On Closer Inspection

Kerkini: The Bird Sanctuary

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

From somewhere along the east coast of South America, an osprey has just flown 4000 miles to a small saltmarsh at the delta of the Connecticut River, the place that is imprinted on his memory since birth and where he will rejoin his mate. Over the course of one summer, the reunited osprey pair fends off enemies, hunts hundreds of fish, and raises their chicks into the next generation of sea hawks.

Groenkijkers

Welcome to Yellowstone, America's oldest and largest national park. Lose yourself in the majestic landscapes that serve as a giant natural laboratory, with over three million geysers, fifty species of mammals, and three hundred species of birds.

A look at the extraordinary abilities of squirrels, from the brainy fox squirrel to the acrobatic gray squirrel to the problem-solving ground squirrel.

The Last Giants

In this fascinating program, learn about one of the most feared and respected members of the animal kingdom – Bears! See a side of these magnificent animals that few rarely see – a bear ripping apart a log; cubs playfully exploring the treetops; a grizzly bear tracking his prey. From the Black Bears of the Great Smoky Mountains, Sequoia and Yosemite, to the Grizzlies of Yellowstone and Glacier, America’s national parks contain the last safe havens of bear habitat in the lower 48 states. Bear expert Gary Brown tells of fascinating bear facts and explains the challenges facing both bear and man to co-exist.

National Geographic filmmakers, Dereck and Beverly Joubert, explore how some animals are thrust together by the forces of nature-sometimes through a millennium of evolution or even last year’s drought. In the aftermath of strange elephant deaths, they piece together a visually stunning story that confirms their theory that lions were hunting elephants. Narrated by Jeremy Irons.

A slug climbs small mountains at the peak of Mount Greylock (3,489 ft).

Our world is the home of millions of plant as well as animal species and provides several territories, each with its own geological and climatic conditions: steep mountains, deep forests, wide oceans and arctic ice deserts. The inhabitants have adapted to its different conditions and are still developing new strategies to survive. “Wonderful World 3D” not only takes a look at the interesting creatures of our planet, but also highlights cosmological circumstances, which made our world unique, diversified and above all so adorable.

Somewhere between the mountains and valleys a small autumn flower bloomed.

In the central Peruvian Amazon, a young indigenous man from the Nomatsigenga Community of Boca Kiatari, shares his urgent message with the world. In a moving short film, the community comes together to preserve their natural environment, aware of the growing challenges of climate change and global warming.

In the early 1900s commercial loggers cut down an old growth spruce tree growing on a small island surrounded by tide pools on the coast of Maine. Out of the trunk of this ancient tree grew two new trees, side by side.

Morning dew in summer fields and meadows.

Mountain wildflowers in a dense fog.

"The acid soil of New England, its wide stretches of hardwoods, its numerous sugar maples, its rolling or mountainous character, the sunshine of its autumn weather, all these contribute to the glory of this annual display. The birches of Maine the aspens of the White Mountains, the sugar Maples of Vermont, the long rainbow of the Connecticut River Valley cutting from top to bottom through New England, the Berkshires - mention these to anyone who has traveled widely through a New England fall and you will evoke instant memories of superlative beauty." -Edwin Way Teale, Autumn across America, 1956

A short film featuring a coastal forest and the rocky coastline of downeast Maine.

A short film featuring a pebble beach and coastal salt marsh in Maine.

A golden sunrise brings light to the foggy hills and meadows of late summer.