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00:00The sky is one of the most challenging places to live.
00:10But all across the world, extraordinary animals do something we can only dream of.
00:19Take to the air.
00:24Some spend their whole lives up here.
00:27Others only visit for a moment.
00:36We'll discover how many incredible animals thrive in the sky.
00:43And what clever tricks they use to get airborne.
00:48With the help of some specially trained animals, the latest technology and special effects techniques,
00:55we'll reveal brand new discoveries that explain how animals take to the skies.
01:02This is life in the air.
01:07It's one thing to take to the air and let gravity do the rest.
01:11But to stay airborne, to master true flight, you need to push the laws of physics right to the very edge.
01:20Using power, speed, agility, endurance, and acceleration.
01:21These are the masters of the sky.
01:22These are the masters of the sky.
01:23music
01:34These are the masters of the sky.
01:37none of the sails
01:50Meet the Hooper Swan, one of the largest and heaviest of all flying creatures.
02:16Every year families fly enormous distances, migrating between vital feeding and breeding
02:22areas.
02:24But weighing a whopping 14 kilos, how are swans able to fly at all, let alone so far?
02:37To push the limits of what's possible in the air, they need strength and lots of it
02:43every day.
02:50To fuel their huge bodies, swans need to eat over a kilogram of vegetation a day.
02:55They're constantly in search of enough food to survive, and that means flying.
03:02But when you're this size, just taking off is nearly impossible, and requires some very
03:09clever techniques.
03:12So, how does he do it?
03:18To get airborne, he's going to need raw power.
03:24And apply it in a very precise way.
03:31First, he must break free of the water, but it clings to his body holding it.
03:53back.
03:54His huge webbed feet need to drive him upwards and forwards.
04:00Now, his gigantic, meter-long wings can move freely.
04:14They push air down and back, delivering yet more power to accelerate him further.
04:33Wings and feet work together to give him the speed he needs to take off.
04:48Once at this speed, the air is moving fast enough over his wings to create a huge upward
04:54force called lift.
04:56This fights the downward pull of gravity.
05:00So how is lift created?
05:05The special shape of his wing, known as an aerofoil, causes air to flow differently above and below
05:11his wing, and this affects its pressure.
05:17With low pressure above and high pressure below, the wing is pushed upwards.
05:22The faster the swan goes, the more air flows over the wing, and that creates more lift.
05:39He needs to reach 21 km an hour, the critical speed where lift cancels out gravity altogether.
05:48Then it's undercarriage up, and we have take-off.
06:02For such a huge bird to take to the sky, everything must come together in one explosive moment that
06:09lasts just a few seconds.
06:14Once he's really flying, the same air that helped him get up here gives him a new challenge.
06:34As he powers forwards, the air pushes him back, a force known as drag, slowing him down and
06:40reducing the lift in his wings.
06:47By beating his wings, he creates a constant source of power to maintain airspeed.
06:54Without this thrust, he would soon slow to a standstill, and literally drop out of the sky.
07:09So swans must keep flapping, all the way to their new feeding grounds.
07:18All flying animals have to wrestle the powerful conflicting forces of gravity, lift, and drag.
07:26But the faster they go, the thicker the oncoming air feels, and drag becomes an ever bigger problem.
07:35So what if you're one of the fastest animals on the planet, and you're moving at more than
07:40three hundred and twenty kilometers an hour, the peregrine falcon.
08:03Its breakneck speed gives it the edge to surprise and strike its prey with devastating force.
08:16It's spring here in California, and a pair of peregrines has a new family.
08:21And with it, a new problem.
08:25At four weeks old, each ravenous chick eats more than an adult.
08:30So both parents need to hunt successfully every day.
08:36Feeding their growing youngsters is a full-time job.
08:48So what is it about peregrines that makes them so much faster than almost any other animal
08:54on the planet?
08:58They've got flying at speed perfected, down to the tiniest detail.
09:06See-through eyelids stop their eyes drying out.
09:11And specially shaped nostrils slow down the air to make breathing possible at high speed.
09:18When off on a hunt, a peregrine uses updrafts from the cliff face to gain height.
09:33Up here it can spot potential prey, and when it does, it starts a specialist dive known as a stoop.
