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A look at the group of birds known as raptors -- eagles, hawks and falcons -- as well as lesser-known hunters like the secretary bird, caracara, kites and more....
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AnimalsTranscript
00:06they're the ultimate predators the
00:14sharpest eyes of any hunter ears that can
00:19hear a heartbeat
00:23noses that work a mile away
00:30wherever there's prey is a raptor to hunt
00:39but they're even more special than we
00:43realize intelligent castaways
00:51long-distance travelers
00:56resourceful parents and determined
01:01survivors this series reveals what makes
01:07birds of prey the most successful hunters
01:11on the planet
01:19the
01:42the
02:05the forests of africa
02:10are home to an almost mythical creature
02:22it waits in the shadows
02:28rarely seen
02:33but you know it's here
02:44it can strike any time
02:50anywhere
02:58another monkey
03:00the wind
03:03or the last sound you'll ever hear
03:22how must it feel to live alongside such a supreme predator
03:34african crowned eagles are the most powerful of all raptors
03:43their ancestors
03:45their ancestors
03:46hunted our own
03:48and
03:57weighing 10 pounds
04:01flying on a six-foot wingspan
04:05she mostly hunts verved monkeys
04:16but can take even bigger prey
04:36a kill like this antelope can weigh almost 60 pounds
04:42six times six times her own weight
04:56her feet and talons can crush bone
05:00and fit around a man's fist
05:03the only problem with such heavy prey
05:20the only way is she can't fly with it
05:31so she's also a master butcher
05:42she needs to be
05:50she's a mother
05:56she's a mother
05:58and the only way to bring food to the nest
06:02is piece by piece
06:11catching large prey
06:13takes such skill
06:15that this chick
06:17will depend on its parents
06:18for more than a year
06:27among the longest breeding cycle
06:30of any raptor
06:31that this chick
06:47giant eagles inspire both fear and wonder
06:57But the most prolific predators come in tiny packages.
07:16The island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, where trees reach 300 feet, and the apes weigh 200 pounds.
07:32The black-thighed falconet is the size of a soda can, which has its problems.
07:55He's small enough to fit in the talons of other raptors.
08:05And that's not all.
08:12It rains here almost every day.
08:19So heavily, he can't fly in it.
08:31When he does get a chance to hunt, he needs to make it count.
08:50Which he does with one of the highest hit rates of any raptor.
09:01He can hunt other birds, but after the rains, there are insects everywhere.
09:18Once they're in his sights, he almost never misses.
09:48Black-thighed falconets may be one of the smallest rattles.
09:54But they pack a killer punch.
10:07Birds of prey come in all shapes and sizes.
10:23Each finely tuned to different targets.
10:37There are some 500 different species.
10:44Found in almost every habitat.
10:54The way they look, and the way they live, can be radically different.
11:11But they all share three common traits.
11:16A hooked beak.
11:20A taste for flesh.
11:25And a set of razor-sharp talons.
11:35Short talons that stab.
11:42Long talons that snatch.
11:51Even curved talons.
11:53Like, minute foam.
11:57Literally, a fistful of fish hooks.
12:09Raptors rule the skies.
12:18But there's another side to their story.
12:34Life at the top is full of competition.
12:48Winter in northern Finland sees temperatures fall to 50 below.
13:05But for this young golden eagle, cold is the least of her worries.
13:17She's surrounded by rivals.
13:34A meal as big as a fox is worth fighting for.
13:43Now she's wounded and it's about to get a whole lot worse.
13:59More eagles are arriving from every direction.
14:31The youngster can only wait for a second.
14:33The youngster can only watch as a huge adult takes control.
14:43Her only hope is joining the magpies for the scraps.
14:57But even those make the difference between life and death.
15:10She puts up her best defense.
15:20It's just not enough.
15:29If she's going to pull through, she'll need to find food elsewhere.
15:39Intense competition means fewer than half of young eagles survive their early years.
15:53And other raptors aren't the only threat.
16:03Spring brings warmer weather and a chance to raise young.
16:13But nesting in the badlands of South Dakota is as tough as it gets.
16:24There are no trees to shade the nest or keep it safe from hungry predators.
16:36So burrowing owls head below ground.
16:49With prairie dogs to help, why dig when you can steal a burrow?
17:02This will do nicely.
17:05But where do you find food out here?
17:14That's where bison and coyotes come in handy.
17:23More specifically, their dung.
17:29Which he takes back to the nest.
17:39Where it attracts insects.
17:45A reliable food supply in the warmer months.
17:56So far, so good.
18:03And all his efforts have won him a mate.
18:17To give their chicks the best start, they try to time their breeding to the highest numbers of insects and
18:25rodents.
18:31Out here in the badlands, all that follows the late spring rains.
