The Life of Birds

Film evenings begin with potluck refreshments and social hour at 6:30 pm,
followed by the film at 7:30 pm, followed by a discussion after the film.

THE LIFE OF BIRDS
Episode I: To Fly or Not to Fly
by David Attenborough

This first episode of David Attenborough’s Life of Birds looks at how birds first took to the skies in the wake of the insects. The film begins in Mexico, where David Attenborough observes bats being outmaneuvered by a red-tailed hawk. Pterosaurs were the birds’ forerunners, some 150 million years after dragonflies developed the means of flight, but eventually went extinct together with the dinosaurs. Birds had by then already evolved from early forms like Archaeopteryx, the first creature to possess feathers. Its ancestry can be traced through reptiles and some current species, such as the flying lizard, possibly show paths this evolution may have taken.

One of the biggest birds to have ever existed was the terror bird, which proliferated after dinosaurs vanished and stood up to 2.5 metres tall. By comparison, the ostrich, while not closely related, is the largest and heaviest living bird. It was probably the evasion of predators that drove most birds into the air, so their flightless cousins evolved because they had few enemies. Accordingly, such species are more likely to be found on islands, and David Attenborough visits New Zealand to observe its great variety, most especially the kiwi. Also depicted is the moa, another huge creature that is now gone. The takahe is extremely rare, and high in the mountains of New Zealand, David Attenborough discovers one from a population of only 40 pairs. Finally, another example on the brink of extinction is the kakapo, which at one point numbered only 61 individuals. A male is heard calling — an immensely amplified deep note that can be heard at great distances from its next.

Wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

$5 donations are accepted