09:40A few deep-wing strokes help it accelerate to 190 kilometers an hour.
09:47At this speed, oncoming air smashes into every part of the peregrine's body, slowing it down.
09:59By tucking in its wings, the falcon can slip through the air that much easier.
10:06So now 240 kilometers an hour becomes possible.
10:11But the faster you go, the more of a problem drag becomes.
10:18At top speeds, every bump on a bird's body will disturb the air flowing over it.
10:33And this turbulence slows the peregrine down.
10:37But that same turbulence makes special feathers pop up over the peregrine's back.
10:44And this pulls the air back into line so it flows smoothly over its body again.
10:50With drag minimized, peregrines can top 320 kilometers an hour.
11:01At this speed, they can cover the length of the football pitch in only a second.
11:09This sheer and adulterated speed makes them masters of aerial attack.
11:15Top Gun skills allow these falcon parents to keep their chicks fed.
11:28But these same skills also allow them to protect the chicks from anything they think might attack the nest.
11:38They really don't like intruders.
11:40At the slightest hint of a threat, the falcons will scramble and intercept in seconds.
11:49The falcon may be smaller and less powerful than many of her targets, but pure speed gives her the edge to harass and then escape before they can react.
12:15Pelicans are ten times her size, and here's a whole squadron of them.
12:28But size is no match for precision high-speed flying.
12:33Each attack aims to disrupt the pelican's own flight.
12:51Just jerking their head to one side is all it takes to send the pelican out of control.
12:56Meanwhile, her own high-speed Top Gun skills keep her out of harm's way.
13:13Speed helps a peregrine mother own the skies around her nest.
13:28But what if you're a high-speed hunter and you don't have big, wide-open airspaces to fly in?
13:39What if you lived in an English country garden?
13:45Flying fast, close to the ground, and around a veritable assault course of obstacles, there's a skillful hunter that does just this.
14:04Meet the master of high-speed aerial agility, the sparrowhawk.
14:09As his name suggests, this pocket-sized predator hunts small birds, using surprise as his strategy.
14:22And this is how it works.
14:26The targets are right in the middle of a garden, over 50 metres away, with escape routes in all directions.
14:34He'll need to use as much cover as possible to hide his approach.
14:41And by knowing every tree and shrub in his territory, he can pick the perfect route.
14:48Skimming hedges and hurtling through the undergrowth to maximise the element of surprise.
14:53But there could be 20 pairs of eyes on the lookout.
15:00And if any of them spot him, they'll sound the alarm.
15:08Nine out of ten sparrowhawk hunts fail because of this.
15:12So he's got to be fast and agile.
15:14And strike in just four seconds.
15:27Few flying creatures can do this.
15:30But then few have the sparrowhawk's supreme flying abilities.
15:34He has explosive acceleration.
15:41Long legs fire him out of the blocks.
15:48Short rounded wings powerfully scoop up the air, driving his lightweight body forwards.
15:54To hit attack speed in under two seconds.
15:56Now at speed, he keeps a low profile, hugging the ground.
16:07This low position gives him an extra advantage.
16:13The air is squeezed between his wings and the ground, giving him a high-pressure air cushion to ride on.
16:19This keeps him airborne and saves valuable energy.
16:29But hurtling along at 50 kilometres an hour gives him just hundreds of a second to avoid a collision.
16:40Short wings are pulled in to pass through the tiniest gaps.
16:43A long tail does the steering, constantly making fine adjustments.
16:57When he needs to turn sharply, he slams on the brakes by fanning it out.
17:03As he gets closer, precision flying becomes critical.
17:24He needs to stay hidden until the very last moment.
17:27The last thing a garden bird might see is this.
17:51It's all over in seconds.
17:53The sparrowhawk masters the skies with speed and agility.
18:04But what if you have neither speed nor agility?
18:10There's a creature that's so slow and clumsy, many would doubt it could fly at all.
18:16And yet, it performs the seemingly impossible.
18:19The Japanese rhinoceros beetle is covered in protective armour.
18:32In the world of beetles, he's a colossus, weighing a hefty ten grams.
18:37He's on a mission to find a mate, and she could be miles away.
