Birdie

Birdie
Vital statistics
Names	Birdie the Early Bird, Birdie
Gender	Female
Race	Bird (canary)
Occupation	Mascot
Origin	McDonaldland Commerical (1980)
Alignment	Good
Age	Unknown
Created By	McDonald's
Height	Not Stated
Weight	Not Stated

Birdie the Early Bird is the first notable female character introduced in McDonald's McDonaldland commercials in 1980 to promote the company's new breakfast items. She is depicted as a yellow bird wearing a pink jumpsuit, flight cap, and scarf. In the ads, Birdie is often shown as a poor flyer and generally clumsy.

Birdie was voiced by Russi Taylor (who also voiced Minnie Mouse) and portrayed by Patti Maloney in the McDonald's television commercials, while Christine Cavanaugh voiced her in "The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald."

Appearance

In Wacky Adventures

From 1980 to 1986, Birdie's design featured relaxed pigtails, immobile feet, a fixed tongue, and thick eyelashes. In 1986, Birdie and other McDonaldland characters were revised; she was given blue articulated eyelids and eyes, movable lips, and pigtails that stick out to the sides. Occasionally, starting in 2000, she wears a blue vest, and the color of her beak and legs sometimes changes from yellow to orange and vice versa.

In the Wacky Adventues of Ronald McDonald Birdie shares certain aspects of grooming and costume with Eliza Thornberry and Lil DeVille while her pigtails are reminiscent of Angelica Pickles from Rugrats (albeit dark brown rather than blonde)

Biography

Birdie's origin is explained in a commercial where a giant egg falls from the night sky into McDonaldland and is found by Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Hamburglar, and the Professor. When the egg won't hatch, Ronald shows it love. When it finally hatches, Birdie is overjoyed to have friends and decides to stay in McDonaldland.

The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: McTreasure Island

Ronald McDonald and his friends—Grimace, Hamburglar, and Birdie—are having fun when they discover a mysterious book that transports them to a place called Treasure Island.

The story begins with Ronald and Grimace walking in McDonaldland Park, where Ronald performs a series of magic tricks, starting with a "coin in the hat" trick involving Hamburglar. Mr. Oak, a talking oak tree, congratulates Ronald on his performance. Birdie the Early Bird flies down but loses control, and Mr. Oak saves her. Ronald continues with more tricks, such as an Arabian snake charm (without snakes) and a scarf trick, with Hamburglar jump roping with Grimace. They accidentally run into Salty Jack, a friend of Captain Crook (referred to as "the Captain"), who is delivering mystical books for the Captain. Salty Jack warns them not to look inside the books and sneaks away, implying they might be cursed. Despite the warning, Birdie accidentally sneezes and brushes against one of the books, "Treasure Island," breaking its seal. Hamburglar, not listening well, gets sucked into the book.

Ronald and the gang follow Hamburglar into the book, which closes behind them. They save Hamburglar when his cape gets caught on the edge of a plank. After a storm passes, they are captured by Long John Silver, Tom Morgan, George Merry, and their pirate crew, who mistake them for stowaways. Grimace is the first to be pushed onto the plank, followed by the others. As Ronald attempts to use his scarf to save them, he realizes the book is closed. Captain Smollett arrives just in time to prevent them from being fed to the sharks, clearing up the misunderstanding. Grimace, who is having fun on the plank, ends up bouncing back and landing on Long John Silver.

Ronald then meets Jim Hawkins, a friendly but clumsy boy who explains that he obtained the treasure map from Billy Bones (possibly Salty Jack's counterpart) at the Benbow Inn. Grimace and Hamburglar get seasick and go above deck. Ronald and Hamburglar overhear Long John Silver's plan to take over the ship and realize that Silver tricked Livesey and Trelawney into hiring him. Ronald warns Jim, but the cabin boy accidentally knocks over some apples, alerting the pirates. As they hide, Jim learns of his old friends' mistake. Grimace breaks a lifeboat with his weight. Birdie spots Treasure Island, but Ronald sees Grimace in trouble and uses his scarf to rescue Grimace, Hamburglar, and Birdie. Meanwhile, Smollett and Hawkins are ambushed by Silver and his crew.

