Birds (advertisement) Birds (advertisement) "Birds" is an award-winning television commercial for the Washington Lottery; it won a Silver Lion at the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, and "Best in Show" at the 2009 National ADDY Awards. "SHOOT" magazine placed it on their Top 10 list for Summer 2008. First broadcast in June 2008, it depicts three flightless birds—a penguin, a chicken, and an emu—being taken hang-gliding (the chicken and the penguin are shown wearing harnesses strapped to the chest of the glider pilots; the emu's harness is suspended between two gliders). The images of the birds in mid-air were produced by
Flightless bird free to increase in abundance until the population was limited by food and territory. A study looking at energy conservation and the evolution of flightlessness hypothesized intraspecific competition selected for a reduced individual energy expenditure, which is achieved by the loss of flight. Some flightless varieties of island birds are closely related to flying varieties, implying flight is a significant biological cost. Flight is the most costly type of locomotion exemplified in the natural world. The energy expenditure required for flight increases proportionally with body size, which is often why flightlessness coincides with body mass. By reducing large pectoral muscles