18:52He doesn't have long, and it's too far to walk.
18:55So, he has to fly.
19:00But attempting to fly whilst carrying all that heavy body armour,
19:05he's going to need a combination of power and some extreme moves.
19:09So, how does such a huge beetle stay airborne?
19:27He has a special flight technique, very different to that of most birds.
19:48Slowed down, you can see that he twists his wing at the base.
19:52We need a special flight laboratory to see how this helps.
20:00Now we can see just how the air moves around the beetle's wing.
20:07Those mini tornadoes spinning off the wing show where the beetle is pushing the air back, thrusting him forwards.
20:16And because it's been pushed down, we know he's also producing lift.
20:25So far, that's much like a bird.
20:31But critically, by twisting his wings at the base, he can also push air backwards as they move back up.
20:43And there's the proof.
20:48This gives him thrust on both the downstroke and the upstroke.
20:54And that's something that most birds can't do.
20:58But he doesn't leave it there.
21:00Even his armoured wing cases are working in his favour, forcing air down to create even more lift.
21:10So he effectively has an extra pair of wings.
21:14This magnificent beetle is a flying marvel.
21:27His clever wings give him the extra lift and thrust that he needs to cruise at nearly 15 kilometres an hour.
21:33He's hardly a boy racer, nor is he a long distance flyer, but he can cover half a kilometre in a night.
21:44And in a jungle, that's enough to find a female.
21:47This huge beetle's flying mission may have seemed impossible, but it's worth the effort.
21:55Special wings that rotate at the base allow the beetle to get more from the air around him, keeping him airborne, albeit rather clumsily.
22:04But in Central America, there are other creatures who have taken this to the next level, using this technique to fly in almost any direction, with ultimate precision.
22:20They're not insects, but tiny birds.
22:33Hummingbirds.
22:35Each the size of your little finger.
22:43To the human eye, their flight is no more than a blur.
22:50It's only when slowed down 50 times you can appreciate their incredible control.
23:04So why are hummingbirds so special?
23:24This is one of the world's most spectacular flyers.
23:28A booted racquet-tail hummingbird.
23:30On the face of it, he's got it made.
23:34Here in Ecuador, his forest home is full of flowers, each with sugar-rich nectar hidden inside.
23:45But he has a problem.
23:47These flowers don't provide perches.
23:50Neither do they make nectar easy to get at.
23:52Now the hummingbird's extraordinary flight technique starts to make sense.
24:08It hovers so it can move its needle-like beak into position, with surgical precision.
24:17Running down the inside of the beak, a forked tongue laps up the nectar at up to 13 times a second.
24:25But just performing a simple hover breaks all the rules of traditional flight.
24:33So how does he do it?
24:35It's a technique similar to the beetles, but impossible for other birds, and requires a very special pair of wings.
24:43They're short and stiff to cope with the stress of beating at up to 80 times a second.
24:53But it's how a hummingbird beats its wings that allows it to hover.
25:07On close inspection, the wingtips move in a figure of eight.
25:11A unique wrist joint means the wing can rotate through up to 140 degrees.
25:22So he can thrust air down and back, not only on the downstroke, but also on the upstroke.
25:30That gets him hovering.
25:32By having constant power, he can also make tiny adjustments throughout the wingbeat, and this gives him more control.
25:51Added precision comes from the way he rolls his body, instantly changing the angle he's pushing at.
25:58With incredible wings like these, he can fly forwards, left, right, even backwards.
26:08This gives him the power and control he needs to get at the nectar and move between the flowers.
26:14But this super-powered flying ability comes at a huge cost.
26:19A thermal camera shows just how much heat is given off when hovering.
26:27This heat is just a fraction of the energy that a hummingbird needs to stay airborne.
26:33Hovering burns far more calories than any other form of flight.
26:37To provide his muscles with enough oxygen, his heart has to beat at 20 times a second, and he needs to drink his body weight in sugary nectar every day.
26:50In fact, this tiny little bird has the highest metabolism of any warm-blooded animal.
27:01So our hummingbird might have the ultimate control in the air, but he'll always be a slave to his uniquely manic lifestyle.
27:16Trapped in a world where he needs to hover to feed, and needs to feed to hover.
