THIRTEEN's Nature Launches Season 35 with an Exploration into the Fast-paced World of Super Hummingbirds Wednesday, October 12, 2016 on PBS Actress Patricia Clarkson narrates stories of new discoveries about the feats the world's smallest bird Our Coverage Sponsored by Bergen Linen
Actress Patricia Clarkson narrates Nature: Super Hummingbirds, Nature's Season 35 premiere, airing Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 8 p.m. (ET)
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A triumph of cinematography and fabulous color, Super Hummingbirds lives up to its name entirely and we are giving you plenty of warning to prioritize it! With wide appeal that will captivate those that think nature is only to be found in Central Park to the most hard core naturalists, this upcoming program is a highly intellectual documentary on this bird that the world is still learning about, and has recently learned more because of innovations in photography allowing humans to better understand these creatures. This work is especially scientifically-motivated.
Patricia Clarkson, as the narrator, is absolutely brilliant and her intonations and the word choice employed additionally draw the viewer in to a show that is not only educational but also entertaining: a feat few programs achieve. Also, if you are like Peachy Deegan and absolutely allergic to pollen, this presents an opportunity to enjoy some botany with zero sneezing.
All Manhattanites especially will appreciate the speediness of the hummingbird, as well as those that have their pedal to the metal and are avid readers of Cruising Peachy. We believe our readers have the need for speed and so the hummingbird is additionally relatable. And of course they are not found on a racetrack: they are airborne so everyone that loved Sully can continue along the flight pattern. With hummingbirds, nectar is their high octane fuel and our eaters will appreciate that they eat every twenty minutes.
From singing competitions that even Grace VanderWaal would appreciate the competition of to some fights of excitement that spur on your anticipation of the NHL season, Hummingbirds are perhaps a bit more on our level than you might have thought. Tune in and be both enlightened and entertained!
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Hummingbirds are amazing creatures to behold. They are the tiniest of birds, yet possess natural born super powers that enable them to fly backwards, upside-down, and float in mid-air. Their wings beat faster than the eye can see and the speed at which they travel makes people wonder if it was indeed a hummingbird they actually saw. They also are only found in the Americas. These attributes have both intrigued scientists and made it challenging to study the species, but with the latest high-speed cameras and other technologies, Super Hummingbirds reveals new scientific breakthroughs about these magical birds.
Emmy-winning filmmaker Ann Johnson Prum (Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air; An Original DUCKumentary, Animal Homes) returns with her second film on hummers which presents new scientific discoveries such as how they drink a flower's nectar so quickly or why they are able to thrive in the thin air at high altitudes. For the first time, viewers will see the birds mate, lay eggs, fight, and raise families in intimate detail. Super Hummingbirds airs Wednesday, October 12, 2016 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings). After the broadcast, the episode will be available for limited online streaming at pbs.org/nature.
The film begins with the research of Dr. Alejandro Rico-Guevara, who returned to his native Colombia after getting his doctorate at the University of Connecticut (he's currently a postdoctoral researcher at University of California at Berkeley), to determine how a hummer is able to lap up nectar inside a flower at a rate of 20 times a second. A hummingbird spends its days darting from flower to flower to drink the nectar so vital to fueling its metabolism to keep it in the air. To solve the mystery, Rico-Guevara mounted a real flower onto a clear feeding tube containing the same amount of nectar found in a genuine bloom. After attracting a hummer to the test site, high-speed macro photography revealed that the hummingbird's long tongue has forked tips that open as the tongue dips into the nectar. Grooves are created along the edges of the open tips that collect and fill the tongue with nectar. Identifying this highly efficient means to drink nectar so rapidly was a scientific breakthrough never seen before.
Super Hummingbirds also chronicles a major discovery by Dr. Christopher Witt and his University of New Mexico team high in the Peruvian Andes where oxygen is 40 percent more scarce than it is at sea level. Tests were conducted on hummers living at high altitudes to determine how little oxygen they needed to fly and the results were impressive. For example, only when the oxygen level reached six percent did the Sparkling violetear reach her limit which is an altitude equivalent of 43,000 feet. Witt discovered that a protein called hemoglobin, which humans also have in our blood, has evolved in each hummingbird species to match its elevation. He also found that these flower feeders are able to fly at such dazzling speeds due to an ability to capture extra oxygen with every breath, a true super power.
In the rainforests of Costa Rica, Dr. Marcelo Araya-Salas of Cornell University has spent seven years studying and recording the vocal stylings and mating rituals of Long-billed hermit hummingbirds. As the film shows, male hermits gather in a place called a lek to attract and compete for females by singing and performing elaborate choreography. After shooting more than 2,000 hours of footage, Araya-Salas caught his first video of hummingbirds mating, one of the first times it has ever been filmed. The documentary then concludes with a life cycle of super hummingbirds, from the nest-building, to the motherhood, to the first flight!
Hummers may be the smallest birds in the world, but what they lack in size, they make up in speed and the ability to adapt in ways we're just beginning to learn about as they continue to evolve.
Nature is a production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for WNET. For Nature, Fred Kaufman is executive producer. Super Hummingbirds isa production of Coneflower Productions and THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET.
Nature pioneered a television genre that is now widely emulated in the broadcast industry. Throughout its history, Nature has brought the natural world to millions of viewers. The series has been consistently among the most-watched primetime series on public television.
Nature has won more than 700 honors from the television industry, the international wildlife film communities and environmental organizations, including 16 Emmys and three Peabodys. The series received two of wildlife film industry's highest honors: the Christopher Parsons Outstanding Achievement Award given by the Wildscreen Festival and the Grand Teton Award given by the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival. The International Wildlife Film Festival honored Nature executive producer Fred Kaufman with its Lifetime Achievement Award for Media.
PBS.org/nature is the award-winning web companion to Nature, featuring streaming episodes, filmmaker interviews, teacher's guides and more.
Support for this Nature program was made possible in part by the Arnhold Family in memory of Clarisse Arnhold, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, the Lillian Goldman Charitable Trust, the Filomen M. D'Agostino Foundation, Rosalind P. Walter, Sandra Atlas Bass, the Arlene and Milton D. Berkman Philanthropic Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and public television viewers.
About WNET
WNET is America's flagship PBS station and parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. WNET also operates NJTV, the statewide public media network in New Jersey. Through its broadcast channels, three cable services (KidsThirteen, Create and World) and online streaming sites, WNET brings quality arts, education and public affairs programming to more than five million viewers each week. WNET produces and presents such acclaimed PBS series as Nature, Great Performances,American Masters, PBS NewsHour Weekend, Charlie Rose and a range of documentaries, children's programs, and local news and cultural offerings. WNET's groundbreaking series for children and young adults include Get the Math, Oh Noah! andCyberchase as well as Mission US, the award-winning interactive history game. WNET highlights the tri-state's unique culture and diverse communities through NYC-ARTS, Reel 13, NJTV News with Mary Alice Williams and MetroFocus, the daily multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. In addition, WNET produces online-only programming including the award-winning series about gender identity, First Person, and an intergenerational look at tech and pop culture, The Chatterbox with Kevin and Grandma Lill. In 2015, THIRTEEN launched Passport, an online streaming service which allows members to see new and archival THIRTEEN and PBS programming anytime, anywhere:
