I was just listening to NPR, in the half-focused way I often do, when a phrase brought me up short. Something to the effect that there are bird sounds audible in the background of the new Osama bin Laden videotape, and that ornithologists are being consulted to determine if the responsible species can be identified, thus possibly shedding light on the fugitive’s whereabouts.

Cursory Googling brought up another mention of this interesting use of birding by ear in a blog entry from December, 2004.

I just have to wonder if the intelligence agents got the idea from the movie version of Charlie’s Angels, which contains perhaps the most bizarre Hollywood birding sequence ever filmed. In brief, ornithobabe Cameron Diaz deduces the location of the kidnapped Bill Murray by identifying the song of a Pygmy Nuthatch (she even correctly pronounces its scientific name, Sitta pygmaea) audible in the background of a phone message. There are some problems, though.

1. 1.The song heard in the film isn’t a Pygmy Nuthatch (I don’t know what it was...some kind of finchy warble).
   

2. 2.Diaz imitates it by blowing into her cupped hands, the way people produce loon wails.
   

3. 3.She claims Pygmy Nuthatches are found only in Carmel, CA; ergo, Bill Murray is in Carmel.
   

4. 4.The bird shown hopping around Murray’s cell is a Troupial, which is neither a nuthatch, nor found in Carmel.
   

Wouldn’t it be amazing, though, if this technique offered significant clues to bin Laden’s location?