27:28Hummingbirds can afford a high-energy lifestyle because food is always close by.
27:41But what if your next meal is hundreds of kilometres away, and you have to go searching for it?
27:47You're going to need a completely different flight technique.
27:56Patrolling the ocean around South Island, New Zealand, this is a royal albatross.
28:05Albatrosses spend the vast majority of their lives out at sea.
28:08The one time they need land is to nest.
28:23This albatross is providing for one of the world's biggest chicks.
28:27At two months old, her chick will eat half a kilo of fish and squid in a single sitting.
28:39So she'll have to travel far and push the limits of flying.
28:44She's chosen to nest on this wind-blasted cliff for a very good reason.
28:48To take off, she spreads her three-meter wings, and the cliff-top wind provides the lift.
28:58Ungainly on land, she is now in her end.
29:02Ungainly on land, she is now in the end.
29:21Out here, fish and squid can be extremely difficult to come by.
29:24So a mother albatross will scour the ocean for up to a thousand kilometres a day.
29:35During her lifetime, she'll travel nearly two and a half million kilometres.
29:41That's to the moon and back, three times.
29:45And remarkably, she can do this with barely a wingbeat.
29:50She's one of the world's most efficient fliers,
29:55using the energy of the air just above the ocean to save her own energy.
30:00She's riding the air like a rollercoaster, in a super-efficient way.
30:05But snaking from side to side like this seems to make no sense at all,
30:12until you understand how air behaves above water.
30:16At the water surface, the air collides with a rough wave, slowing it down to a virtual standstill.
30:27But ten metres above the waves, the air flows that much faster.
30:33It's this difference in airspeed that allows the clever albatross to fly for free.
30:44By sweeping up and down, she can use both the fast air ten metres above the waves,
30:47and the still air at the water's surface.
31:02And here's where the sheer efficiency of those long, narrow wings is so important.
31:07As she climbs into the faster wind, she can create more and more free lift.
31:16Then, with height on her side, she turns sharply,
31:19and a combination of gravity and wind now slingshots her downwards up to 120 kilometres an hour.
31:34Known as dynamic soaring, the ability to use changes in airspeed like this means that albatrosses rarely need to flap their wings.
31:44This energy-saving technique allows them to travel huge distances to find food in the open ocean.
31:59And when you're a mother, scraps from a fishing boat are too good an opportunity to miss.
32:04Now full of food, an albatross's next challenge is to get home again.
32:23But unlike before, when she could wander in any direction, she must now fly directly back to her chick,
32:29even if that means heading straight into the wind.
32:36Once again, she reads the air in front of her and uses its movement to her advantage.
32:46Albatrosses use a special organ hidden inside their nostrils to constantly measure tiny changes in airspeed.
32:52This guides her to pockets of still air behind each wave.
32:59Flying is much easier here.
33:03And when she needs extra lift, she can even seek out upwards-moving air that flows over each wave crest.
33:16This way she can fly all the way home, really efficiently, even against the wind.
33:29The chick gets fed because its mother can read the air and ride it effortlessly.
33:47In six months, it will be doing the same.
33:49The albatrosses' ability to fly far in search of food allows it to exploit the patchy resources of the Southern Ocean.
34:02But they aren't the only creatures that survive by travelling huge distances.
34:08Others move with the seasons, flying between winter and summer homes in the biggest journey of their lives.
34:16Migration.
34:19Over thousands of kilometers, across countries, sometimes even entire continents.
34:32Insects, bats and birds all make these journeys.
34:37To find food and breed as the seasons change.
34:40These are some of the toughest physical challenges any animal undertakes.
34:53Many die on route, and exhaustion is the biggest killer.
35:00So any way that you can save energy might save your life.
35:04There's one animal that flies with incredible efficiency, not on its own, but as a team.
35:20European cranes migrate nearly 3,000 kilometers every year between their wintering grounds in Spain and their summer home in Scandinavia.
35:28These cranes travel together as a family, with the chicks learning from their parents.
35:37It's how they fly as a group that's going to give them all a crucial advantage on their long and arduous journey.
35:44Adult pairs mate for life, and they dance together every year to strengthen family bonds.
