- 2 months ago
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AnimalsTranscript
00:46I'm Marty Stauffer.
00:48Some of the most impressive animals on earth are birds of prey.
00:53Their piercing eyes, sharp beaks, and strong talons are part of an image of noble power.
01:00That has inspired man through the ages.
01:04These aerial hunters come in all sizes and they populate nearly every habitat.
01:21Each one specifically designed for particular prey.
01:27With no predators except man, the hawks, kites, falcons, and eagles are aristocrats of the air.
01:36The spectacular birds of prey.
01:48Most birds of prey migrate to warmer climates during the severe winter months.
01:54A few, like the goshawk, are able to remain behind and still survive.
02:05Built strictly for the kill, an adult goshawk spies a red squirrel, an important source of food at this time
02:13of year.
02:13Bend the.
02:40Bend the精
02:41to the inaudible
02:41inaudible
02:41Inaudible
03:01The goshawk relies on short wings and a long tail to maneuver around tree trunks and between branches.
03:40The goshawk relies on short wings and a long tail to the edge of the earth.
04:09These two creatures play out their lives
04:12like a game of chess.
04:23This time, it's the squirrel which makes the wrong move.
04:43It's forced into check by the goshawk and must pay with its life.
05:00But who knows?
05:01Maybe next time, it will be checkmate for the goshawk.
05:08Many birds of prey starve in our wintry forests each year.
05:14Birds of prey have evolved for two primary purposes,
05:18to hunt and to feed.
05:21These winged marvels are equipped with large, bright eyes
05:25and three sets of eyelids.
05:28From their upper beak, hooked and fashioned with razor-sharp edges
05:32for tearing and cutting,
05:34to their aerodynamically layered plumage,
05:42right down to their talons,
05:44which on some species are the size of a grizzly bear's claw,
05:48it's easy to see why they command the wild blue yonder.
05:54The peregrine falcon has narrow pointed wings designed for diving.
06:03The wings of all birds of prey are unique.
06:07The osprey eats only fish.
06:15Its long wings are designed for a life of soaring and hovering.
06:21The kestrel has wings somewhere in between,
06:24since it both hovers and dives.
06:27Thin or broad, short or long, rounded or pointed,
06:32each bird of prey has evolved wings for its particular style of hunting.
06:52Much smaller in size,
06:55but every bit as aggressive as its larger cousins,
06:58is the northern shrike.
07:04The shrike is technically not a bird of prey.
07:09Actually, it's a passera form, or perching bird.
07:16Its diet includes insects, reptiles, and even rodents.
07:25With keen eyesight,
07:27it's capable of spotting a bumblebee a hundred yards away.
07:44Unfortunately for this mouse,
07:46camouflage does not come easily in a grassy meadow.
07:51The shrike seems to be tormenting the mouse,
07:53but this is not the case.
07:55In actuality, its small feet and beak
07:59are not well designed for such large prey.
08:06It waits for an opening,
08:08then kills the mouse quickly.
08:13Then the shrike exhibits its most well-known habit.
08:20It carries its prey off to its larder,
08:23where the food is impaled on a thorn or other spiked object.
08:30This habit has earned it the nickname of butcher bird.
08:38Now with its food in a secure position for tearing,
08:41the shrike is made up for its weak feet and small talons.
08:57The food is also well-protected
08:59and easily accessible for feeding to the fledgling shrikes.
09:13Contrary to popular belief,
09:15this bird does not kill for fun,
09:18but rather it maintains a storehouse for leaner times.
09:24Because of its adaptation from a lifestyle of a songbird
09:28to one of a hunter,
09:30the shrike is not very well-liked,
09:33but its presence is essential
09:35in keeping population explosions
09:37of fast-breeding rodents and insects to a minimum.
09:56Not much larger than the shrike is the smallest and most common of our falcon family,
10:02the American kestrel.
10:05Also subsisting on insects and small mammals,
10:08the kestrel sees a snake in the grass
10:11as a potential, although dangerous, meal.
10:16The kestrel watches and waits.
10:19Hold on to a schwer-sanja l forgetting
10:20for their hands and to few objects.
10:42thang and razarı
10:43the questions you're not going to talk to me
10:45The kestrel
10:46would be so simple
10:46men
10:48yes
10:48men
10:48vических
10:49the
10:49im
11:07Once it's grabbed its quarry, the kestrel slowly squeezes the life out of the snake.
11:29In the swamps of the southeast resides one of our most graceful birds, easily identified
11:37by its deeply forked tail and defined plumage of black and white, the swallow-tailed kite
11:44is best noted for its buoyant, seemingly effortless pattern of flight.
11:54This bird spends most of the daylight hours on the wing, where it feeds on animals such
12:00as snakes, young birds, and anoli lizards.
12:04The kite snatches prey on the wing, then dines aloft.
12:10Amazingly, the swallow-tailed kite doesn't even stop flying to drink or bathe.