18:46The prairie soon fills with new life.
18:57Among the arrivals, seven burrowing owlets.
19:09His dung trick is working well.
19:24But finding enough food is one thing.
19:29Avoiding other predators is a bigger problem.
19:41Mom raises the alarm.
19:44Sending the owlets back below ground.
19:53If it sniffs them out, the badger will eat them all.
20:08There's nothing they can do.
20:14But the badger walks right on by.
20:25Could it be that all the dung keeps them safe by masking their own scent?
20:37Or is this why they nest amongst prairie dogs, staying safe in numbers?
20:52Raising chicks somewhere this dangerous, it pays to have a few tricks up your sleeve.
21:08Nesting season pushes all raptors to the limit.
21:20Extreme heat.
21:27And heavy rain can kill vulnerable chicks.
21:40But all hunters rely on finding enough prey, which makes timing everything.
21:54Too little food, and some siblings will turn on each other.
22:05The most dominant chick is often the only survivor.
22:15So in times of plenty, they raise as many as they can.
22:28Parents work around the clock to deliver each chick as many as five meals a day.
22:47But as summer ends, young birds now face their greatest challenge.
23:04Winter is coming.
23:10Winter is coming.
23:21Winter is coming.
23:22Winter is coming.
23:25Winter is coming.
23:34Winter is coming.
23:36Winter is coming.
23:36Winter is coming.
23:38Winter is coming.
23:39Winter is coming.
23:40Winter is coming.
23:41Winter is coming.
23:44Winter is coming.
23:46Winter is coming.
23:50Now.
24:08Perhaps another try.
24:14After all, she's here to learn.
24:21Spooking jays may look fun, but this is serious business.
24:37Catching other birds is as hard as it gets.
24:46Especially when no one wants you around.
24:57Before winter, they need to master timing, anticipation, and the aerial agility.
25:17Perfecting moves like the ambush, and failing that, the all-out pursuit.
25:41Which she'll soon learn, only works in short bursts.
25:54Even adults only catch one in every ten.
26:05But with winter on its way, there is another option.
26:21An Amur falcon, in the remote valleys of Nagaland, Northeast India.
26:37She's not alone.
26:56The
26:56escape in the harsh winter of their Siberian breeding grounds, 2000 miles away.
27:01Most of the population descends on these valleys.
27:12There are still some paradises left on Earth.
27:31Hundreds of thousands of falcons
27:38looking to touch down after a long journey.
27:50They timed their arrival to a seasonal bounty of winged termites.
28:06There's no time to rest.
28:17The feast lasts for two weeks.
28:26In that time, the falcons need to almost double their weight.
28:39They fail to do that.
28:44And they may not survive the journey ahead.
28:52Their time in Nagaland is only a pit stop.
29:04They're on their way to southern Africa.
29:07From here, some will fly day and night for almost a week before touching down again.
29:21Their annual migration covers 14 countries.
29:30Two continents.
29:34And an entire ocean.
29:43Amur falcons can travel some 20,000 miles each year.
29:58But this spectacle was almost lost.
30:06Unaware of their impact, local hunters caught as much as 10% of the population each year.
30:20But an extraordinary awareness campaign and the ban on hunting has seen Amur falcons bounce back.
30:37So much so, they're now filling up new valleys.
30:53This reed bed is a new roost.
31:03Intense competition.
31:05Intense competition.
31:07Raising young.
31:11And surviving seasonal extremes.
31:15Raptors rise to any challenge.
31:32And behind their success lie powers beyond our wildest dreams.
31:48Thick cover and few flight lines make hunting in the woods seem almost impossible.
32:07For all but the goshawk.
32:15Flying over 30 miles an hour.
32:19She rules the woods.
32:31Contorting to tiny gaps.
32:43And pulling turns tight enough to give a fighter pilot motion sickness.
33:00She's also a master of anticipation.
33:11Reading her target's movement.
33:18And planning her attack.
33:38It's as if she already knew where she'd strike.
33:42The moment she took off.
33:55Unrivaled agility sees her dominate the tangled woods.
34:03But change the setting.
34:05And you change the game.
34:17The open terrain of the high arctic.
34:20Tests speed.
34:23And endurance.
34:33Tests speed.
34:36And endurance.
34:37Tests speed.
34:37Tests fallable flight.
34:43Tests.
34:44Hitting almost 70 miles an hour.
34:50Huge flight muscles.
34:54Long, stiff feathers.
34:56years. She can keep this up for miles. There's a raptor for just about everything. Even
35:16for prey you can't see. The boreal forest of the far north, where snow covers the ground
35:34for most of the year. Few can survive here. But one raptor rules this silent wilderness,
35:50the great grey owl. She's rarely seen.
