Posted on Saturday 7 May 2011
Scarlet Tanagers are among the species that annually make a ‘gulf crossing’ on their way to Vermont.
Indigo Buntings are a perennial favorite among birders.
The Mad Birders and The Big Picture Theater are pleased to present Gulf Crossing, a gorgeous new film about the annual avian pilgrimage across the Gulf of Mexico at 1PM on Sunday May 15th at the Big Picture Theater & Cafe 48 Carroll Road in Waitsfield, Vermont. Admission is free and all are welcome.
In the spring hundreds of bird species migrate from the tropics of Southern and Central America into the United States and Canada. As they make their way north they eventually face the great barrier of the Gulf of Mexico. This arm of the Atlantic Ocean is more than 900 miles wide, and more than 600 miles across from north to south. While some birds skirt the edge of the water, the overwhelming majority-more than 200 species, and hundreds of millions of individuals-cross the unbroken plain of the gulf in a single non-stop flight of 20 or more hours.
Gulf Crossing by Tallahassee born filmmaker Jackson Childs is a cinematographic record of trans-gulf migration on America’s southern coast. Over three years and thousands of hours in the making, Gulf Crossing is an attempt to document this remarkable and moving natural phenomenon. Childs captures the expectation of arrival, the daily surprise of which species will appear, and the sublime experience of seeing these magnificent birds for the first time each year.
