All Bird TV

• 

In this popular weekly series, ornithologist and “celebrity bird man” Ken Dial takes viewers on adventures in birdwatching across North and Central America. The series originally aired on Animal Planet, and on Discovery Channels worldwide.

Buy Adventures in Birdwatching  on DVD.

Details

LENGTH: 26 x 24 Minutes
FORMAT: Series
CAMERA: Betacam
INTERNATIONAL TRACK: Yes
TEXTLESS: No
CLOSED CAPTIONS: No
ASPECT RATIO: 4:3
PRODUCTION YEAR: 1998-1999
RELEASE YEAR: 1999
SUPPLIER: Incandescent Entertainment
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
RIGHTS TERRITORY: Worldwide exclusive of USA

SEASON 1

#101: FLORIDA WADING BIRDS Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, a birding hot spot in Sanibel, Florida. Ding Darling is filled with glamorous wading birds. Numerous species of spectacular birds visit or live at Ding Darling such as Roseate Spoonbills, Great Blue Herons, Snowy and Great Egrets, Brown Pelicans, Double Crested Cormorants, White Ibis and Red-shouldered Hawks.

#102: MASSACHUSETTS SONGBIRDS Ken joins a tour lead by Marj Rines of the Brookline Bird Club in the Mount Auburn Cemetery. The group ventures into the famous burial ground of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Winslow Homer at dawn to catch a glimpse of the songbirds in their finest breeding plumage. Songbirds such as the Tennessee Warbler and the Scarlet Tanager flit about the trees in morning song. Meet ornithologist Don Kroodsma to learn about bird songs. Using a parabolic microphone, Don records the dawn chorus of the songbirds and then studies them at his lab.

#103: CONNECTICUT NESTS Visit Falkner Island, part of the Stuart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge in Connecticut. Falkner Island holds close to 3500 nesting pairs of Common Terns. The Common and Roseate Terns nest in unusual locations such as old tires, crates, and even in the middle of a footpath. Ken perches in an Osprey nest to explain how an Osprey raises its young. Ken learns about various nest designs, such as a Mockingbird’s nest, a Robin’s nest and a House Sparrow’s nest. Ken travels by canoe to Great Island Marsh with Dr. Paul Spitzer, the man who restored the Osprey to the mouth of the Connecticut River.

#104: FOLLOW THE FOOD Ken explores his home state of Montana. Ken and ornithology professor Dick Hutto raft down the Blackfoot River while fly fishing to follow the birds that are also looking for food by the river. They see numerous birds in this riparian habitat, such as the Tree Swallow, Western Wood Peewee, Willow Flycatcher, Yellow Warbler and Spotted Sandpiper. They even catch a glimpse of a Bald Eagle. After fly-fishing, Ken and Dick go to the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge to see birds that live in the ponds and cattails. Dick explains how to identify birds by their feeding behavior. They see Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Coots, and several other birds.

#105: AVIAN PARENTING Ken Dial explores different avian parenting techniques. Ken meets with ornithologist Josh Tewksbury whostudies Cowbird parasitism. Josh and Ken examine the coping strategies of two host species (American Redstart and Yellow Warbler). Ken visits Ninepipe National Wildlife Refuge with waterfowl researcher Alison Perkins. Ken explains the difference between altricial and precocial birds and sees several different species of birds, such as the Red-necked Grebe and the American Coot which are semi-precocial. Ken travels to Wildhorse Island with Wildlife Biologist Bill Swaney. They endure a strenuous hike in the pouring rain for a beautiful view of nesting Bald Eagles and their young. Bill explains the parenting behavior of the Bald Eagle.

#106: ARIZONA HUMMINGBIRDS Ken Dial travels to Arizona to see one of the state’s star attractions: Hummingbirds. At the Nature Conservancy’s Ramsey Canyon Preserve, Ken sees several different Hummingbirds, such as the Broad-billed, Allen’s and the Violet-crowned. See a garden that attracts hummingbirds. Ken learns about the nectar that fuels hummingbirds from researcher Peter Scott. Peter extracts nectar from different flowers and measures sugar content with a refractometer

#107: ARIZONA DESERT BIRDS Ken Dial and renowned author Kenn Kaufman explore the desert at night wearing night vision equipment. They see a Great Horned Owl and Ken explains how Owls have remarkable night vision and acute hearing which enables them to locate their prey in the dark. As day breaks, Dial and Kaufman visit nesting Cactus Wrens, Curve-billed Thrashers, Roadrunners, and the Gila Woodpecker. Ken visits a sky-diving Hawk Researcher who shows him Harris’ Hawks nesting in a giant Saguaro cactus.

