The history of birds, from the first flying reptiles to today's consummate navigators. From giant extinct flightless birds to modern
ostriches and emus, see how birds have made a claim to populate not only the air but also the land.
0:00 |
Sooty Tern (Seychelles) |
2:50 |
Red-tailed Hawk catches bats (Texas) |
4:20 |
Prairie Falcon eats on the wing |
5:50 |
White-fronted Bee-eater |
7:00 |
Pterosaur launches from cliffs like Gannets |
9:30 |
Archaeopteryx had feathers, teeth, tail |
11:00 |
Frilled Lizard (Australia) |
11:45 |
Flying Lizard (Borneo) |
12:40 |
Hoatzin chick uses claws on wings to climb out of water (Suth America) |
15:30 |
Jacana |
16:20 |
Andean Condor |
17:30 |
Terror Bird |
18:10 |
Ostrich toes reduced to 2, vestigial filaments, grazes with beak, swallows pebbles to grind food |
23:15 |
Flightless Cormorant swims underwater (Galapagos) |
25:15 |
Kagu flightless, probably related to heron (New Caledonia) |
26:10 |
Weka flightless rail (New Zealand) |
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27:50 |
New Zealand Pigeon
Saddleback ,
Tui ,
Kaka ,
New Zealand Robin are unafraid of mammals |
29:30 | New Zealand bird analogs of mammals:
Kokako like squirrels: glides among trees, jump back up |
31:30 |
Kiwi like a badger: digs for insects by smell at night, no tail |
32:50 | Kiwi feeds on Sandhoppers at night |
35:40 |
Moa had 3 toes, hunted by extinct Haast's Eagle |
38:45 |
Takahe recovered from near extinction, feeds on tussock grass |
42:00 |
Kakapo near extinction from cats in 1985 |
43:40 | Kakapo courtship ritual at night |
47:55 |
Spotted Shag |
49:20 |
Wandering Albatross ,
Royal Albatross (New Zealand) |
50:25 |
Cape Gannet colony of 6,000 nests on cliff (New Zealand) |
50:45 |
Little Blue Penguin |
51:10 | Volcanoes, hot springs:
Welcome Swallow |
51:45 |
Blue Duck |
52:15 |
Wrybill probes beneath pebbles |
52:30 |
Black Stilt |
52:50 |
Kea |