Strange Birds (Spanish: Aves Raras, literally "Weird Birds") is a term that refers to species of exotic birds from South America featured in Disney's 1943 Saludos Amigos and 1945 The Three Caballeros respectively. They are exotic birds featured in the animated sequences of both films.
Appearances[]
Saludos Amigos[]
In the "Aquarela do Brasil" sequence, the strange birds appear in a watercolor appearance during the first part of the segment. As the artist paints a Brazilian landscape, two flamingos in a marsh dance together just before the camera pans to the artist painting a palm tree which is camouflaged as a green bird with a long tail, which then flies away. The artist then paints a bunch of bananas on a tree, and then tops them with black paint, causing the bananas to be revealed as toucans camouflaged as bananas which open their beaks. No other birds besides José Carioca or Donald Duck appear during the rest of the segment.
The Three Caballeros[]
At the beginning of the film when Donald receives a special gift for his birthday from his friends in Latin America, he receives a movie camera and then sees footage of Pablo, a penguin walking across the ice through reels, just before he continues setting up the camera and then a projector screen for his birthday. After setting the camera and projector screen, the narrator tells him that what he is seeing is a film showcasing the birds from South America. As Donald imitates the sound of a bird, the narrator says that there are lots of birds here in South America, describing them as birds that he never heard of before. As the footage plays, various colored birds fly around the continent of South America just before they disappear and the camera moves closer. The narrator then decides to hire his friend, a professor, to tell a story set in the South Pole where Donald sees penguins enjoying their happy moments, except for Pablo who hated the cold weather and wanted to spend his time in paradise at a tropical island.
After listening to the story of Pablo, the narrator explains to Donald that the story he saw is human nature for him, especially for a penguin like Pablo. After the story, the narrator showcases the Amazon, where there are several types of strange and exotic birds there such as the umbrellabird (anambé-preto), who carries his bagpipes under his beard. The umbrellabird then whistles, followed by a boatbill (arapapa) who is proud of himself thanks to his pompadour hair, followed by the flycatcher (tijereta) using his tail to "cut" like a barber (also cutting the boatbill's hair). The next bird the narrator shows Donald is a curved-bill scythebill (arapaçu de pico-curvo), who sticks his beak into a small hole on a tree. After the scythebill, the narrator shows Donald a pair of toucans interacting with each other (who then makes a pun on the number two and "toucan"), explaining that when one toucan turns his head, only one toucan can do it, just before the toucan falls off the tree into a puddle of water.
Later, the Aracuan lands on the spot where the toucan is, as the narrator introduces Donald to the Aracuan, describing him as one of the most eccentric birds he never saw before. The narrator explains to Donald that the Aracuan gets his name because of his unique song. After the Aracuan, the narrator explains to Donald that some birds have also good skills such as one type of bird called the spinebill (marrequito) who is skilled to make a large nest made of sticks and straws, which the Aracuan watches from above. The Aracuan takes one piece of a stick to give to the spinebill to put on top of his nest, which suddenly collapses, much to the spinebill's disbelief. After the spinebill, the narrator shows Donald a flock of flamingos in the marsh, describing them as a unique species of bird. As Donald sees the flamingos, he imitates them by copying the way they move their heads and body parts. Later, the scene then loops into the Pampas of South America home to a little gaucho known as the Flying Gauchito, a story about another bird (actually a story around a little gaucho and his trusty burro companion).
During the story of the Flying Gauchito, an ovenbird (hornero) leaves his nest, where another narrator explains that the reason why he got his name is because his nest is named after the oven, just before Gauchito (whom the narrator is revealed to be when he was little) appears. No other birds besides the doves or the eagle fighting a rattlesnake appear throughout the rest of the film.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In The Three Caballeros, some of the names the narrator gives to some birds seen during the "Aves Raras" sequence are local Portuguese names for exotic birds found in Brazil in real life.
- The birds were inspired by real-life birds during Walt Disney and the production team's visit to South America. Disney and the crew visited real-life zoos in South America and saw exotic animals in Brazil and Argentina - not just anteaters, tapirs, guanacos, or Patagonian maras, but also exotic birds such as flamingos, scarlet ibises, spoonbills, wood storks, pelicans, or southern lapwings in addition to native domestic waterfowl.[1]
- The animation for the birds flying around South America was recycled from Bambi.
- The toucans from Saludos Amigos made a cameo appearance at the beginning of Mickey Down Under, only their throats are red instead of blue.
- The flamingo in Don's Fountain of Youth uses the same animation as the ones from The Three Caballeros.
