The Extraordinary Lives Of Birds ｜ BBC Earth

These seven-month-old black-footed albatross chicks have recently been abandoned by their parents and now, driven by hunger, it's their time to get airborne. Unfortunately, with space at a premium, there is little room for manoeuvre and they must make their maiden flights over water. But this is no place for a paddle. Tiger sharks. A dozen sharks, each over three metres long, have crossed hundreds of kilometres of open ocean to attend this annual feast. Uncannily, these fearsome predators often arrive on the same day as the first chicks take to the air. Nothing could have prepared these chicks for such an encounter. Yet, despite looking like sitting ducks, inexperienced sharks find them hard to sink their teeth into. In an ocean where food is so hard to come by, the sharks can't afford to keep missing. They must quickly perfect their technique. For these albatross chicks, running the gauntlet of sharks may seem an impossible challenge, but the vast majority make it to a life in the open ocean. On the lakes of North America, one bird's courtship display is unlike any other. Clark's grebes. They've just flown in from the Pacific coast, and here in Oregon is where they'll breed. At this time of year, these sheltered freshwater lakes are the perfect place to raise a family. These two lovebirds paired up last season, but they've spent the winter apart, so they need to get reacquainted. If they stick together as parents, they'll give their chicks the best start in life. They need to prove their mutual devotion, so they dance. They start by copying each other's movements as they preen their feathers. Then, to show he really means it, the male will find a fish and offer it to her as a gift. With eyes only for each other, they reach the climax of their romantic display. Only grebes can do this. No other bird this heavy can run on water. But this display might help them get their breeding cycles in sync. A finch. A female. Its ancestors, doubtless, were blown here by storms many centuries ago. Like most finches, they feed on seeds, nectar and insects. But there's little food of any kind on wolf. And since they aren't strong enough flyers to leave the island, they've had to find food from a very unusual source. They depend on another of the island's inhabitants. Nazca boobies. Every day, these seabirds commute between the island and their fishing grounds out in the open ocean. Each time a pair meet, they renew their bond. And then catch up with the neighbours. Now is the time to hop into action. Blood. They are vampire finches. These little birds have become one of the world's newest species. She cuts the quill of a large flight feather and the blood flows. The sight of it attracts the attention of others. Blood is very nutritious. Worth fighting for. So with this never-ending supply of food, the vampire finches can flourish on an island where otherwise they could not survive. Why the boobies don't object, nobody knows. Perhaps the finches' behaviour started when they helped the boobies to remove parasites from their plumage. Maybe the boobies think that the little vampires are still providing a service. This secret mountain world is home to an abundance of rare creatures. Many found nowhere else on earth. High in the canopy lives the alligator tree lizard. And the horned one. The last survivor of an ancient bird family. It's been evolving independently for more than 30 million years. In forest clearings, male long-tailed manakish dance to entice females. A ritual that may take a decade to perfect. Travel deeper into the heart of this cloud forest and you might discover the true spirit of El Triunfo. A mythical creature rarely seen. Sacred to the ancient Aztecs who treasured its feathers more than gold. It's considered the most beautiful bird in the Americas. The aptly named resplendent quetzal. It's the mating season and this male's three foot long tail feathers have helped him successfully attract a mate. Now he has a young family to feed. He works tirelessly for a month to satisfy his brood's voracious appetite. His lush Mexican home is brimming with fruit and insects. At the end of the mating season he will drop his spectacular tail feathers. But the quetzal grows a new train every year. The striated caracara. It's one of the rarest raptors in the world. In spring it feasts on the eggs and chicks of the island's vast seabird colonies. For caracaras these are prime feeding grounds. Each adult has carved out its own territory in which to hunt. And there's no space left for anyone else. This juvenile needs food. Still too young to have its own territory there's little access to the hunting grounds. Another youngster decides to chance its luck. But the adults are all too willing to take down any trespassers. The risk of injury in these brutal confrontations is too high. Getting to the food requires a new plan. Up on the moorlands the young caracara isn't the only one in exile. New research has found that juvenile caracaras use distinctive calls to rally together. This gang of youngsters are planning a rebellion. Working together as a group they invade an adult's feeding territory. The balance of power shifts. The adults can't see off the entire flock. Their mobbing technique has paid off. Gorged with food the young birds return to the moorlands. Being forced to live on the periphery is tough. And rising up against the adults is the only way to survive. Our wedge bill and all other hummingbirds have to eat more than twice their body weight in food each day. They burn through calories so quickly that if they were the size of an average human they'd need two cans of fizzy drink every minute to survive. But over millions of years of evolution they've struck up a bargain with the surrounding plants to get what they need. The plants produce flowers rich in nectar. In exchange the hummingbirds act as pollinators. Moving pollen between