Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns. George Eliot
Moas are the only birds in the world which did not have wing- bones at all. Some of them did not even have sockets for wing-bones to go in. So they were the ultimate walking birds. They were herbivores. They ate a variety of vegetation. Consumed some of the roughest roughage you could think of. Richard Holdaway, University of Canterbury
Starlings are responsible for one of the most memorising spectacles in the whole of Nature. I’d say there’s at least four thousand birds up there at the moment. Bill Oddie film cited Night On Film: An A-Z of the Dark, BBC 2011
Somebody said to me, What are the most memorable creatures you’ve seen – is it lions or sharks or elephants? And I’d say, Starlings. ibid.
The birds [cranes] arrives at dawn ... in formation like ribbons across the sky. India: Nature's Wonderland II, BBC 2015
These annual visitors to the Shanks are altogether more mysterious and surprising. The Last Seabird Summer? BBC 2016
40% of our seabirds have already been lost. ibid.
Over 150,00 puffins make their home here every summer. ibid.
The pigeon: not just a bird but a force of nature. The creature that for centuries has been man’s helpmate and companion. People who keep pigeons are known as fanciers. Some breed pigeons to race them. Others breed them to be fancy. It’s a love that borders on obsession. But for some the pigeon has been public enemy number one. Timeshift: Flights of Fancy: Pigeons and the British, BBC 2017
The homing pigeon seems to have an extraordinary satnav system in its head. ibid.
Homing pigeons have been recorded flying six hundred miles in fifteen hours. ibid.
Pigeon fancying was a way of life in the industrial towns. ibid.
Britain’s miners were famous pigeon fanciers. ibid.
The rock dove’s natural habitat is seaside’s cliffs. ibid.
Just off the west coast of Scotland in the Outer Hebrides is a little known cluster of islands known as The Shiants … Every summer these deserted shores become the stage for an extraordinary show. Great waves of seabirds return here from far out in the Atlantic. The Last Seabird Summer II: Trouble at Sea, BBC 2016
The birds, that live i’ th’ field
On the wild benefit of nature, live
Happier than we; for they may choose their mates,
And carol their sweet pleasures to the spring. John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
Today at 4 p.m. we will be meeting in the parking lot to have a funeral for this bird. The Office US s3e4: Grief Counseling, Michael, NBC 2006
To the feral pigeon, the streets of London are paved with gold. Natural World s30e14: Unnatural History of London, BBC 2012
Train-riding pigeons: Is this a new kind of evolution? ibid.
The pelicans have been here since 1664. ibid.
At dusk wave after wave of parakeets can build to a roost of over 6,000 birds. ibid.
Vultures - the most maligned of the world’s birds, the undertakers, the cleaners, able to strip a carcass in minutes, these birds have got to be tough and aggressive to survive in one of the most savage environments on Earth. But there’s more to these birds than meets the eye. Natural World s32e10: Vultures: Beauty in the Best, BBC 2017
Vultures are one of the few animals known to rely solely on carcasses on the dead for food. ibid.
There are 23 species of vultures worldwide. ibid.
The power and the efficiency of it. ibid.
I’m amazed how cautious the vultures are. ibid.
Vultures and hyenas relay on each other but their relationship is a fractious one. ibid.
I ran towards goshawks – the story of how I trained my goshawk Mabel became a best selling book. Natural World s36e7: H is for Hawk: A New Chapter, BBC 2017
She’s half dragon, half leopard. ibid.
You’ll often hear them before you see them … That is the very smallest bird in the world: it’s the bee hummingbird that’s only found in Cuba. And what a wonderful little creature it is. I cannot believe how tiny it is: it’s almost insect-like. It’s almost hard to believe it’s a bird. Cuba has been a real cradle of evolution, so many species have evolved here … The smallest bird in the world lays the smallest egg. Natural World: Wild Cuba: A Caribbean Journey, BBC 2020
Cuba is woodpecker heaven … It’s the woodpeckers that make the holes for all the other birds. Natural World: Wild Cuba: A Caribbean Journey II
Stalks flock to landfill sites across Europe. Cities: Nature’s New Wild I: Residents, BBC 2018
It is estimated that 40,000 long-eared owls now live in towns across Serbia. ibid.
I really can’t understand the demonisation of pigeons. I think they’re nice. And they really helped us out during the War delivering messages and stuff. They’re really intelligent. Mandy V: Meat, Mandy legs apart on table to nurse, BBC 2019
Tales told across the great plains not of thunder-horses but of thunderbirds. Tom Holland, Dinosaurs, Myths & Monsters, BBC 2011
The most prized fossil in the entire museum: ‘This is Archaeopteryx. It’s probably the most important fossil of a dinosaur that there is anywhere in the world …’ At 147 million years old this bird-like dinosaur is so highly valued because it was the first fossil to reveal that every species of bird alive today evolved from dinosaurs. Archaeopteryx was discovered in Germany in 1861 and has been at the museum for over 150 years. Natural History Museum: World of Wonder s1e1, Channel 5 2021
February 2022 Chihauhau, Mexico: A large flock of yellow-headed blackbirds are seen flying overhead … The security camera captures the shocking moment a huge black mass of birds appears to fall like rain from the sky to the pavement below. The Proof is Out There s3e4, History 2023
The world of the dinosaurs was destroyed making way for the rise of the mammals. It’s a tale of turmoil and upheaval. Earth V: Human, BBC 2023
When it came to the dinosaurs only a handful hung on to evolve into the 10,000 or so species of bird we have today. ibid.