Catalog Search Results
Language
English
Description
Our fascination with birds of paradise has lasted 500 years. In this film, David Attenborough offers his own personal take on the mystery and discovery, obsession and scientific revelation surrounding these elusive birds. He himself has spent a lifetime filming their displays - many for the first time - and researching these birds both in their remote forest homes and in the museums and collections of Europe. He reveals the passion that birds of paradise...
Language
English
Description
Professor Richard Fortey travels to northeastern China to see a fossil site known as the "Dinosaur Pompeii," a place that has yielded feathered dinosaur remains and rewritten the story of bird origins. Among the finds he investigates are the feathered cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, a feathered dinosaur with strong parallels to living pandas, and some of the most remarkable flying animals that have ever lived.
Language
English
Description
Chris Packham explores what enables birds of prey to rule the aerial roost. Their ability to dominate their fellow birds in terms of strength, maneuverability and phenomenal speed is down to a combination of anatomical and physiological adaptations. Chris explains the internal workings of the bald eagle's ratchet talons and how sharp eyes and a gyroscopic head enable the goshawk to keep its sight firmly fixed on both its prey and its surroundings...
Language
English
Description
In this fourth of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams explores how birds have adapted to living alongside humans, making use of our buildings, parks, gardens, and even the waste we throw away. When we think of notorious urban birds in Wales, we think especially of the gulls. Williams explains why these highly adaptable and intelligent birds are doing so well in Cardiff.
Language
English
Description
In this second of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams investigates the breeding and nesting behavior of birds. We watch great crested grebes make a spectacular courtship display at a reservoir near Pontypool; hen harriers perform an impressive sky dance in the dramatic Cambrian Mountains; and nuthatches use mud-like cement to prepare a nest in a woodland near Harlech. Williams then explores why long-tailed tits near Newtown...
Language
English
Description
In this last of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams explores the ability of birds to fly, the intricate structure of their beaks, and the way their camouflage enables them to live in the many diverse habitats of Wales. Using ultra-slow-motion photography, Williams reveals the precise control that garden birds have over takeoff and landing. He also explains why fulmars are one of the country's most supreme fliers.
8) Dawn Chorus
Language
English
Description
In this first of five episodes, Welsh host and wildlife expert Iolo Williams investigates how and why birds communicate. He first looks at the reasons that snipe use their tail feathers to make a very distinctive sound. Then in Aberystwyth he considers what's happening when thousands of starlings participate in dazzling aerial displays.
Language
English
Description
This documentary shows the diverse and mostly unknown wildlife of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), the second largest island of the Caribbean. More than 120 birds, including 30 endemic species, are shown in their natural environment. See special sites with higher diversity and animals of special interest that share these habitats, e.g. sea turtles, lizards, snakes; and two of the most endangered land mammals-the solenodon and the hutia-in...
Language
English
Description
In Bermuda, David Wingate saved one of the rarest seabirds from extinction, the Bermuda Petrel, or Cahow and at the same time restored the habitat of Nonsuch Island to its pre-colonial native state in order to provide a safe haven for Cahow. This the story of how one man can save a species and how habitat can be restored.
Language
English
Description
The Galápagos experiences a strongly seasonal environment. Finches breed when the rains arrive, typically in January or February. In some years there is no rain and no breeding. This program illustrates the various ways that environmental fluctuations dictate the activities of finches on Daphne. It follows the stages of the breeding cycle, from pair formation and nest building a few days after the first heavy rainfall to fledging about a month later....
12) Hybridization
Language
English
Description
New species form in the Galápagos when populations of the same species diverge from each other on different islands, then later come together on the same island. This program reveals the barrier to interbreeding between different species of Darwin's finches. It examines why the barrier sometimes leaks and the consequences of rare gene exchange between species. The premating barrier to interbreeding is based on song learned early in life in association...
Language
English
Description
This short program illustrates how investigators live on Daphne. It starts with their arrival at Daphne and shows the difficulties of transferring supplies from boat to land and up a cliff because the island that has no beaches. All supplies are quarantined before arrival. Living is in a tent and cooking is done in a small cave with a shade erected to extend protection from sun and rain. There is no fresh water on the island and it has to be brought...
14) Studying Finches
Language
English
Description
Methods of studying finches are described, illustrated and explained in this program. The key activity is capturing birds in mist-nets in several locations around the island. The nets are put up in late afternoon, opened before dawn, and finches that have flown in and captured are removed. They are taken to a shady cave where they are weighed, measured and banded for later individual identification. The program shows how a small drop of blood is taken...
Language
English
Description
This program begins with spectacular scenery of the Galápagos islands, including a volcanic eruption. It introduces the idea of the archipelago being extremely dynamic geophysically and biologically, on both short and long time scales. It then illustrates the rich biodiversity of the archipelago with examples of plants, birds and insects from the small island of Daphne, and fish, sea-lions and sea birds in the marine environment nearby. The program...
Language
English
Description
When species exchange genes by interbreeding their morphological and genetic variation increases. Unusual or extreme variants are produced that could be the starting point of a new evolutionary trajectory leading to the formation of a new species. This program illustrates this with finches on Daphne. A hybrid male from the nearby island of Santa Cruz immigrated to Daphne. It was larger than the parental species, Medium Ground and Cactus Finches, it...