‘Earthflight’ Recap: ‘North America’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 101 of ‘Earthflight’.
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When we take the time to think about nature and all the beautiful wildlife that it has to offer, our minds tend to drift to images of exotic animals and rightfully so. For it is a well-known fact that there are parts of our tiny little world where unique forms of animals and insects and everything in between thrive without humans anywhere near them. And for some reason, those rare creatures and the natural path they represent is engrained in our minds and their unique lives and habits fascinate us because they represent a part of our world that we don’t understand and aren’t used to in the slightest. But what’s important to remember about our world, is that its wonder extends beyond the rare creatures as well. 

For every being on this planet leads a fascinating life, one complete with habits and patterns and needs and one such animal that we overlook when it comes to those facts, are birds. After all, we see birds everywhere and they’re so engrained in our world that they seem like nothing special. So, leave it to BBC America and its ‘Wonderstruck’ series of documentaries to teach us exactly how special these animals are and how they too have special quirks and proclivities about them that are worth exploring by way of Earthflight. A series that is going to take us around the world to show us how birds thrive and survive and last night’s series premiere offered up some wonderful stories involving the avians that populate, ‘North America’. 

Such as the brown pelicans that make a special yearly migration. For these birds more or less follow the entire California coast, feeding as they go when other animals in the sea and on the coast make it clear that something delicious is nearby. All before they arrive in San Francisco to enjoy an incredible meal on the shores and stay a while as well since food is so plentiful in this beautiful bay city. Plus we were also able to learn a little more about the Bald Eagle, and how this majestic and intelligent bird likes to hang out with other birds of prey, because it is in fact quite sociable, and it also loves to hunt Snow Geese and will follow their entire migratory pattern into order to a get a taste of its favorite meal and this made for some fascinating storytelling. Since it is safe to say that few of us had a clue that these kinds of migrations and behaviors were present in birds we just knew as another fixture in our world. 

But truly the centerpiece of the night storytelling wise involved the aforementioned Snow Goose. Because these beautiful birds make quite the incredible trek during the springtime, the kind that sees them soar through the desert and above the mighty Mississippi as they head north toward the Arctic to breed. And what made this part of the show so fascinating is how it covered every single challenge that these birds face on their way north. Such as how their desert voyage offers no respite from the heat, nor does it provide them with any food or water. Plus, there’s the predators that chase them, and the fact that the weather can leave them hungry since a snowstorm stopped the flock from eating in Nebraska. But eventually, they reach their destination and fulfill their goals, making for a satisfying conclusion to a phenomenal opening chapter of this grandiose story. 

Simply because, it taught us so much about these birds and how they function as a society and how memory and routine is supremely important to them since that’s how they accomplish their goals in life. And it was amazing to see some of these birds take different routes simply because that’s what their flock has known and more importantly, this episode deserves some serious credit for offering the audience some supremely unique camera work. Because it really was something to see the skies from a bird’s point of view and truly, all of these elements mean we are in for one incredible journey. One that will give us a new perspective on the little pigeon we see strolling in the park and it should be interesting to see what other unique things we are going to learn about the birds of the world, in the weeks to come. Until next time.

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