35:53This is no frivolity.
35:54How they bond and work together might make the difference between life and death.
35:55Particularly for the youngsters.
35:56This is no frivolity.
35:57How they bond and work together might make the difference between life and death.
35:58Particularly for the youngsters.
35:59This is no frivolity.
36:00How they bond and work together might make the difference between life and death.
36:02Particularly for the youngsters.
36:03This is no frivolity.
36:04This is no frivolity.
36:17How they bond and work together might make the difference between life and death.
36:23Particularly for the youngsters.
36:25To understand how teamwork helps them, we need to see the world from a crane's perspective.
36:41Cranes are relatively large and heavy birds.
36:44Yet they'll fly multiple marathons in just one day.
36:49This burns a lot of energy.
36:53Like albatrosses, they're going to have to fly efficiently if they're going to make the distance.
37:00But unlike albatrosses, cranes can't rely on saving energy by soaring all the time.
37:11To make this journey, they will need to flap their wings hard.
37:17So they make every flap count by working together.
37:21And that means formation flying.
37:24All crane species will fly in the same ingenious way.
37:32Each flock member flies slightly behind and slightly to the side of the bird in front, creating a characteristic V-shape.
37:51But each bird must be positioned exactly if the teamwork is going to pay off.
37:58To understand why, we need to see how the air moves around a crane wing in flight.
38:04Each bird leaves a wake in the air behind it.
38:10A tube of spiralling air trailing behind the wing tip still contains energy from the bird's last flap.
38:20If the bird behind gets in the right position, it can use the upward motion of the spiral to keep itself up and therefore save its own energy.
38:32So one flap can be used by more than one bird.
38:36They're literally sharing the load.
38:47Formation flying could save each bird in the team over 10% of its energy.
38:53On a long migration, this could make the difference between success and failure.
38:58The leader of the V-formation has to work the hardest, with no energy to inherit from the birds in front of it.
39:13So the cranes take it in turn to lead and share the work around the team.
39:22They also share their knowledge.
39:25Youngsters learn the migration route from their parents, so eventually they'll be able to lead a family of their own.
39:35Cranes may not be the strongest or the fastest flyers, but their technique as a team gets them to their breeding grounds each year.
39:42Formation flying is used by many birds.
39:52It's an energy-saving trick that makes long distances that little bit easier.
39:57Many flying creatures have one particular flying skill that gives them an edge.
40:09But perfecting one skill means you might not be so good at others.
40:14When you're built for speed, it's difficult to be an acrobat.
40:20Amazing acceleration burns energy, but that's no good if you're a long-distance flyer.
40:30And if you need to power a large body into the air, being manoeuvrable becomes more of a challenge.
40:44It can work to be a specialist, but what if you need to be good at everything?
40:59What if you need to combine many different flying skills into the ultimate flying machine?
41:05There are some creatures who've done just that.
41:09They aren't birds.
41:11They aren't bugs.
41:13They're mammals.
41:21Dawn in Texas.
41:23And half a million Brazilian free-tailed bats are returning home after a night out feeding.
41:30During the next few seconds, their flight skills will be pushed to the limits.
41:35For these aerial masters, the last part of their journey is the most dangerous.
41:42Predatory hawks are waiting.
41:53The bats are heading to the safety of a cave.
41:56Their challenge is to completely change the way they fly, more than once.
42:05First, fly fast, topping a hundred kilometers an hour.
42:14Next, hit the brakes as they fly into the pitch dark.
42:20Finally, fly alongside the half a million other bats in the dark cave.
42:31Now it's about being manoeuvrable and trying to avoid collision.
42:35Within a few seconds, the bats have to perform a range of completely different flight techniques, each of them highly specialized.
42:47This requires incredibly versatile, responsive wings.
42:57Bats do something unique in the natural world.
43:01They fly not with their arms, but with their hands.
43:05A bat's wing is a miracle of flight engineering, complete with thumb and forefingers and self-tensioning skin in between.
43:16Its shape can shift in all three dimensions, and far more than any bird or insect.
43:22No other wing gives this level of control.
