It's Tough to Be a Bird

It's Tough to Be a Bird is a 1969 educational animated short made by Walt Disney Productions. It was directed and produced by Ward Kimball. The short won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, Cartoons in 1970 and was nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Animated Film in 1971. This was the last animated short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios to win an Academy Award, until Paperman in 2013.

Dialogue

M.C. Bird: You know, It is not easy being a bird. [puts his feathers back on] But what are you gonna do? Huh? I guess we birds are born losers. [hold a record] I just to put the record straight. [chuckles] Listen to this.

[M.C. Bird puts the record on the record player and starts dancing]

---

M.C. Bird: [flying a plane] Although we want to live a life serene and keep our feathers and our noses clean, with human population on the scene, man!

[Gunshots destroy the plane as he says:]

M.C. Bird: It is so tough... to be... a... bird!

[He falls downs to the ground and crashes off-screen. The feathers fall gently to M.C. bird]

M.C Bird: Gee, Is that some?

[M.C Bird gets ups and looks through his binoculars]

M.C Bird: I'm at 93 billion, eight hundred, sixty-five million, nine hundred, thirty six thousand, four hundred and thirty three. [the camera shows different kinds of birds] You know is estimated that there were over 100 billion grades in the world. And over eight thousand five hundred different species. But unfortunately, there are some species that no-one will see again.

Voice cast

• Ruth Buzzi as Soprano
• Richard Bakalyan as M.C. Bird
• John Emerson as Bird Fancier
• Jim Swain as Bird Fancier
• Ann Lord as Bird Fancier
• Hank Schloss as Bird Fancier
• Walter Perkins as Bird Fancier
• Rolf Darbo as Bird Fancier