[mellow music] [birds calling] [water splashing] [birds calling] [mellow music] - [Narrator] Open country dotted with trees.

Ideal territory for aerial predators.

The lives of the great birds of prey have always been a favorite subject of award-winning filmmaker, Hugh Miles.

Beginning in the rugged highlands of his native Scotland, he explores their world, their hunting and nesting habits, their migrations across continents, their tenuous place at the top of the food chain.

As hunters, they've often been seen to be in competition with man and have suffered the same fate as other predators.

But, slowly, their story is beginning to change.

Rescue efforts are underway to ensure that the mighty Golden Eagle and the speedy Peregrine Falcon ascend again into the open skies.

[birds calling] A wilderness of wind and rock.

This is not the typical image of Britain, but some of Europe's last wild places can still be found here, untamed and pristine.

The hunting grounds for some of the world's most magnificent birds of prey.

The highlands of Scotland where one bird stands supreme.

Sharp claws, hooked beak, keen eyes, the Golden Eagle.

It's equipped to kill to survive and this has brought eagles into conflict with man.

For centuries, birds of prey, or raptors, have been both admired and persecuted as competitors.

But, with a better understanding of these great hunters, they're becoming appreciated for what they are.

Impressive at rest.

Spectacular in flight.

Though this powerful eagle makes the raptor's lifestyle look easy, they face a constant struggle to survive.

More often than not, the prey gets away.

In the harsh world of the high tops, mountain hares are few.

So, eagles in search of food must become hunters of the sky.

Gliding effortlessly on a seven foot wingspan, the Golden Eagle sails among the mountain updrafts on its endless quest for prey.

Soaring between the clouds above and the earth below, its sharp vision detects the slightest movement.

This aerial frontier provides a panoramic view for spotting the next meal.

And when it does, the mighty talons are lowered into position.

The eagle's weapons of death.

Birds of prey have a vital role to play.

They're essential for population control.

Predator and prey have evolved together creating a natural balance.

With the feast over, this eagle returns to his lofty domain.

As winter retreats, the highlands shake off their mantle of snow and ice.

Migrant birds of prey are returning from Africa.

Among them, one which disappeared from Scotland in the 19th century due to excessive hunting.

Now, after nearly 50 years, the Osprey has returned.

[birds calling] After the long journey, the Osprey needs to regain its strength and Pike are easy prey.

Pike are predators of smaller fish, but while searching the shallows, they're vulnerable to attack from above, and predator becomes prey.

[birds calling] The Osprey is a daredevil fisherman.

[water splashing] [birds calling] It's spring in the highlands.

The nest now becomes the focus of activity.

Like many raptors, the Osprey is faithful to its nest site, returning there year after year.

[birds calling] The male jealously guards the female.

He mates with her as frequently as possible.

As many as 200 times in the weeks before egg laying.

[birds calling] Mating is often disrupted by intruding males but they're vigorously resisted.

The male invests five months in breeding, so he will aggressively drive out all other males from his territory.

The pair works together to defend the nest site using special calls and flight maneuvers.

[birds calling] This pair has put up a good defense.

Experiences like these are very important for breeding success.

Strong bonds are formed in the process and this pair may be together for many seasons, perhaps even for life.

[birds calling] Hunger may make the female unreceptive and this encourages the male to go out hunting.

But he's hesitant to leave his mate since other males may try to steal his nest and even his female.

Eventually, he decides to take his chances.

He may commute up to six miles to find a well-stocked pond.

Relying on the art of surprise, he hovers until the timing is just right.

Then he descends.

Finally, he plunges feet first.

[water splashing] This splashy entrance has such impact that he must use all his strength to get airborne again.

He holds onto the slippery food with special spines on his toes, always arranging at head first for less wind resistance.

[birds calling] One fishing trip can take the male up to two hours, so while her mate is away, the female keeps busy repairing the nest.

[birds calling] Most raptors divide their duties in this way.

The male hunts while the female attends to the nest and the young.