#108: CALIFORNIA SEABIRDS Ken Dial visits California’s Monterey Bay. Ken takes a pelagic birding cruise. The unique submarine canyon of Monterey Bay brings the deep ocean with its nutrient rich waters close to shore. Among the pelagic birds they see are: the Common Murre, the Black-footed Albatross, the Sooty Shearwater and Sabine’s Gull. Ken takes a tour on Alcatraz Island with Ranger Daphne Hatch. Since the prison was closed in 1963, the island has become an important nesting site for Brandt’s Cormorants.

#109: CALIFORNIA SALT MARSH BIRDS Ken Dial explores the resource-rich estuaries and salt marshes of Northern California. Ken begins his journey with a quest for the elusive Rail at Palo Alto Baylands. Ken visits Elkhorn Slough and learns why birds are attracted to salt marshes by digging up the rich nutrients and foods found in the mud. Several of the birds that can be found at the Slough are: Red Phalaropes, Marbled Godwits, and Long-billed Curlews.

#110: WASHINGTON FLIGHT Ken Dial travels to the Olympic Peninsula of Washington to examine the various wing designs and flight patterns of birds. Dan Varland, a Wildilfe Biologist for Rayonier Forest Products, brings Ken to the beach to track raptors. They watch a Peregrine Falcon hunt and Ken explains how various birds benefit from different wing designs. Joe Buchanan brings Ken to Bottle Beach in Washington State, a favorite spot for flocking shorebirds. Ken takes a boat out into the ocean with biologists George Divoky and Chris Thompson to look at the wing design of Alcids. Alcids are birds like the Common Murre and Rhinoceros Aucklet that live in the ocean and feed primarily on fish.

#111: WASHINGTON PREDATOR Ken Dial looks at predators ranging from Hawks and Eagles to Gulls and the American Crow. Ken gets an up-close look at raptors with Jaye Moore, at the Northwest Raptor Rehab Center. Jaye Moore takes in injured birds from the Olympic Peninsula, such as: Cooper’s Hawk, Barred Owls, Screech Owls, and Eagles. Ken describes the different methods these birds use to capture their prey. Ken explores the Hoh Rainforest and ascends to the moss-covered branches of its canopy with professor John Marzluff. Marzluff studies corvids and their predation of the Marbled Murrelet, a seabird which nests high in the rainforest canopy. Corvids, the family of birds which includes Ravens, Crows, Jays and Magpies, are considered to be very intelligent birds. They work cooperatively and exhibit spatial memory.

#112: NEW JERSEY FALL MIGRATION Ken Dial travels to birding hotspot Cape May, New Jersey for fall migration. Cape May is a popular stopover for migrating birds to rest and refuel. With guide Megan
Edwards, Ken sees several Osprey, various Warblers and Shorebirds. Ken joins Pete Dunne, Director of the New Jersey Audubon Society’s Cape May Bird Observatory, on a Hawk Watch. Thousands of Hawks travel over Cape May as they migrate. Ken adds a Palm Warbler to his Life List. Ken explains that a Life Bird is a bird that you haven’t seen before in your life and properly identified.

#113: NEW YORK URBAN BIRDS Ken Dial travels to an unexpected location for birdwatching: New York City. But New York is home to Central Park, which attracts over 200 different species of birds. They see such birds as the Black-crowned Night-Heron, the Great Egret, and the Black-and-White Warbler. Ken learns how Mockingbirds mimic city noises including buses and car alarms. In the South Bronx, Ken joins a group of children who are part of Project PigeonWatch. Unlikely though it may be, adjacent to JFK International airport is an oasis for migrating and resident birds: the Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Don Riepe, manager of the refuge, shows Ken the various birds that come to Jamaica Bay for rest and nourishment, such as Black Skimmers, Willets and Glossy Ibis.

SEASON 2

#201: RARE BIRDS OF COSTA RICA Ken Dial travels to Costa Rica in Central America in search of some of the rare and elusive birds that live in its verdant jungles and forests. First Ken stops in the lush cloud forests of Monteverde, to find the Bare-necked Umbrellabird. The male Umbrellabird sports a red, inflatatble throat pouch and a gorgeous black “umbrella” of head feathers that he opens and closes to attract a mate. Ken’s next stop is the Talamanca Mountain Range, where he looks for the Resplendent Quetzal. A gorgeous, long-tailed, green bird with a bright red stomach and mohawk coiffure. Along the journey Ken spots other exotics like the Three-wattled Bellbird, the Keel-billed Toucan, the Collard Trogon, the Emerald Toucanet as well as many North American species of birds that winter in the tropics.