flowers they enable the plants to reproduce. But each flower only has a limited supply of nectar each day. Which means the hummingbirds must compete for it. Each species has a unique ploy to get their prize. The green violeteer is one pugnacious little bird. Engaging in aerial combat it prevents all others from getting close to its patch. The booted racket tail takes a different approach. Using agility and speed to outmaneuver the opposition. And the tiny purple-throated wood star has a very clever trick. Most hummingbirds are terrified of bees. Just one sting could be fatal. So the wood star mimics the sound of a bee with its wings. Scaring other hummingbirds off just long enough to get the goods. Whilst these birds may be somewhat brazen in their approach they hold up their end of the bargain with the flowers. Our wedge bill however has a far more rebellious plan. While the other hummingbirds fight it out it makes its move. The wedge bill doesn't reach inside the flower. It goes straight to the base and pierces a hole where the nectar is stored. Tapping into the very source. It gets the food it needs but it doesn't pollinate the plant. Less than two percent of the sunlight reaches the floor. But even here there is extraordinary variety. In the great island of New Guinea there are 42 different species of birds of paradise. Each more bizarre than the last. This forest is so rich that nourishing food can be gathered very quickly. That leaves the male six-plumed bird of paradise with time to concentrate on other matters. Like tidying up his display area. Everything must be spic and span. Very impressive but no one is watching. The superb bird of paradise calls to attract a female. And he has more luck. But what does he have to do to really impress her? She retires to consider her verdict. It's hard not to feel deflated when even your best isn't good enough. Has been desperately waiting for what she hopes the rain will bring. Food for her hungry chick. Nesting here has been her biggest gamble. Her chick's life depends on the arrival of creatures from the far rainforests of the Congo. Her wait will soon be over. The largest mammal migration in Africa is on the move. Ten million fruit bats are drawn to this tiny forest on the edge of the eastern savannah. The bats flock here to gorge themselves on fruit. It's what the crowned eagle and her chick have been waiting for. But they're not alone. Other eagles have flown in from miles around. Fish eagles. Martial eagles. And they're all after the bats. The gamble the crowned eagle took months ago by nesting here has paid off. She is the only eagle to actually nest in this forest. The only one who took the risk to breed here well before the trees came into fruit and the bats flooded in. She only breeds once every two years. So her timing must be perfect. In a few months the bats will leave. But her gamble means her chick will have the best possible start in life. The surrounding forest remains lush even at the height of the dry season. Filtered through the limestone the water is full of minerals. It supports a unique community of plants and animals. Some fish in the Yucatan cenotes are found nowhere else on earth. Within the dense forest a cenote can remain hidden even when close by. But the Maya had an almost surefire way of finding them. The distinctive call of the turquoise-browed motmot. Virtually every cenote has its own colony. Elsewhere motmots prefer to nest alone digging their burrows along riverbanks. Here in the Yucatan they're forced to gather sharing limited space on the cenote's soft limestone walls. Before a male can start looking for a mate he needs to secure a nest site. But this cenote is already crowded. 17 other pairs are nesting here. If he's to fit in this new arrival must use the right body language. A raised turquoise-browed is intended to intimidate rivals. The pendulous tick-tock of their tails has earned motmots the nickname clock birds. This male must persevere if he wants to breed this year. At last he's earned his own little ledge of limestone. With a gift of food he can get down to the business of attracting a mate. So how can a father ever know for sure if he's the daddy? A pair of snowy owls has set up home on the arctic tundra and their nest has some new arrivals. Their solution to dad's paternity insecurity is to pair up and become monogamous. By sticking with the same partner for the breeding season a male gets as much assurance as possible that he is the father. It means dad is happy to work flat out which is exactly what this hungry family needs. Mum stays at the nest most of the time to brood all her chicks. So dad must collect enough food for the whole family. As the chicks grow so do their demands for food. Each chick will eat two of these lemmings a day. Together the owlets will consume around 2,000 lemmings in a year. He keeps dad very busy. With the pressure on for him to provide dad is constantly away hunting which means this stay-at-home mum has to keep guard. A skewer. These voracious predators are known as the pirates of the air and would make an easy meal of one of her precious chicks. The owl mum has to fight for her chicks lives and proves herself more than capable. Happy enough that he's the father dad becomes as dedicated a parent as mum. And together this committed partnership keeps the chicks well fed and safe. Among the steaming geysers of Lake Bergoria over a million lesser flamingos bathe and feed in the caustic water. They gather whenever the algae bloom. These huge numbers create one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. Almost all the world's lesser flamingos live on this chain of lakes moving from one lake to another as the amount of algae in each changes. All along the lake shore volcanic vents are a reminder of the forces that continue to change this land. And a streak of colour on the horizon signals that relief for the parched plains is on its way.