Wildlife Specials — Season 1, Episode 29: Attenborough's Paradise Birds

Episode synopsis

Sir David Attenborough's new documentary traces his lifelong passion for birds of paradise. For five centuries "birds from paradise" have captivated explorers, naturalists, artists, film-makers and even royalty. They are also one of David Attenborough's lifelong passions. He was the first to film many of their beautiful and often bizarre displays and has spent a lifetime tracking them all over the jungles of New Guinea. Here, David reflects on his first attempt to film the birds of paradise, their bizarre and exotic courtship rituals, his experience at a state-of-the-art breeding facility in Qatar, and how there are always wonderful things to discover.

About Wildlife Specials

The BBC Wildlife Specials are a series of nature documentary programmes commissioned by BBC Television. The Wildlife Specials began with a pilot episode in 1995. 20 programmes have been made to date, with three of the recent ones being in multi parts. The earlier programmes were produced in-house by the BBC's specialist Natural History Unit, but the more recent Spy in the... titles were made by the independent John Downer Productions. The first 18 programmes, up to 2008, were narrated by David Attenborough. The most recent two were narrated by David Tennant. "The world's leading natural history filmmakers meet the world's most charismatic animals" — BBC tagline

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Great White Shark: The True Story of Jaws
• E2Polar Bear: The Arctic Warrior
• E3Crocodile: The Smiling Predator
• E4Leopard: The Agent of Darkness
• E5Eagle: The Master of the Skies
• E6Humpback Whale: The Giant of the Oceans
• E7Wolf: The Legendary Outlaw
• E8Tiger: The Elusive Princess
• E9Lions: Spy in the Den
• E10Grizzly: Face to Face
• E11Gorillas: On the Trail of King Kong
• E12Serpent: Through the Eyes of the Snake