#202: PRIME TROPICAL REAL ESTATE Costa Rica is a land bridge for migrating birds between North and South America so land use is a critical issue for bird conservation. Ken Dial visits some of the avian
residents of the country to see how they are faring in this beautiful and rapidly developing place. First he stops in the Cloud Forest of Monteverde to see how and why birds occupy different layers of the forest canopy. He sees the Three-Wattled Bellbirds, Woodcreepers, and Hummingbirds. Ken’s second stop is ZooAve, where he explores the status of the rare Great Green Macaw. The Green Macaw is an indicator species for Costa Rica– as land is deveolped, the Green Macaw and its avian neighbors are being evicted from their habitat.

#203: SECRETS OF THE FOREST Ken Dial explores three well-kept secrets of the forest. First he travels to the forests of Costa Rica in search of a few of the many hundreds of species of Hummingbirds that live there. Ken then visits the dark woods of Montana, home of the rare and elusive Great Gray Owl. Ken and ornithologist Jeff Marks find a Great Gray Owl nest with two nestlings. They observe the adults feeding their chicks in the wild. As they interact with the owls, Ken learns the secrets to their success as a species.

#204: TEXAS BORDER BIRDS Ken Dial visits South Texas in this episode, to see some of the hundreds of thousands of birds that stop over in Texas to refuel on their bi-annual migrations between North and South America. Ken and Bill Seegar of USFish and Wildlife trace the migration of the stunning, high-speed, Peregrine Falcon using state-of-the-art satellite tracking technology. Ken meets Bill Evans from Cornell University who is tracking the night migrations of songbirds.

#205: WHO’s WHOOO IN THE OWL WORLD? Ken Dial takes a magical mystery tour of the world of owls. In New Jersey he visits Len Soucie at the Raptor Trust to see a large number of these oft-maligned and very secretive creatures. They examine, compare, and contrast a dozen different species of rehabilitated owls: The Great Gray, the Sawhet, the Barred, and the Long-eared to name just a few. Next, Ken joins up with Bruce Colvin and his Owl Hunters as they capture and release dozens of nesting Barn Owls in NJ barns and forests for a population study that Colvin is conducting. Finally Ken goes after the smallest, toughest, meanest owl in the country, the Feruginous Pygmy Owl.

#206: ON THE ROAD Migrating birds have to stop over from time to time during their long flights to refuel. What better place to stop than Delaware Bay? May’s full moon is the signal for the annual horseshoe crab egg-laying haul-out on the beaches of Delaware Bay. Horseshoe crab eggs are a critical refueling resource for the Red Knots and Ruddy Turnstones migrating north from South America. Next Ken visits David Mizrahi of Clemson University on the beach to try to figure out what signals tell a bird it’s time to move on? A combination of weight gain and weather conditions cause a bird to become “restless” — the behavior they display just as they’re about to take-off again for the North.

#207: THERE’S SAFETY IN NUMBERS Ken Dial explores the Heronry– a colony of nesting birds in the Heron family. What are the advantages of nesting in large colonies? There is safety from predators in numbers, and food is easier to find. Herons are so skittish that they not only nest in colonies, they also nest on islands. Ken visits several islands that Herons call home. Pea Patch Island in Delaware Bay houses some of the northernmost populations of Roseate Spoonbills, Great Blues,and Snowy Egrets. And Santa Catalina hosts yet another houseful of herons.

#208: SONGBIRDS But for birds, and particularly songbirds, it’s critical to their very existence, to their survival. It allows them to attract mates, to obtain critical real estate. Ken Dial goes West to Montana and Idaho to explore the behavior, ecology and diversity of songbirds. First Ken tracks down the only aquatic songbird in the US, the American Dipper. This bird fishes for food in raging mountain rivers that a human can’t even walk through. Next, Ken joins Rex Sallabanks in Idaho to figure out who or what is destroying songbird nests. Finally, Ken joins Erick Greene of the University of Montana in a study of how the beautiful, blue Lazuli Bunting learns to sing.

#209: ALASKA SPECIAL: MYSTERIOUS MIDDLETON ISLAND There aren’t many islands in the world as inhospitable to humans as Middleton Island in the Gulf of Alaska. With no harbor for anchorage,
fiercely blowing arctic winds, and hostile seas all about, the only souls here are shipwrecked and out of luck. That is, unless you’re a seabird. Middelton is the breeding ground for enormous numbers of seven different seabirds: Tufted Puffins, Rhinoceros Auklets, 2 species of Murres, Comorants, Kittiwakes, and Glaucous-winged Gulls.

