BBC's Life of Birds
Approximately 580 minutes
3 Discs
From BBC Video:
Birds are one of the most successful creatures on earth. Over 9,000 species span the globe, winging their way from the arctic to the Antarctic, from deserts to jungles. The Life of Birds uncovers new research into the behaviour of these perfectly adapted conquerors of the air. In this series, the secrets of birds' great successes comes to light - their remarkable strategies of finding food, their complex social systems, and their ingenious and often bizarre ways of mating and breeding. From high-speed aerial hunters and long-distance migrants to brilliantly coloured nectar-grazers, the comical and the bizarre, this is the definitive series on birds.
The definitive series on the most colorful, popular and perfectly adapted creatures on earth. Covering 42 countries and examining over 300 species and hosted by Sir David Attenborough for this extraordinary look at birds' amazing strategies for finding food, mating and raising their young.
Colorful, mysterious, noble and intriguing, birds have fascinated us since the dawn of history.Sir David Attenborough, one of the world's foremost naturalists, hosts an extraordinary exploration into the secret lives of these magnificent creatures.
Over three years in the making, with stunning slow-motion and computer enhanced special effects, this landmark 10-part series will fascinate every nature lover.
SYNOPSES (Click for more details): EPISODE 1: TO FLY OR NOT TO FLY - "Birds are the most accomplished aeronauts the world has ever seen and being able to travel by air and fly with such extraordinary precision and control is one of their most characteristic talents. But flapping wings takes a lot of effort,so if there is no need to fly, birds save their energies...they become flightless."
EPISODE 2: THE MASTERY OF FLIGHT - "For a bird, getting into the air is not easy. Indeed, for many, it is by far the most exhausting bit of the whole business of flight."
EPISODE 3: THE INSATIABLE APPETITE - "To fly, birds need plenty of food. If they had heavy, bony jaws and teeth they would never get off the ground, so the solution is to have a beak.And this strong, lightweight structure is one of the reasons why birds are so successful."
EPISODE 4: MEAT-EATERS - "Being such a rich food,many birds need only feed on meat once a day to sustain themselves. Nice work if they can get it,but getting it is not necessarily all that easy."
EPISODE 5: FISHING FOR A LIVING - "Birds are masters of the air, and can gather food from anywhere on the land. But most of the Earth is covered with water and so some birds early in their history became very competent there too,both on it and in it."
EPISODE 6: SIGNALS AND SONGS - "It would be easy to believe that birds sing so eloquently just for pleasure. But songs and vivid colours are for communication,and make everything possible - from seeing off a predator and intimidating rivals to impressing potential mates."
EPISODE 7: FINDING PARTNERS - "Finding a partner is never an easy business. In dense forest it is difficult to attract attention, and even harder to keep a potential mate around long enough to show off and prove that you are the hottest thing on two legs."
EPISODE 8: THE DEMANDS OF THE EGG - "Sooty terns are amongst the most aerial of birds.They spend the first three or four years of their lives flying non-stop - feeding by snatching food from the surface of the sea, even sleeping on the wing, But there is one thing that forces them down to land - to lay their eggs."
EPISODE 9: THE PROBLEMS OF PARENTHOOD - "Model parents feed their youngsters feathers to aid digestion,sprinkle water over them and shade them from the sun.There are goose parents who take on snowy owls and sea eagles in defence of their precious goslings. But there are also dangers for the young much closer to home. Brothers and sisters fight for supremacy in the nest where there will be only one survivor. And there are coot parents that are forced to identify their weakest young and kill them."
EPISODE 10: THE LIMITS OF ENDURANCE - "There is scarcely a corner of the globe that birds have not colonised.Where there is food,there will be some species of bird that has solved the problem of collecting it and of enduring the penalties of living close enough to do so."