As they explore the island, Ronald and the gang hear Jim's call for help and attempt to rescue him from Long John Silver. Grimace, while tying his shoes, accidentally falls into a hole he creates. Ronald and the others follow, finding Captain Flint's treasure trove. Hamburglar is about to grab some gold doubloons when they are confronted by Ben Gunn, a marooned sailor. At first, they think he is a greedy hermit trying to scare them away, but Ben reveals that Flint marooned him with the treasure. Regretting his greed, Ben agrees to help Ronald find the treasure spot to prevent Jim from being harmed by Silver.

They navigate through a swamp using a flute trick to escape quicksand and reach Silver, pretending to be the ghost of Flint to scare him. While most of Silver's crew is frightened, Silver himself is not superstitious and remains unfazed. However, a falling branch causes Ronald and Ben to fall on Silver, knocking him and his crew into the treasure spot. Captain Smollett agrees to take Ben off the island.

Back in McDonaldland, the Captain realizes that Salty Jack tricked them into guarding the cursed books and searches for the right chapter. Meanwhile, in Treasure Island, Ronald uses a magic trick to place a gold doubloon in Silver's hat, making the crew believe Silver was deceiving them all along, leading them to chase Silver away. The Captain finds the correct chapter and brings Ronald and his friends back to McDonaldland. Ronald reveals to Jim that the true treasure is friendship. The gang is thrilled to be back, reflecting on their best adventure yet, and Ronald reveals that Jim reunites with his mother at the end of the book, bringing the story to a close.

The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald

Scared Silly (Released October 9, 1998)

In the first episode, Ronald and his friends go on a camping trip in the Far-Flung Forest, where they discover an old house believed to be haunted by the Far-Flung Phantom. Due to a storm, the group is forced to stay in the house, where they encounter a holographic head named Franklin, who leads them through a series of challenging games to help them escape. Tika, Hamburglar, and Birdie fail to solve the riddles, leaving Ronald, Grimace, and Sundae to solve the final one. The holographic head is revealed to be Franklin, a child who programmed the game with Tika's help to challenge Ronald. When Dr. Quizzical, Franklin's father, returns, he releases everyone and allows Franklin to join their camping trip.

The Legend of Grimace Island (Released January 22, 1999)

In the second episode, the gang sets off on a journey to Grimace Island, where they discover Grimace's species. Grimace receives a letter, supposedly from a distant relative, but it is actually a trap set by pirate Captain One-Eyed Sally and her first mate, Blather, who plan to capture the island's treasure.

The Visitors From Outer Space (Released April 23, 1999)

In the third episode, initially advertised as "Ronald McDonald and the Visitors from Outer Space," Hamburglar tricks the gang into believing that aliens have landed on Earth to steal McDonaldland hamburgers. However, when real aliens capture Hamburglar, the gang, despite their frustration with his pranks, sets out on a mission to rescue him.

Birthday World (Released February 23, 2001)

In the fourth episode, Ronald celebrates his birthday, but Hamburglar, feeling bad for not getting him a present, accepts tickets to an amusement park called Birthday World from the evil scientist Professor Thaddeus J. Pinchworm. The park's rides turn out to be poorly designed and constructed traps, culminating in a rollercoaster that transforms the group into babies.

Have Time, Will Travel (Released October 19, 2001)

In the fifth episode, Ronald and his friends find a time machine while helping Franklin clean his father's lab. Hamburglar devises a plan to use the machine to avoid cleaning, and they end up getting lost in time. Their adventures take them to prehistoric times, medieval times where they perform a musical number to save Birdie from a king, the Wild West where they meet Hamburglar's ancestor, and the disco era of the '70s. The McNuggets do not appear in this episode.

The Monster O' McDonaldland Loch (Released January 30, 2003)

In the sixth and final episode, the gang travels to Ol’ McDonaldland Loch in Scotland to visit Sundae's cousin, Scotty. They uncover a plot by a mad scientist named Stiles and his assistant Pip to build a fake Loch Ness Monster to make money from the "discovery." Birdie befriends the real Loch Ness Monster, Simon, who wants to keep his existence a secret.