The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Blu-ray Movie Review

Thankfully, these are not ex-parrots.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 27, 2025

If you had to a take a wild guess as to what the "official animal" of San Francisco might be, that is, if you even knew San Francisco had an official animal, what would your guess be? Chances are sea lions would probably spring instantly to mind, and in fact during a contest evidently held in 2023 to anoint just such a civic beast, sea lions were the presumed favorite, though rather interestingly parrots were never that far behind in the voting. A late surge of avian support actually elevated the parrot to a newly esteemed status on June 27, 2023 by unanimous proclamation by the San Francisco City Council. The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill makes a convincing case as to why parrots were even in the running to begin with, chronicling the "adventures" (?) of an unemployed musician named Mark Bittner who, evidently with nothing much else to do, started "befriending" the flock of parrots that surrounded his home on Telegraph Hill, becoming something of a minor celebrity himself in the process.

This is a very sweet documentary with some perhaps slightly troubling subtext, as is kind of danced around in some early going when an obviously skeptical passerby starts assailing Bittner for feeding and naming "wild" birds (interestingly, feeding the wild parrots was ultimately outlawed, something Bittner agreed with). But Bittner's obvious love for these gorgeous creatures is manifest, and he also "adopts" some wounded or other "troubled" birds who aren't able to fly with the flock. There's some fun quasi-history in the piece courtesy of several (at times outlandish) "urban legends" as to how parrots even ended up in San Francisco to begin with, but Bittner's fostering of them starts to have unexpected consequences when Bittner is forced to vacate his home, which he had been living in for free. That gives the last "act" of the documentary a kind of bittersweet ambience, one which is at least partially mitigated by some of the follow up supplements offered on this Blu-ray disc.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. The back cover's "fine print" provides a "new 4k restoration from the original 16mm film negative by producer/director Judy Irving with the assistance of the Academy Film Archive, Gary Coates, and Sarah Lemorie, CEO of Micakboo Bird Rescue" as technical information. This is a really gorgeous looking presentation in terms of palette in particular, where the bright colorings of the various kinds of parrots along with a lot of lovely scenic looks in and around San Francisco really pop vividly throughout. Fine detail tends to fare best in some of the extreme close-ups of the birds, where their tufted feathers are rendered really precisely. The smaller millimeter format can mean that wider framings understandably don't offer the same fine detail levels. In his commentary, Bittner talks about having used a video camera for some of the "backstory" imagery before Judy Irving got involved, and there are some noticeable quality fluctuations during those moments. Grain can ebb and flow, but resolves without any real issues.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. Frankly, the stereo track suffices perfectly well for this documentary, though the surround track does open up one of the piece's strengths, a really lovely score from ace guitarist Chris Michie, who had worked with Van Morrison for years, and who sadly passed before the film was released (it's dedicated to him). Dialogue (not to mention lots of bird song and/or screeching) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Mark Bittner, author of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill book (and, obviously, the focal human in the documentary)


• Deleted Scenes

Urban Legends (SD; 2:06)




Juveniles (SD; 1:33)




Birds at the Bait Tank (from Pelican Dreams) (HD; 2:00)




Flying Made Easy (from Pelican Dreams) (HD; 5:32)




Learning to Dive (from Pelican Dreams) (HD; 1:59)

• Interview with Mark Bittner and Judy Irving (SD; 8:38)


• Music Videos

Dogen, Connor and Tupelo (SD; 4:16)




Poppa John (HD; 3:35)

• Outtakes

Babies (SD; 3:31)




The Display (SD; 00:38)




Theo (SD; 1:18)




Erica and Russell (SD; 2:53)




Ace in the Hole (SD; 2:08)




Behind the Scenes (SD; 3:56)

• Short Films by Judy Irving

Ashley's Release (SD; 2:21)




Flock Origins (SD; 14:17)




Flock Update (SD; 6:27)




Christmas at the Bait Shop (SD; 5:24)




Cormorants in the Crosshairs (HD; 10:01)




Settling In (HD; 15:09)




Naji Ali: Swimming Despite Discrimination (edited from Cold Refuge) (HD; 9:06)




Zina Deretsky: Swimming With Cancer (edited from Cold Refuge) (HD; 8:50)




Home Birds (HD; 4:27)

• Trailers

Mickaboo Trailer (HD; 1:31)




The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:27)

• Updates

Homage to Connor (SD; 11:57)




Mingus at the Oasis (SD; 8:11)




Morro's Dream (Pelican Dreams update) (HD; 12:27)




San Francisco's Official Animal (HD; 3:17)

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill gave me an unexpected laugh when one of the many shots of various San Francisco locales showed an inscription someone had painted on a building saying "Itching to get out of Portland, Oregon", which happens to be my hometown, and a place that has had a well publicized onslaught of Californians moving here, especially pre-Covid. Rather interestingly in that regard, the closing text crawl suggests there are active wild parrot populations in Oregon, though it's unclear whether they migrated from California. This is an extremely unusual "little" documentary that is unexpectedly emotionally powerful. Technical merits are solid and the supplements enjoyable, even if most of them are in standard definition. Recommended.