I know nothing about bird watching. But I thoroughly enjoyed Listers. It's a hilarious self-produced documentary distributed solely on Youtube. It follows two brothers on their Big Year, a birding challenge to see as many bird species as possible in a calendar year. They go to great lengths to see rare birds. And they capture some amazing high definition footage. Hilariously these nature shots are juxtaposed with blurry handheld camcorder footage of the brothers sleeping in their Kia Sedona parked at Cracker Barrel. They are very funny on camera and behind it in the edit. They interview random people they come across on their journey, as well as celebrity birdwatchers renowned for their 700+ Big Years. It covers a lot of ground about the bird watching community. And the part that really hit me is about eBird, the app that makes Big Years even possible. It's where serious and casual birders alike log (list) their bird sightings. Listing is an obsession of mine. And I simultaneously felt personally attacked and inspired to make my own documentary. The great irony is that the movie is not even on Letterboxd, so won't appear in any movie lists. Which raises its own logistical conundrum about what qualifies as a "movie". By all means this two hour documentary is a movie, but how are we to distinguish it from other long Youtube videos? This also comes at a time for me after my trip to the Everglades where I saw some of the same wildlife they did, and you know what, casual bird watching was a lot of fun!
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