#210: ALASKA SPECIAL: GOLD RUSH Nome, Alaska is where birds still come here each spring and summer from all over the world to mate and raise their young. This is a tough land of high tundra, coastal cliffs and bare mountains. Locked in ice most of the year, it explodes with animal life for a few short months. Ken Dial goes to the ends of civiliztion to show us migratory birds at their best…long distance travelers that bring up baby in the buggiest spot on the continent. Ken finds the rare Bristle-thighed Curlew in the tundra, Golden Plovers near the coast, and a host of other Asiatic species that can only been seen in North America in Alaska during a very short window of time in the spring.

#211: BIRD DETECTIVES How do we know about the hidden lives of birds? Ken joins some New England bird sleuths as they tease out secrets of the avian world. First Ken visits Bernd Heinrich who is
looking at Raven insight. Ravens apparently learn about the world in ways similar to an infant. Rather than use trial and error to learn, they figure out the underlying physical principles at work and then use that knowledge to obtain their goal. Next Ken visits Squam Lake at night to investigate mysterious deaths in the Loon population. The last investigation of the show happens in Stowe, Vermont where scientists have discovered a new species, the Bicknell’s Thrush, and the philandering lifestyle of the female.

#212: LOST ISLAND COLONIES Europeans weren’t the first or the only creatures to colonize the New World. Several species of birds beat them to it– transforming dozens of islands off the cost of Maine into bird colonies long before humans set foot on the continent. But in the last century, these avian colonies were lost, and the birds vanished. 22 miles from the mainland in the Gulf of Maine lies Seal Island. Seal Island has recently begun to restore its former poplations of Puffins, Storm Petrels, Terns, Black Guillemots, and Common Eiders. Ken meets Steve Kress and learns about the unique techniques Steve has developed to attract birds back to their former habitat. Ken and Steve go grubbing for Petrels, serve as decoys for Puffins and watch a dog fight or two over turf.

#213: L. A. STORIES It’s the middle of winter and most of the nation is freezing! But not Ken Dial. He’s in sunny, warm L. A. with the beautiful people and the snowbirds! Birds have come from thousands of miles, all over North America to spend their winter in Southern California. Ken finds gangs of exotic parrots living in residential neighborhoods of L.A.. He visits some ancient avian residents of the ‘hood-the Vultures! And Dr. Dial finds a wintering bird haven in the middle of the Los Angeles urban megalopolis – a place called Newport Back Bay.

Reviews

“Picture a mellow, laid-back version of Bill Nye. Now picture him a little older, a little wiser, and a little… bald. Voila! You’ve got Ken Dial, an Associate Professor of Zoology and Biology at the University of Montana, and a very cool, very funny science guy who loves his work, and can’t help but share the news…. Throughout, the camerawork in tracking these tiny birds is excellent, the onscreen species identification is extremely helpful, Dial is a superb host…. Highly recommended. Editor’s Choice. Four Stars.” – Video Librarian

“… this slightly offbeat ode to the joys of bird watching. Hosted by colorful ornithologist Ken Dial, this three-part birdwatching series surveys a wide range of birds in such far flung locales as Costa Rican jungles and Pacific Northwest forests… the informative series is sure to find a comfortable perch in public library collections where bird watching is popular.” -Booklist

“This peppy video is adapted from the All Bird TV series and hosted by Ken Dial, a biology professor at the University of Montana and an associate of Harvard’s Museum of Comparitive Zoology. Dial, in contrast to many saccharin, dull nature-show hosts, is expressive and entertaining, a bit of a wild man but also informed, interesting, and occasionally irreverent. The background music, another nonentity in many of these shows, is varied and delightful. The content is excellent: great photography with super action shots of the birds, accented by their clear vocalizations. Eminently sensible in limiting its subjects, Adventures in Birdwatching offers six segments that do not try to cover too much. There are in-depth looks at wading birds in Florida, spring landbirds in Massachusetts, predators in the Pacific Northwest, and hummingbirds in Arizona and several takes of tropical species in Costa Rica. Interspersed are lessons in ecology, behavior, breeding habits, feeding, and general biological principles. The viewer is also treated to looks at mammals, butterflies, plant life, and varied scenery, including onsite footage and interviews with field biologists at work. Highly recommended.” -Henry T. Armistead, Free Library of Philadelphia

•