Flying: Birds

misterchris · 503425. Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:01 pm

Found this QI - still says they used crows for the filming though. Makes me wonder whether the Act that banned the use of crows came in after 1963

http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/Documentary:_All_About_The_Birds_-_transcript

suze · 503555. Fri Feb 13, 2009 5:03 pm

My first thought was "was the movie shot in the USA" - but it was, at Bodega Bay north of San Francisco to be precise.

The appropriate piece of law is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act 1918, which banned all trade in "all migratory birds and their parts (including eggs, nests, and feathers)". On the face of it, that would have made it illegal to own a crow in the USA at the time the movie was made in 1963, and the list of species to which the Act applies mentions the following:

Crow, American, Corvus brachyrhynchos
Fish, Corvus ossifragus
Hawaiian, Corvus hawaiiensis
Mexican, Corvus imparatus
Northwestern, Corvus caurinus
White-necked, Corvus leucognaphalus

of which the American crow is by far the most commonly encountered in North America.

However, the Wiki article on C. brachyrhynchos mentions that most American crows are non migratory - while American crows living in Canada fly south for the winter, in the warmer parts of the USA they are permanently resident.

California is certainly a warmer region, and so it would seem likely that crows living there stay put in winter - which would have provided Mr Hitchcock with his get out.

minimal100 · 662119. Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:21 am

1. Under United States federal law it is illegal to keep a crow without a special permit. If you rescue a baby crow, and keep it for any length of time, you should be aware that you are breaking the law and may be subject to federal penalties. In most cases, however, it is unlikely that anyone will bother you, but you should still be aware that if you keep the crow as a pet, without a permit, it may be confiscated by the federal authorities if it comes to their attention.

3. Crows are intensely social animals and if they are not allowed to associate with other crows, particularly with their immediate family, when thery are young, they may never be accepted into "crow society". Being excluded from a family or "cooperative" group is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a crow. You should keep this very clearly in mind when you consider "rescuing" a baby crow. If it can not return to live a satisfactory life in the wild, it will be your responsibility and, since crows can live for 30 years or more, this is a very serious responsibility.

Neotenic · 662124. Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:33 am

Verbatim source for the above

This has lead me to find possibly one of the most fabulous sentences enshrined in US Federal law;