[birds calling] Studies of banded Ospreys have shown that breeding success is related to experience.

Pairs that have mated before like this one, have more chance of raising a healthy brood to maturity.

[birds calling] Here in Scotland, the Osprey was once persecuted because it eats fish.

Now it's being given a second chance and has begun to recolonize the highlands where it belongs.

April on the heather moors is the setting for spectacular female aerobatics.

[light piano music] Female Marsh Hawks outlive and outnumber males, so it's the females which sometimes must attract a mate, even if they have to share him with several others.

These displays also serve to establish territory.

The sprig of heather she's carrying advertises her availability.

[light piano music] [birds calling] For the female, polygamy has its pluses and minuses.

By sharing a mate, she can produce offspring, but such flashy displays attract less welcome attention from a Peregrine Falcon.

[birds calling] Birds of prey that share the same hunting ground, even if not the same prey, are intolerant of each other, but these skirmishes are seldom serious.

Marsh Hawks hunt small birds and mammals, slowly searching the moors, but there is yet another moorland predator sharing these open hillsides.

The Short-eared Owl.

Most people don't think of owls as birds of prey, but they're actually one of the most efficient hunters of the sky.

Though owls usually hunt at night, the Short-eared Owl can be seen searching for rodents in mid-afternoon.

In flight, its wings are silent, giving it the advantage of surprise, even while hunting in daylight.

The marsh provides cover not only for prey, it's also a good place to hide a nesting owl.

[birds calling] The young owls are different ages.

The eggs were laid a few days apart, resulting in siblings of very different sizes.

Some are just beginning to explore the nest, while others are still waiting to be born.

[birds calling] The timing of egg laying is a matter of family planning.

In years when voles are plentiful, many young owls will reach maturity, but when the food supply is low, at least the oldest will survive.

In either case, the female continues to hunt.

[birds calling] In a good year, with plenty of voles around, as many as a dozen chicks can survive.

[birds calling] The female sights her mate returning with another vole for the hungry brood.

This year, there's no shortage of food.

[birds calling] When the male isn't hunting, he stands guard nearby, on the lookout for Foxes and Crows.

The female helps the weakest to get their share.

The more precocious help themselves.

But, in lean years, only the older chicks get enough to eat.

Bigger and stronger, they make sure they're the first to be fed.

[birds calling] Short-eared Owls can choose to hunt by light or dark, but for other birds of prey, the close of day means a changing of the guard.

As the lowland woods echo to calls announcing the coming of darkness, the night hunter takes over.

[birds calling] The Tawny Owl's large eyes capture even the faintest ray of light, but it's the rustling sound of a mouse on the forest floor which pinpoints its exact location.

A ghostly hunter, it's designed for darkness.

[birds calling] Unlike any other bird of prey, the owl's feathers are designed to ensure silent flight.

The mouse hears nothing.

Bobbing its head to help locate the sound, it zeroes in on the prey just before takeoff.

[birds calling] By dawn, the night hunting owl has returned to roost, leaving the forest to the day hunting hawks.

These summer woods are alive with insects which provide food for resident and migrant birds living in this lush Scottish countryside.

[birds calling] In turn, bird catchers, such as the European Sparrowhawk, find their own feast here.

Like all woodland hawks, they have short round wings and long tails enabling them to maneuver more swiftly than their prey in tight quarters.

This unsuspecting quarry is no match for a hungry hawk.

[birds calling] Early in the breeding season, the female waits at the nest, while the agile male does most of the hunting.

[birds calling] He calls the female off the nest to receive the food with a handoff that rivals an Olympic maneuver.

She's much larger than her mate and can hunt larger prey.

This means the Sparrowhawk pair can provide their young with a wide range of food.

The male hunts smaller birds, she can capture them up to the size of pigeons.

[birds calling] In summer, both bird eating parents feed their brood on the annual feast of fledglings.

[birds calling] Mysteriously, almost all animals time their breeding to coincide with food abundance and raptors are no exception.

