Parrots in HD RULE!

I'm a big fan of nature and travel shows. One of the things I'd most like to do (besides direct feature films, television, or be a travel photographer) would be a cameraman for one of these shows. I'm looking forward to Planet Earth and Blue Planet on my Netflix Queue.

So last night, flipping through channels after watching the season premiere of Lost, I came across an HD documentary on PBS called:



Parrots in the Land of Oz was a pleasant surprise. I usually go for the "here's a region, learn all about it" nature shows as opposed to the "parrots, and more parrots" kind, but I learned a lot of interesting things about Parrots and the region of Australia.

There is a species of tree that requires fire to reproduce, a lightning strike will cause the fire and only after the tree burns, do the seeds open and release. Interesting I say.

Also, there is a species of parrot called the Golden SHouldered Parrot that nests inside Termite mounds, and when they hatch, it coincides with the hatching of a particular species of Moth Larvae, that feeds on the PARROT POOP! How symbiotic of you nature!

Another interesting thing, there's a species of Parrot called the Budgie, and when they fly in their flock, their wings shimmer and camaflouge them from predators. They fly like that for safety in numbers, as birds of prey will focus on the weakest link. you can see the phenomenan in this preview:


But what was REALLY interesting is that schools of fish, most notably the Sardine, do this same thing for the same reason:



Isn't it freakin AMAZING that in the natural order of things, on this extremely diverse hunk of rock in space that there are different species, as different as can be really, one in the air, one in the sea, that are utilizing the same techniques for survival?

I think it is pretty darn interesting. And a weird coincidence that THIS happened to be the National Geographic Photo of the day yesterday. My cat also enjoyed the quality content and format of the show, as she paced, crouched, an was generally frustrated for two hours straight as she watched the program with us... never once taking her eyes off the TV. Note to cat owners: this phenomena is heightened if you raised your cat SPECIFICALLY to be a non-watching TV cat (she normally could care less about TV when it's on).

I'm taking the Weekend off from blogging, I have developed "blogger wrist" this week from all my computer work and need a break :)