Earthflight
Earthflight is a British nature documentary that shows a flight from the view of the wings of birds across six continents, showing some of the world's greatest natural spectacles from a bird's-eye view. it was created by the BBC and the first episode, narrated by David Tennant, aired on BBC One on 29 December 2011. A two-hour subset of Earthflight was aired in October 2012 by the Discovery Channel in the US as Winged Planet. The entire first series aired on PBS, beginning in September 2013, under the title Earthflight, A Nature Special Presentation.
Episodes
Take off in a ‘snowstorm’ of geese and glide under San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with pelicans. This is the world on the wing – a world with secrets known only to the birds. The countdown to Earthflight’s epic adventure begins in the Gulf of Mexico as five million snow geese prepare to fly the entire length of North America. Each spring, these families of geese head north on a gruelling 3,000-mile journey to the Arctic to breed.
On the second leg of this world trip, head north over Africa. Plunge into the great sardine run with thousands of Cape gannets, explore the Great Rift with fish eagles and vultures, and slow dance with millions of pink flamingos on Kenya’s Lake Bogoria. Off the Cape, gannets race high above the waves. They are the dolphins’ keen eyes in the sky. From up here they readily spot the whorling shoals of sardines, and the first gannet to take the plunge sparks a feeding frenzy of gannets, dolphins, sharks and whales. Along the shore, kelp gulls follow young seals as they take to the sea for the first time. The gulls know that great white sharks hunt in these waters and will prepare dinner for them.
Rome, Venice, London … Earthflight departs on its grand European tour, and takes filming to new heights. Using a host of extraordinary techniques that include filming imprinted birds from microlites, we soar with birds over the Grand Canal, the white cliffs of Dover and Edinburgh castle. It’s the world from the air as never seen before.
In this bird’s-eye view of South America, condors soar along the Andes, scarlet macaws explore the heart of the Amazon and hummingbirds and vultures show us the continent’s greatest sights. It’s a journey that includes Machu Picchu, the Nazca Lines and the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Santiago.
In this bird’s-eye view of two continents, demoiselle cranes negotiate a dangerous Himalayan pass on their way to India while high-flying bar-headed geese take the fast track 5 miles above.
To fly like a bird, Earthflight not only captured remarkable images of wild flocks but also relied on some extraordinary relationships between people and birds. Filmed over four years, in six continents and more than 40 countries, the Earthflight team used many extraordinary techniques.
