The last episode of the Earthflight series on the Nature show by PBS aired this week.
Each one of the shows was a joy to watch.
I didn’t think the last one would be as good as the previous ones as I figured it would be mostly technical, but I was very wrong.
It was amazing to see how the awesome footage was obtained.
And the relationships that the dedicated trainers and owners have with their birds is incredible.
Becoming part of a bird’s flock takes a lot of work but it is rewarded with the devotion they show to their trainers.
And the one that I found the most touching was the parrots in the South American episode.
As we learned in that final show, the trainer raised his parrots from babies.
But what he did, which the others did not, was to release his birds back into the wild.
There are many many of these birds in the wild, and there is no way to tell any of them apart from his birds.
They fit right in with the wild ones.
But when he calls to them from his boat on the river, those birds come to him – and not because they want food or something from him.
He is one of them to them, and they recognize him as such.
And they love him – you can see it in the way they still allow him to scratch their heads and massage them around their wings.
They close their eyes and just enjoy it.
What a special and beautiful relationship he has with those birds.
It shows how smart birds are too – they don’t forget him.
Earthflight was a great series and this is one watcher who totally enjoyed it.
Many thanks to PBS for putting it together and sharing it with the world.
That final episode proves an old saying too:
“If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you it’s yours, if not, then it was never meant to be”
What a special gift those parrots give to that trainer – one few of us will ever experience.
Thank you for sharing!