This is an accepted version of this page Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the children's television show Sesame Street.

Despite this wide array of talents, he is prone to frequent misunderstandings, on one occasion even singing the alphabet as a single word (pronouncing it as /æbkədɛfɡiːdʒɛkəlmɪnɒpkwərˈstuːvwɪksɪz/ in the song "ABC-DEF-GHI").

In the later years of Spinney's career, the show gradually started training new performers to play Big Bird.

Matt Vogel took over puppetry duties, manipulating the puppet to Spinney's vocals (either pre-recorded, dubbed in post-production, or provided live on set).

Spinney continued to provide Big Bird's voice on the series for seasons 46 and 47, as well as select commercials, online videos, and the special Once Upon a Sesame Street Christmas.

The design was based on a previous Henson creation, a seven-foot-tall (210 cm) dragon that the puppeteer created for a La Choy advertising campaign.

According to writer Louise Gikow, the heat inside the suit is "unbearable, and it's extraordinarily difficult to hold Big Bird's head.

In the Latin American version (Plaza Sésamo), Big Bird's parrot cousin, Abelardo Montoya, is featured.

Although all the Sesame Street Muppet characters are technically ageless, Big Bird is psychologically written to represent a six-year-old.

Zoologist Mike Dickison suggested in his popular Pechakucha talk that Big Bird represents a unique species that evolved from the whooping crane.

[citation needed] During the first presidential debate on October 3, 2012, Mitt Romney used Big Bird as an example of spending cuts he would make to reduce the federal budget deficit.

"[25] In response to the mention in the debates, Big Bird made an appearance in a 2012 Weekend Update segment on Saturday Night Live with then host Seth Meyers.

During the interview, Big Bird joked about how he suddenly "felt famous" after being mentioned in the debates, but refused to make any political statements as to not "ruffle any feathers.

The plot focused on him being moved away to live with a family of dodos by a meddling social-worker named Miss Finch (voiced by Sally Kellerman).

Along the way, he finds help from a friendly truck driver (Waylon Jennings) and two farmer kids (Alyson Court and Benjamin Barrett).

But on the bad side, there are two unscrupulous carnival-owning brothers (Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty) who want to kidnap and make him perform in their carnival for their own profit.

Also joining them are their human friends, Gordon, Maria, Olivia and Linda with Bob aiding them from Sesame Street.

As with Mr. Hooper, Big Bird frequently mispronounced host Peter Marshall's name, calling him "Mr. Marshmallow" or "Mr. Masher".

On May 21, 1990, Big Bird appeared at Jim Henson's memorial service at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, singing Kermit the Frog's signature song, "Bein' Green".

Big Bird made a non-speaking appearance in The West Wing Season 5 episode "Eppur Si Muove".

[32][33] He appeared briefly at Qualcomm's CES Keynote on January 7, 2013, to show off Sesame Workshop's newest app, 'Big Bird's Words', due in Summer 2013.

[37] Before the quiz, Michelle Obama talked about "eat brighter", a campaign to promote healthy food in kids which she and a number of Sesame Street characters, including Big Bird, participated in.

[41] Published on YouTube on February 19, 2015, the video shows Spinney sitting in a dressing room with a poster of Big Bird behind him.