36:19She wanders endlessly in search of prey.
36:36It's here. Somewhere in this white blank world. But how does she find it?
36:54The secret is in her enormous facial disc.
37:02The largest of any owl. It channels sounds like a radar dish. With one ear higher than the
37:15other, she can pinpoint noise. Not just left to right, but also up and down.
37:43A vole. It's thought she can hear its heartbeat beneath a foot of snow.
37:59Special structures on her feathers cut the air to minimize noise.
38:10Her prey can't hear her. And she can focus on exactly where to strike.
38:28At least her targets never know what's coming.
38:37Incredible hearing. Incredible hearing helps her hunt day or night. All through the long winter months.
38:55Most raptors use a different super sense.
39:11Soaring over open terrain. Across the northern hemisphere.
39:17Golden eagles rely on the sharpest vision of any vertebrate.
39:29With eyes the size of our own. But with some five times the density of visual cells.
39:37We can only imagine how she sees the world.
39:49Every detail. Clearer. Sharper.
40:03It's likely she can see a rabbit over two miles away.
40:16There's nowhere to hide.
40:31In full stoop, she hits over 150 miles an hour.
40:48If the impact doesn't finish the job. The mountain will.
40:54If the impact doesn't finish the job. The mountain will.
41:15But what if you can't hear or see your prey?
41:27What if it's already dead?
41:30What if it's already dead?
41:33There's a raptor for that too.
41:42The turkey vulture.
41:51She can cover 200 miles a day.
41:55Searching for food.
42:03And using a little known trick to find it.
42:13She can smell dinner.
42:15She can smell dinner.
42:19From over a mile away.
42:25A rare talent among birds.
42:33One we're just beginning to understand.
42:40And it takes more than her distinctive open nostrils.
42:50She has twice as many scent detecting cells than other vultures.
42:59And the part of her brain that processes smell is four times bigger.
43:17So out of sight is far from out of mind.
43:39This unique super sense makes turkey vultures the most abundant and widespread of all vultures.
43:50It also provides a special service.
43:54Eating carcasses stops a buildup of pathogens and bacteria.
43:58Keeping ecosystems clean.
44:13Raptors are more important than we realize.
44:21Most are apex predators.
44:27Fine-tuned to almost every habitat and type of prey.
44:42It's thought that in a single year one barn owl family can catch over 7,000 rodents.
44:58Each strike helping to keep their populations under control.
45:11We need raptors.
45:14We need raptors.
45:21But to better understand and protect them.
45:29갈�ically a wild food during the forest.
45:30One key question remains.
45:39What exactly counts as a bird of prey?
45:50Only recently have top scientists agreed on a single definition.
46:01Looking back into their evolutionary history.
46:10And it turns out, they all share common ancestry, descending from an ancient group of meat-eating
46:19birds.
46:26So long as you still eat other vertebrates, that makes you a bird of prey.
46:45It's a neat definition, but it comes with a surprising twist.
47:04Welcoming a whole new member to the flock.
47:18South America's tropical grasslands were once stalked by ten-foot-tall terror birds.
47:29Red-legged Sariemas are their closest descendants.
47:43And the height of nesting season sees them at their most deadly.
47:59Or at least it should.
48:07Perhaps he should focus on a slower target.
48:28One wrong move could be his last.
48:48Spreading his wings disorients the snake and helps him jump clear of danger.
49:04He lands a first blow.
49:11But the snake is fighting for its life.
49:22With chicks to raise, this is just too risky.
49:32After all, there are other options.
49:44After all, there are other options.
49:51The snake is fighting for the snake.
49:52It's a unique way of neutralizing prey.
50:02Quite unlike any other raptor.
50:15But it's very effective on dinner that bites back.
50:25They may do it differently, but make no mistake.
50:34Seriemas are stone-cold killers.
50:45Every bit as deadly as any other bird of prey.
51:07Raptors are the ultimate predators.
51:16Feathered top guns.
51:18Feathered top guns with fists full of daggers.
51:23And supreme senses.
51:26But that's half their story.
51:34Next time we discover extreme lives.
51:40The most hostile places.
51:46And the toughest prey.
51:52Revealing the struggles of savannah specialists.
52:00Intelligence and social life of island castaways.
52:08Masters of hide and seek.
52:14And epic spectacle.
52:25And in a changing world, what does the future hold for raptors?
52:35A hunter's life is full of challenges.
52:39But armed with a fistful of daggers, raptors have risen to the top.
52:45But there's another side to their story.
52:50They're resourceful parents and determined survivors.
52:54And in a changing world, what does the future hold for raptors?
53:42To learn more about what you've seen on this nature program, visit pbs.org.
53:54Thank you very much.