Watch: ‘Extreme Birdwatching’ Documentary Is Can’t-Miss Fun, Even If You Don’t Own Binoculars

The Film

What makes Listers approachable and fun is the setup of two novice birders, brothers Quentin and Owen Reiser, entering the world of competitive birdwatching. They set off on a “Big Year,” which is essentially a year-long road trip to see how many bird species they can document in the Lower 48.

Soon, the two are as consumed in the pursuit as the quirky experts they meet along the way, and much of the film’s humor is derived from their raw immersion in the birds’ environment.

There is no attempt to romanticize their brand of stoner van life as the duo experience sleepless nights, mosquito swarms, and a few vehicle repairs. These challenges add to the hero’s journey, as it were, and break up the film’s main story with glimpses of life — often in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.

Much of the movie uses raw, handheld footage from within the van or along the trails as they search for birds, which serves as a contrast to the crisp, smooth footage of the birds documented. Overall, the film’s editing stands out. It’s arguably what makes this a recommended watch, both visually and thematically.

Note, this documentary is for mature audiences. So you may want to pass on it if cussing and smoking pot ruffles your feathers, or if you were thinking of watching it with kids. Lastly, the film is entirely free to watch, but if you appreciate the years of work that went into making it, you can drop the filmmakers a donation through Venmo.

The Deep End of Birdwatching

Much of what propels the movie is watching how the brothers’ immersion into birding changes them over the course of their “Big Year.” They ride the highs and lows through stubborn determination while their oddball approach brings levity to their quest. Along the way, they stumble upon birding etiquette, interview record holders, and ultimately question the entire enterprise for themselves.

For context, birders often chase rarities the way ski bums go after fresh powder during a “Big Year.” Finding roughly 500+ birds should be easy enough to spot over the course of a year with enough driving between the country’s main regions. Getting up to 700 birds means taking cruises to find seabirds within coastal waters, hitting slivers of Arizona and Minnesota, where certain species may just barely cross into the Lower 48.

And then there are the extra rare birds (vagrants) that may veer off course during migration and end up adding a chance for another checkmark on the year — one that could ultimately set them apart from the competition. These fleeting rarities can cause people to fly across the country at a moment’s notice and swarm an area for the chance of a sighting. In short, it’s one of the ugly sides of listing.

In the documentary, the novice brothers interview and get advice from advanced birdwatchers and guides. This dynamic makes the film accessible for general audiences while keeping an edge to the subject matter that’s fresh for birders who have likely seen a few documentaries on their hobby before.

For non-birders, there may be eyebrow-raising moments that make you want to check on your birdwatching friends. Whereas experienced birders — who likely know where the film is headed based on the title — may find it’s time to reflect on some of their own obsessive behavior as displayed in this documentary.

Relatable moments include: the brothers trying to describe the location of a bird in a tree 50 feet away, pronouncing a bird’s name for the first (or fifth) time, and the silly gear the pair finds themselves carrying around the country.

Then they go one step further, crafting boats to get closer to a bird, clicking rocks together to mimic a call, and (my favorite) donning a black hockey helmet to “share a moment” with a black-capped vireo — a once-endangered species.

The Listing Debate

As the title suggests, the film’s main moral quandary is about how listing can become rote and workmanlike. And in the case of a Big Year, it brings out the competitive side in people.

As the documentary shows, there are several types of lists. At its most benign, birders may have a life list of species they’ve seen.

That can be chopped up into annual lists or location-based lists. Many birders report every bird they see whenever they use apps like eBird, which also plays a large role in this film. The app has proven to be a great resource for crowd-sourcing population and migration data. And that data also makes it easier to find birds, which is why Big Year participants typically end up listing more than 700 species.

Listers takes an irreverent approach to birding and especially listing, but you can see through the cracks that the brothers are indeed enjoying it. The brothers make passive rants about the eBird review process, cover past bird reporting scandals, discover the debate over bird call playback, and ultimately find a sincere decision on listing.

While Quentin Reiser is the star of the show, having his brother Owen present behind the camera adds to the charm of the film. We see their sheer exhaustion from chasing birds, and we empathize with being bitten by multiple mosquitoes at once.

As I mentioned earlier, sometimes you know a good documentary by how odd the summary sounds. This movie is about two brothers who drive all over the country looking for new birds to add to a list. They’re funny, they don’t really know what they’re doing, and they’re living out of a van while mainly subsisting on a diet of canned beans for an entire year. For those of us who enjoy offbeat outdoor documentaries, this one hits the sweet spot.