Bird People

Sorry guys, a little late on this one.
I didn't think the many narrative threads of The Bird People came together to form a cohesive whole, and on top of that the message of the film was off. The birdwatchers were interesting, and knowing many birders, the film gave a pretty accurate description of what they're like. Awkwardly shooting close-ups of their faces after they had finished talking gave the impression that we were people watching, or turning the tables on them. The director attempted to weave in a story about the ivory-billed woodpecker and its collectors. Then suddenly, there were these shifty 16mm shots of various birds, coupled with crazy narration, such as "the absence of proof is not proof of absence." Weird. At this point I started to think that this film was going in too many directions.
The director also chose to examine a bird banding operation, in which the researchers explain why they do their studies. The point is probably that bird watching and bird banding are O.K., but that bird collecting is not. So why is there a segment of bird calls, interpreted by birders in their usual way? I have no idea, other than that it was adding a bit of humor. The director did allow the ivory-billed woodpecker collectors to explain that the collection of a large number of specimens is necessary for accurate scientific analysis. The search for the woodpecker didn't seem to fit in with the purpose of the film.
Overall, I think there is hardly any science in the movie, so I wouldn't classify it as a science documentary. It seemed more to be a critque of greedy bird collectors who wanted to get one of the last of a species that was going to become extinct because of habitat destruction anyway.