hang-gliding (the chicken and the penguin are shown wearing harnesses strapped to the chest of the glider pilots; the emu's harness is suspended between two gliders). The images of the birds in mid-air were produced by compositing video of the birds in their harnesses with video of the gliders in flight. References

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

"Birds" is a television commercial for the Washington Lottery; it won a Silver Lion at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, and "Best in Show" at the 2009 National ADDY Awards. SHOOT magazine placed it on their Top 10 list for Summer 2008.

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Notable quotes

“The beauty and genius of a work of art may be reconceived, though its first material expression be destroyed; a vanished harmony may yet again inspire the composer; but when the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again.”
— Charles William Beebe, The Bird: Its Form and Function (1906).
“Better one byrde in hand than ten in the wood.”
— John Heywood, Proverbs (1546), pt. 1, ch. 11
“I was always a lover of soft-winged things.”
— Victor Hugo, I Was Always a Lover.
“The francolin's voice is the glory of the fields.”
— Sumerian proverb, Collection II at , .
““What is that?” I gasped, nearly blinded by the unexpected vermillion patches on the blackbird’s epaulets. I watched as the bird threw back its head, opened wide its beak and let out a sound so primal it left me marvelling: this was as close as I’d ever stand to dinosaurs. If this bird had been here all along, I thought, what else had I been missing?”
— Julia Zarankin, Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder (2020), , p. 23
“From nesting, brooding and sex, to metabolism, development and even the diseases that afflicted them, many of the traits found in birds today were inherited from the dinosaurs. The boundary between dinosaurs and birds has become utterly blurred.”
— John Pickrell (2014), Flying Dinosaurs: How Fearsome Reptiles Became Birds, Columbia University Press, p. xvii

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Birds across IJR

Open questions

why do birds fly in v formations?are dinosaurs lizards or birds?how do birds fly explanation

Studio characters

Mary BirdsongHeadline energy, small-talk hours.Ben BirdsallThe late-night sketch version — live in your chat.Lilli BirdsellThe Screen figure with nowhere else to be today.

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