Synopsis

This documentary introduces the viewer of "Winged Migration" to the people behind what its makers call "the tale," a combination of fiction and truth. The movie was storyboarded and the actors (birds) hand raised from eggs to imprint on the filmmakers and their machines (boats, a French naval ship, paragliders, balloons, ultralights, motorcycles, trucks, etc.). At first, after imprinting on the people, the birds were trained to follow, run, and then fly beside the ultralights and other vehicles as they motored along the ground. Then they flew with the ultralights and gliders. Finally, they were transported to various places along migratory paths by plane--cranes, swans, ducks, geese, pelicans, and so on--to fly or waddle or wade on scene and on cue ("Allez, allez!"). The filmmakers also flew without their birds to spots where the birds they did not or could not tame arrived or nested or left at certain times of the year. Filming was held up for hours, days, or months when the birds were sick, the weather did not cooperate, the birds flew away and eluded their handlers, or the ultralights crashed (9 times during the filming of "Winged Migration"). Fortunately, no humans were seriously harmed during the making of either film (although some clearly suffered bird bites).