12:16Like a swallow, it skims over the water to simultaneously wash itself and quench its thirst.
12:32As a new morning arrives, the day of a raptor is already long begun.
12:42Take, for instance, this sharp-shinned hawk, already feeding its young for the third time
12:48of the day.
13:02Like so many birds of prey, the sharp-shinned finds life difficult in areas populated by humans.
13:14As our population expands, we force nature deeper into areas like these remote wetlands
13:21and these sparse drylands.
13:33Even the red-tailed hawk, America's most common and most widespread aerial predator, has been
13:41steadily declining in number since World War II.
13:47Although this open country is ideal habitat for the red-tail, it must still compete with
13:53other predators.
13:55A red fox can be a worthy adversary when it comes to grabbing a quick meal.
14:04And what could be quicker than a cottontail?
14:13Like other hawks, the red-tail often soars over open country in search of its prey, but
14:19it is just as commonly at home atop telephone poles, haystacks, or fence posts.
14:26There it may sit for hours before gliding off to surprise its target.
14:58And it may ask above it.
16:37With the rabbit lost in the brush, the bewildered fox drops out of the chase.
16:56The chase resumes.
17:17The chase resumes.
17:37The fox is eager to rob the hawk of its kill.
17:41But the red-tail is prepared to defend its meal.
17:54As the fox tries different approaches, the hawk maintains a defense posture.
18:10No match for the red-tailed, the fox once again resumes its search for food, while the red-tailed
18:17hawk heads back and savors victory.
18:46Of all the winged animals,
18:47there is one in particular that has most ignited human emotions.
18:53It is the golden eagle, patriarch of the family of birds of prey.
19:01Like the red-tailed hawk, and for that matter, all raptors, the golden eagle is no stranger
19:08to competition with other hunters.
19:11And comfortable as it may seem at the moment, this bobcat is hungry.
19:15And this mountain plover would surely satisfy its appetite.
19:36But the plover is simply too fast and too alert for the bobcat to capture.
19:54The staple diet of the golden eagle consists mainly of large birds, rabbits, and hares.
20:01They are, however, known to kill larger mammals, up to the size of a pronghorn.
20:34As the chase ends,
20:36one of the twins returns to its mother to nurse.
20:42The other has not been so lucky.
20:45It is survival of the fittest, and the golden eagle is also subject to this rule.
20:53The eagle must now protect its prey, as well as itself, from the persistent bobcat.
21:21The eagle must now protect its prey.
21:30The eagle must now protect its prey.
21:30Oh, my God.
22:01True, the golden eagle resides at the top of the food pyramid, with few threats to its life other than
22:08man.
22:09But the hunter is often also the hunted.
22:21Without its strong wings, it might have been lying beside the pronghorn fawn.
22:38Still, like most eagles, this one will no doubt live to see many years, despite the loss of its prize.
22:46Only man can successfully diminish the numbers of these beautiful birds, and only man can save them.
23:14Here in northern Nevada is the Goshute Mountain Range.
23:21It is here also that nets are set up and traps are rigged.
23:26No, these people are not plotting the extinction of birds of prey.
23:31They're working to delay and hopefully prevent it.
23:35They trap, measure, and band a variety of birds of prey.
23:41A pigeon, dangled as bait, serves as the perfect lure.
23:48From camouflaged bunkers, the bait is manipulated as if it were a marionette.
23:55They successfully attract a cooper's hawk.
24:11The hawk is carefully removed from the capture net, then taken for banding and measuring.
24:19Most birds of prey fly south for the winter.
24:22Many of those which pass over the barren dry lands of western America stop here in Goshute.
24:29Since raptors are at the top of the food chain, they are excellent barometers of environmental quality.
24:41By regularly monitoring their populations, the Goshute Project can detect declines at an early stage,
24:48when there may still be time to reverse them.
24:52The birds are checked for talon length, feather quality, weight, and size.
25:05Their health statistics are then carefully logged and filed, creating a virtual census of western birds of prey.
25:20The birds are then banded and released, with the hopes that many will be recovered and measured again.
25:39Projects like Goshute can only exist with our support.
25:43It is vital that the birds of prey, one of the many treasures of our natural environment, be maintained and
25:52protected.
26:16In keeping these noble animals alive, we are in fact keeping ourselves, our land, and even our world alive.
26:27The time to save these species is while they are still common.
26:32The time is now.
26:40As controllers of rodents and insects, birds of prey are decidedly beneficial.
26:46And being at the top of the food chain, their strong populations usually mean an environment healthy for wildlife in
26:54general.
26:54With the increased positive attention on raptors in recent years, and the efforts of many wildlife groups and individuals,
27:03the future is looking even brighter for these symbols of freedom.
27:09Birds of prey.
27:10I'm Marty Stauffer.
27:12Until next time, enjoy our wild America.
27:16And we'll be back.
28:07Wild America is made possible by this station and other public television stations.