Hi all:
Doubt it was deliberate. The deliberate part on TV and in movies, etc., is usually due to the adding to the sound track, not picking out the bird.
Someone in the company or ad agency probably picked out Robin because they were familiar with the name and other familiar ones like crow or starling carry bad reps if one is old enough and reads or sees the news.
Regardless, they do not know enough to realize not all robins are the one they have heard of or seen on their lawn nor that they do not occur everywhere or that there are other species in the world.
Hopefully, they heard of singing robins and selected it based on or as part of the ad, the singing bird.
Got what they paid for, a robin!
If anyone follows golf you probably have noted how well TV networks have cleaned up their act. Hired birders or local naturalists for advice I am sure. Camera operators do a good job and networks have gone out of their way to get shots of the birds including ones not singing and show them.
That being said, I am quite sure they do record some of them prior to airing in many cases and add the vocalizations during the broadcast. Thus, they aren't lying when they claim they are local birds on the course.
Anyway, the criticism has helped and millions of viewers now see and hear quite a variety of birds, usually larger ones, especially with so many events being run in Fl, TX, etc., often near water. Hopefully some viewers will take more interest in what they see bird-wise.
Mike OBrien
Adams County, PA
Sent from my Phone
On Mar 14, 2011, at 6:28 PM, Janet Millenson <> wrote:
> Thanks, Mike, for solving the mystery so quickly! Sadly, I doubt the producers care that this robin isn't the kind found anywhere near their prospective customers. Let's just throw this one on the pile with all the other deliberately misplaced birds in movies, ads, and TV shows.
>
> -Janet
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Bowen
> To: Janet Millenson ;
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 5:40 PM
> Subject: Re: [MDOSPREY] Bird in radio ad
>
>
> I heard the same commercial, and shuddered accordingly.
>
> It's a European Robin, Erithacus rubecula, owner of one of my favorite sounds in the UK in winter, when it is not only present but frequently very vocal. One of Europe's best known and best loved backyard birds.
>
> I wonder if there is some diplomatic way in which we can inform the producers of the commercial?
>
> Mike Bowen
> Bethesda
>
> At 04:47 PM 3/14/2011, Janet Millenson wrote:
>
> On WTOP-FM this morning I heard an ad for Renewal by Andersen replacement
> windows. A twittering bird was proclaimed by the announcer to be "the first
> robin of spring," and "she" was trying to convey in song that now's a great
> time to take advantage of Andersen's spring sale, blah blah blah. Needless
> to say, the bird sounds are not those of a robin (of either sex).
>
> Has anyone else heard this radio ad? Any thoughts on what bird we're
> actually hearing?
>
> Janet Millenson
> Potomac, MD (Montgomery County)
>
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