The Life of Birds — S01E01 — To Fly or Not to Fly?

00:01:06 Birds are the most accomplished aeronauts the world has ever seen.

00:03:38 The red-tail lives beside the cave and is well practiced in bat-catching.

00:06:54 and launched themselves into the air as gannets do today.

00:08:30 a signature was discovered that was wholly unexpected and totally amazing.

00:09:53 and reptiles all over their body.

00:11:43 Maybe its arm muscles were even strong enough

00:13:10 Mother returns. She has been feeding on leaves and will have a full crop.

00:14:51 Other fossils from these shales show that several families of modern birds were already established.

00:16:33 dinosaurs had gone from the ground. So the dominance of the land was up for grabs.

00:18:23 and, in the interests of its efficiency as a runner, its toes have been reduced to two.

00:20:08 A pebble can help them do just that.

00:22:43 Those that live here on the Galapagos Islands, isolated in the Pacific,

00:24:55 but since New Caledonia had no ground predators until recently,

00:26:35 if the birds had won that battle with the early mammals and now ruled the earth,

00:28:35 It's no relation to the European robin and, if anything, it's even braver.

00:31:00 It is, of course, a bird, but what an extraordinary one. The kiwi.

00:33:12 I need a torch to see this extraordinary creature properly, but it doesn't seem to mind.

00:35:20 Its pelvis and its spine lead up to an extraordinarily long neck.

00:37:20 They hunted the moas for meat and soon they had hunted them to extinction.

00:39:19 Only about forty pairs of takahe survive today in the wild.

00:41:12 even if they could be reached beneath the snow.

00:42:53 0ne lone male continued trudging up here and calling.

00:45:40 She will need all the most nourishing food she can find if she is to produce an egg.

00:48:01 is what we will be looking at in the next programme.