Christian Cooper's Yearbook Superlatives I NOVA I PBS
XVcCYzlw274 • 2020-10-08
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Kind: captions Language: en oh that's a brutal question the most overrated bird is the european starling a lot of people look at them and they think oh they're so pretty they're glossy and iridescent and shiny not a fan um they're an invasive species um hurting our native species don't belong here not all that pretty most underrated i'm gonna go with the morning dove they're not spectacularly colored but when you really take the time to notice them they're like like they're made out of satin and all these delicate shades of beige and browns and a hint of blue on the crown and the back of the neck mourning here is morning as in sadness for the dead m-o-u-r-n-i-n-g and that's because of the sound they made that and a lot of people here and they think oh what's that owl i'm hearing an owl in the daytime but they're actually hearing a morning dog but the other reason why i think it's so underrated is because it's everywhere i mean this bird thrives in the middle of manhattan it thrives in the deep woods uh north of here in the hudson valley it thrives in the deserts of california it finds a way to survive everywhere it seems and and i find that spectacular and fascinating bird with the most attitude hummingbirds they just they don't take crap from anybody you walk into their territory and they're like who are you why are you here i had uh um a hummingbird feeder and i had to change the hummingbird feeder you know with the with the liquid in it for the hummingbirds so i took the hummingbird bird feeder down i started to walk away with it and the hummingbird as i'm walking away is flying over and eating from the feeder because he's like no no i'm not done yet i'm i've still got more eating to do so i'm like okay waiting for you waiting for you and then the best hummingbird story ever i was in palm springs i was sitting in the courtyard and so i was spending hours in front of my computer uh not not moving and all of a sudden i feel this kind of tingling electric feeling going up and down my leg and i'm like what the heck is that i looked down there was a female costas hummingbird running its bill up and down my leg as it flew along my leg the only theory i can come up with is that it was the nesting season she decided to check out my leg hair as potential nesting material to build her nest with it was the most awesome thing it was the best ever i was just enthralled i think she was like oh this soft downy stuff is it would be great for building my nest thank goodness i don't shave my legs oh most mysterious bird in nighthawks uh they strike me as very mysterious because they they're so easy to overlook in the daytime and yet at night they're flying around on these you know big flapping wings um almost like a ghostly presence least bird-like bird i mean i gotta go with penguins you know they're kind of waddling along making their way down to the ocean and then flopping throwing themselves in and they don't fly they they look like they're wearing tuxedos and they spend most of their time in the ocean you know they've adapted their their wings into flippers and their feet into paddles and that's where they that's where they thrive is in an aquatic underwater environment a nemesis bird is a bird you really really really want to see and you've come really really close to seeing it a couple of times but you haven't seen it yet and it's almost like the bird is going in you can't see me but the jer falcon um is the largest falcon on the planet and it can uh take down gulls it can take down ducks you know really big birds but i've never seen one they are restricted to really really northern places like sub-arctic regions i hate cold weather i hate it they didn't hate it so it's hard to get me out there birding in those places i've just never made a trip up there to find one though i have been to iceland twice still haven't seen the gear falcon and they're certainly in iceland so that's incredibly annoying i've seen captive jeer falcons i've seen falconer's birds um but i've never seen one in the wild and that's what counts well the good thing is that birds are everywhere whether you have binoculars or not you've got to start tuning into the birds and try to figure out what you're seeing and once you start tuning into it then you're going to really want to know more just to keep your ears and your eyes open you
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