43:32Innovative wing design allows the bats to cover huge distances to feed,
43:37fly fast to evade predators,
43:39fly fast to evade predators,
43:41and maneuver tightly in their crowded cave.
43:52This expert flying ability allows the bats to use the caves as giant underground nurseries.
44:01Hundreds of thousands of baby bats huddled together for warmth.
44:04In here, all bats are as safe as they're ever going to be.
44:11But for the adults, that's about to change.
44:21Outside, dusk is fast approaching.
44:24So soon the adult bats must leave the cave again to feed for the night.
44:28But the hawks are waiting.
44:32The hawks can't see in the dark,
44:36so every second the bats stay underground gives them an advantage.
44:48But sooner or later, each bat is going to have to push its flying skills to the limit once more.
44:53Their strategy is to emerge together, giving safety in numbers.
45:04An incredible feat of synchronized flying.
45:09More bats swirl up from deep underground until the cave entrance is full to bursting point.
45:14With their wings now outstretched, they can build up speed.
45:29Tens of thousands of bats, all waiting until the last possible moment.
45:40With deep, powerful wing beats, the bats can accelerate through the danger zone.
45:45The hawks are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, their maneuverability, and their speed.
46:05Now safely away from the cave, they're free to fly as far as they need, to their nighttime feeding rooms.
46:25A radical innovation in wing design, flying with their hands, has made bats perhaps the most versatile of all flying animals.
46:45They're the only mammal to have truly mastered life in the air.
46:56For all flying creatures, staying airborne is a constant challenge.
47:01A life in the air requires special skills and remarkable techniques.
47:05But if you can survive up here, there are huge opportunities to be had.
47:13So every animal has its own strategy to give it an edge.
47:18As it masters the sky.
47:21The sky.
47:39In life in the air, the team's mission was to reveal the incredible abilities of airborne animals in more detail than ever before.
47:45Weeks of patient filming allowed the team to capture real life events, like peregrine falcons attacking their animal neighbors.
47:58But to reveal the science behind how these animals master the skies, required additional filming tricks and some incredible individuals,
48:06who would allow the team to capture their unique behavior.
48:09To film the planet's most accomplished flyers, the team needed to become part of their flock.
48:22Key to their success, was a unique relationship between the animals and the people that work with them.
48:30The more ambitious the shoot, the more important this relationship becomes.
48:34And none presented a bigger filming challenge than keeping up with four tame Hooper swans in Scotland,
48:41and flying alongside a family of European cranes, high above the French countryside.
48:50First meet Olive, Eartha, yellow and white.
48:54And their human mum, Rose Buck.
48:57When the swans first hatched, nine years ago, the first thing they saw was Rose.
49:03So to them, she's the leader of the flock.
49:09Rose and her husband Lloyd have a close bond with over 20 different bird species.
49:14Yes.
49:16All film stars in their own right.
49:19And whilst the swans are on center stage this time, the whole family comes along for the ride.
49:25Including a golden eagle called Tilly.
49:27Basically, when we go away, they all have to go with us, because they're like our extended family, and that's when they're at the happiest.
49:34You wouldn't leave your children behind if you went away, so they expect to come with us.
49:38The Buck family are heading to Loch Lomond in Scotland, where the plan is to film alongside the swans in their natural habitat.
49:47Capturing their flight in minute detail.
49:50At the heart of this immense technical challenge is a state-of-the-art stabilizing system.
49:58To smooth out any bumps in the water.
50:01And a high-speed power boat that can top 65 kilometers an hour.
50:05After some final words of encouragement from Rose, it's time to put the plan into action.
50:20Let's go, go, go.
50:27With Rose at the bow, the swans are totally unfazed by the speeding boat.
50:31Which is more than can be said for the director.
50:35It's a really difficult thing to do when something as amazing as this, to be thinking about your job and the shots.
50:41Because it's absolutely awe-inspiring.
50:44Without an image stabilizer, it's virtually impossible to get a steady shot at speed.
50:49Cameraman Rob Fruitt has the advantage of the stabilizer.
50:54But wind gusts are causing him unexpected problems.
51:01Oh, it's gone.
51:02What's happened?
51:04As the boat hits 65 kilometers an hour, the stabilizer really starts to struggle.
