A high-flying mystery: a giant bird ... This massive mix of bird and reptile is believed by many Native Americans living in the wilds of Alaska to be a monstrous winged creature that they call the Thunderbird ... Very recent sightings of this ominous bird are coming out of the village of Manokotak, three hundred miles of Anchorage. Destination Truth s3e7: Haunted Lost City & Thunderbird, Skyfy 2009
On the south island is said to live a creature that is right out of Tolkien’s trilogy. Locals say the gigantic ancient bird, thought to have gone extinct over five hundred years ago, is back, and has a score to settle with the people who hunted it. The Moa is one of the largest flightless birds to have ever existed. Destination Truth s3e15
Doesn’t this make you feel awful? Having all these poor little innocent creatures caged up like this? The Birds 1963 starring Tippi Hedren & Rod Taylor & Jessica Tandy & Suzanne Pleshette & Veronica Cartwright & Ethel Griffies & Charles McGraw & Lonny Chapman & Ruth McDevitt & Malcolm Atterbury & Elizabeth Wilson et al, director Alfred Hitchcock
And the ravens brought him [Elijah] bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. I Kings 17:6
And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Psalms 55:6
We British are more obsessed with birds than any other nation on Earth and have been for much of our history. Birds Britannia I: Garden Birds, BBC 2010
Our relationship with garden birds is a surprisingly modern phenomenon. ibid.
Of all Britain’s birds one particular group has risen to the very top of our affections – those who have chosen to live alongside us in our gardens. ibid.
They perform a daily soap opera outside our back window. ibid.
Two out of three of us now feed wild birds in our gardens. ibid.
House sparrows have lived alongside humans longer than any other garden birds. ibid.
The Dicky Bird Society founded in 1876. ibid.
The creation of the modern suburban garden in the 1920s and 30s set the stage on which the relationship between home owners and garden birds would play out over the rest of the twentieth century. ibid.
We have always loved robins. ibid.
The Private Life of the Robin – this became a surprise best-seller. ibid.
Most people didn’t begrudge the tits their share of the cream. ibid.
The arrival of parakeets, initially in west London gardens, quickly attracted the attention of the media. ibid.
Feeding birds is another way in which we express ourselves as consumers. ibid.
Of all Britain’s birds surely the most charismatic, beautiful and fascinating are our water birds. Birds Britannia II: Water Birds
These birds began their long decline. ibid.
The Eider is our largest, heaviest and fastest flying duck ... To line her nest the female plucks soft feathers from her own breast. These are ounce for ounce the warmest natural material known to man. ibid.
This marshy landscape was drained of its very lifeblood – water ... The loss of the Fens was a total disaster. ibid.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the Great Crested Grebe was in big trouble. ibid.
The plumage of birds was becoming the latest must-have fashion accessory. ibid.
Amateur bird-watchers had begun to make a real contribution to science. ibid.
Peter Scott did far more than simply establish a collection of water birds; his long-life passion had taught him a crucial lesson ... He was one of the first people to truly appreciate the intimate connection between these birds and the places they live. ibid.
The avocet’s success is without question the jewel in the RSPB’s crown. ibid.
Later, ospreys went the way of all birds. ibid.
Making these ospreys the most famous dynasty of birds anywhere in the world. ibid.
Britain’s biggest bird of prey ... the white-tailed sea eagle. ibid.
Cranes have been missing from the British scene; now they are set to return. ibid.
Coastal communities established deep relationships with these birds. Birds Britannia III: Seabirds
The story of our relationship with seabirds is an ancient and turbulent one, like our relationship with the sea itself. ibid.
Much of this wild magic comes from the way they live their lives. ibid.
Britain’s twelve thousand miles of coastline are one of the best environments for seabirds anywhere in the world. ibid.
Some seven million seabirds of two dozen different species nest on our coasts. ibid.
St Kilda’s looked to seabirds to meet almost all their subsistence needs. ibid.
A bill for the preservation of seabirds was presented to Parliament. ibid.
The Torrey Canyon was the first environmental disaster to unfold in the television era. ibid.
The birds of our countryside are amongst the most familiar and iconic of all Britain’s birds. For centuries we’ve celebrated them in music and poetry. Birds Britannia IV: Countryside Birds
Wherever you look in the British countryside, whatever the time of year, you will find birds. Farmland birds such as the skylark, the grey partridge, the lapwing and the yellowhammer have lived alongside us for ten thousand years. ibid.
The coming of spring has also been marked by the annual appearance of a letter in The Times newspaper commentating on the arrival of another visitor to our shores – the cuckoo. ibid.
The cuckoo is suffering a catastrophic decline. ibid.
Huge tracts of northern Britain to be opened for grouse shooting. ibid.
The death knell for Britain’s birds of prey. ibid.
Watching Birds: James Fisher ... The book would go on to sell more than three million copies. ibid.
These revolutionary new farming methods were having terrible effects on our countryside birds. ibid.
The story of our nation’s relationship with birds has been a long and eventful one. ibid.
The ancestor of the birds was a small dinosaur. Dara O’Briain’s Science Club, BBC 2013
The Natural History Museum London: within these hallowed halls lies the fossil that first hinted of the origin of birds. Discovered in Germany a hundred years ago superstitious quarry workers thought it was a fallen angel. Archaeopteryx turned out to be something almost as remarkable. Horizon: Dinosaurs in Your Garden, BBC 1998
For years palaeontologists have been looking at the outsides of dinosaurs ... But deep inside the bones we can actually trace dinosaur life. Dr Kristi Curry Rogers, Horizon: My Pet Dinosaur, BBC 2007
A story of a very fast growth rate throughout life history. ibid.
Birds are dinosaurs. ibid.
And so it seems that flight, far from being the reason for the evolution of feathers, may have been a by-product. But with it some dinosaurs were already adapting in ways that would equip them for life after the meteorite impact ... The age of the dinosaurs never actually ended. ibid.
The dinosaur fake was a dreadful blow for supporters of the bird theory ... Its front half was a new kind of primitive bird. Fossil hunters flocked to the region where it had been found – and they struck gold. Extinct: A Horizon Guide to Dinosaurs, BBC 2011
Among the most birdlike of any dinosaur. Planet Dinosaur 2/6: Feathered Dragons, BBC 2011
The first feathered dinosaur was discovered in 1996 but lots more would quickly follow. ibid.
A direct link between dinosaurs and birds. ibid.
The importance of feathers to a whole host of dinosaurs ... Dinosaurs still live amongst us today as birds. ibid.
Among these new plants the birds are flourishing. Walking with Dinosaurs s1e6: Death of a Dynasty, BBC 1999
Dinosaurs were more like birds than giant lizards. Reign of the Dinosaurs I: Evolution’s Winners, Discovery Channel 2012
What really killed the birds of Arkansas? 2010/2011: red-winged blackbirds had fallen from the sky. Omens of the Apocalypse, National Geographic 2013
Emergency, everyone. Look. Found a baby bird. Hannah, found a baby bird. Fallen out of its nest so it’s all weak and everything. Call the RSPCA ... Call Rolf Harris … Call Oddie. Derek s1e3, Derek, Channel 4 2013