Mark Bittner may have the appearance of an aging hippie but if you saw him where he lived you might mistake him for a pirate. Does he wear a patch or have a peg leg? No, but he’s covered with parrots since he’s adopted a flock of wild parrots that inhabit Telegraph Hill in San Francisco.
The usual birds you might see in the city are pigeons, but if you venture up to Telegraph Hill on the streets of San Francisco, California you’ll find bohemian Mark Bittner. That’s where filmmaker Judy Irving found him.
Bittner is a free spirit who really has no fixed address and lives on the kindness of others, but what Bittner has is an intimate association with a flock of wild Conures, a breed of parrot.
They have the freedom that Bittner longs for but they also have to rely on the kindness of others and Bittner steps up to start feeding them. He attracts so many of them that he’s know as a local tourist attraction as the birds swarm over him and eat from his hand.
He is able to differentiate between them and even names them. He really knows nothing of the birds in the beginning but his observations made it possible for him to write a book called the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. Filmmaker Judy Irving’s grandfather was a birdwatcher and taught her how to feed birds directly from her hand.
It would seem that the story of Bittner would make an excellent subject for a documentary film and she filmed the birdman of San Francisco, but it would affect her in ways that she wasn’t expecting.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is a fascinating film that shows that wildlife can exist in the wild of urban areas. One of our local malls had a flock of Quaker parrots that could be seen nesting in one of the trees, not sure if they’re still there or not.
The film was released on DVD in 2005 and this new addition adds tons more information and special features in this new two-disc set.
The Wild Birds of Telegraph Hill is presented in fullscreen. Disc one contains a 7-minute “Flock Update” that tells the current status of the birds (from the original disc the more current updates are on disc two).
Next are around 24 minutes of deleted scenes. There are also four other short films, Homage to Conner (12 minutes), Mingus at the Oasis (8 minutes), Mark’s Home Movies (28 minutes), and California Quail (3 minutes). The 4-minute “Music Video” has some of the parrot’s performing with Roberta Fabiano. Finally, there’s the 2-minute theatrical trailer.
Disc two starts with the updates, a 7-minute Flock Update, a 16 minute “Please Don’t Feed the Birds” segment about a new law in San Francisco, an 11 minute Mark and Judy update, and a 6 minute “Parrot Rescue” which profiles the parrots that live with Mark and Judy.
Next are 9 minutes of outtakes, an 8-minute interview with Mark and Judy, another 2-minute music video, and the short films Parrots and Power Poles (9 minutes) and the Parrot Trade (5 minutes). There are also two new short documentaries that Irving has done, Christmas at the Bait Shop (6 minutes) and 19 Arrests, No Convictions (30 minutes).
Bait Shop is about a bait shop owner and his birds that seems like a nautical version of Bittner. 19 Arrests is about a 71-year-old San Franciscan who swims from Alcatraz Island to the shore.
The “Strictly for Parrots” section contains two featurettes, LA Amazon (8 minutes) and Parrots around the World (20 minutes), that play scenes of birds without narration so that Polly and company will have something to enjoy. Both discs are houses in a book-like case that features an excerpt from Bittner’s book.
You don’t have to be a San Franciscan to enjoy the tale of Mark Bittner (though I’m sure it would help since you can mosey up Telegraph Hill and see the parrots). It’s a fascinating one that ends up working out both for Mark and the birds.
This new edition only adds some more padding to the nest and the best might be Irving’s documentary about the Alcatraz swimmer. Highly recommended for lovers of documentaries, San Francisco, parrots, or all three.
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill (Special Two-Disc Collector's Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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