51:11As soon as I took it away from my body, you felt the wind take it.
51:17The elements aren't beating the stars, but they're causing big problems for the technology.
51:22Ah, it just died.
51:24We've got a bit of a problem.
51:25Yeah.
51:26When you're pushing the limits of filming technology, sometimes you really need to think on your feet.
51:36We're now having to go to New Extremes to try and get our equipment working well.
51:42And we're going to use a dustbin.
51:45With a rather unorthodox wind guard taking shape, there's nothing the Buck family can do.
51:49Except indulge in some family time.
51:55You don't want to be skinny, do you?
51:57Oh, screw you.
52:02Meanwhile, the camera crew work on into the night.
52:05It's the last day in Scotland, and the crew have their hopes pinned on a 15-pound bin shielding a 50,000-pound camera system.
52:19This is the 11th hour. It always seems to boil down to the last day, but that's all we've got.
52:26Now everything needs to come together in one perfect run.
52:30Lovely.
52:46It looks like the shroud is doing the job, which is brilliant.
52:50It took us two hours last night to turn a dustbin into something that can make us film swans.
52:55Look at this!
52:57Oh, wow!
53:01Filming flying animals at speed has proved difficult enough on water.
53:06But it's that much harder when you take to the air.
53:10With a flock of European cranes, half a mile above the Earth.
53:19To get a true bird's eye view, you need a microlight, a pilot with a family of friendly cranes, and a cameraman with a head for heights.
53:28Like Rose's mother to her swans, Frenchman Christian Moulek knows each of his family by name.
53:37Is this Dennis?
53:38No, no, no, Dennis.
53:40No.
53:41No, no, no, no.
53:42No, no, no.
53:43Christian has been working with these particular birds for two years, so when the microlight engine roars, they know it's time to fly.
53:50time to fly.
53:59The cranes follow the microlight in formation, using the updraft from its wing to save energy.
54:08They're performing perfectly, just in completely the wrong place for cameraman Richard Cook.
54:15Getting them away from the wing and into the right spot requires precision teamwork, and
54:20this is extremely difficult.
54:34Birds move around so much, so quickly, and then just trying to guess where they're going
54:39to be, because they drop off the wing here and they come down and then underneath the
54:42aircraft up the other side. It's very frustrating, but we will get there.
54:50Christian?
54:51Yes?
54:52Your birds are terrible.
54:53No, you're a terrible bird cameraman.
54:56With something this complicated, there's no substitute for practice.
55:01But the longer you're in the air, the more chance something very serious will go wrong.
55:08The engine has cut out, and with no power, Christian and Richard have to make an emergency landing.
55:20It's at times like this that 25 years of experience comes sharply into play.
55:34On the final approach, they're fully committed.
55:41Thankfully, it's a perfect touchdown.
55:48And the cranes don't seem to know what all the fuss is about.
55:54We landed safely, just glided in.
55:56But there's not a lot we can do.
55:57As you can see, this is absolutely jammed solid.
55:59So we've got to take the engine apart this afternoon and see what's broken.
56:03In the middle of the French countryside, any rescue, however unusual, is extremely welcome.
56:16Just looking at the top, the piston crown, the bit at the top, is all hammered and dented.
56:22Anyway, it's given up.
56:24The engine isn't repairable, so the team resort to the backup microlight.
56:31And with it comes a new dose of luck.
56:39With some perfect turns from Christian, Richard finally gets eye to eye with a flying flock of cranes.
56:48And after all they've been through, the team are truly delighted.
56:55But even with the latest technology and some resourceful individuals,
56:59we only get the briefest window into the world of these amazing creatures.
57:05And this only highlights just what an achievement it is to spend your life in the skies.
57:16Next time, we'll discover that the skies are crowded, full of creatures in a battle for survival.
57:26There's competition for makes, for food, and even for life itself.
57:37Only the best fliers need apply.
57:46One of David Attenborough's most recent projects on BBC iPlayer,
57:53The Wonders of Seven Worlds, One Planet, streaming now.
57:57Next this afternoon, stick around for a Firenado.
58:01Next this afternoon, we'll learn live.
58:02Maybe I will help survive someone free.
58:04But generally, who may be able to survive,
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