[birds calling] To the south, many birds of prey are attracted to the heaths of Scotland with their wet open shrub land.

In early summer, Hobbies gather at heathland ponds.

Here, their quarry is not birds, but dragonflies.

The Hobby is a falcon.

It's long pointed wings give it the speed necessary for catching prey in open country.

[birds calling] On sunny summer days when food is plentiful, life is easy for the Hobby.

[upbeat piano music] Unfortunately, for many birds that depend on the heathland, this habitat is critically threatened.

Much of it has already been destroyed, forcing out birds like the Hobby.

Loss of habitat is a major problem facing many birds of prey.

Species after species are disappearing, but some are able to adapt to the new terrain.

Like this pale hunter of marsh and meadow, the Barn Owl.

[birds calling] Dawn in the English countryside, an idyllic landscape of gentle rivers, lush pastures, and old trees.

Home to one of the world's most beautiful hunters.

As its name suggests, the Barn Owl has been associated with agriculture for many years.

It remains a ghostly specter of yesterday's farms.

Though it does hunt during the day, it can also hunt in complete darkness.

It's facial design helps direct sound into its ears so it can hear even the quietest mouse.

It's often found on abandoned farmland.

They also live on working farms where they're welcomed as a form of natural pest control.

[birds calling] One of the most widely distributed of all birds, Barn Owls are found on every continent except Antarctica.

[birds calling] On a clear summer day, they sail over the rich meadows using both eyesight and hearing in search of mice and voles.

[birds calling] In England, the magnificent sight of a hunting owl has become increasingly rare.

The countryside of quaint farms from yesteryear have been replaced by the massive fields of intensive agriculture leaving a clean landscape with very few places for any bird to nest.

[machinery humming] The demand for these grains seems to be slowing down, but for now, large machines still sweep across the Barn Owl's hunting grounds.

[machinery humming] Wildlife is often lost as the landscape is changed, but some species have been able to adapt to our creations.

[car engines humming] Traditionally, the Kestrel hunted in those same lush meadows favored by the Barn Owl, but so little is left, they're lucky to have learned to live with the traffic.

Hovering is the Kestrel's forte.

An ideal way to search the shoulders of the highway, giving this hunter time to spot mouse, worm or beetle.

Due partly to this varied diet and its adaptability, the Kestrel is now the most common bird of prey in Europe.

The exploitation of the new landscapes doesn't stop on the outskirts of town.

Even in the heart of London, birds of prey have found a new home.

[car engines humming] Lofty window ledges replaced traditional cliff ledges and even the smallest park has a Sparrow, food for an unexpected denizen of the city, the Peregrine Falcon.

This wildest of birds even nests in New York City.

[birds calling] But these urban birds of prey are rare.

Most species need wilderness, not city streets.

Governments are coming under increasing pressure to protect wildlife.

But in Britain and the United States, despite the upswing in environmental concern and new laws of protection, birds of prey are still trapped, poisoned, and shot.

[clock bell chiming] Many important habitats are being destroyed.

Rivers polluted.

Landscapes altered for farmland.

And marshes drained for forestry.

Once densely wooded, Britain has become the least forested country in Europe.

In deforested areas, conifers are being planted for timber but sometimes this is not the only benefit.

Planted in the right place, in time, these forests provide homes for wildlife.

Birds of prey quickly take advantage of the new nest sites and food supply.

Among them, the Goshawk.

It's the largest of the world's woodland hawks and is widespread throughout the northern woods of Europe and America.

Centuries ago, Britain nearly lost all its Goshawks due to hunting and the felling of woodland.

They had to be reintroduced.

And now, they're slowly recolonizing, but they're still hunted as competitors for game birds.

Goshawks are fast and powerful, striking down large birds like Crows or even full grown rabbits if they can catch them.

[birds calling] In a few places, Goshawks are doing well, but the rising tide of conifers is a mixed blessing.

It may be helping one raptor, but it's hurting another.

[birds calling] The Merlin is a tiny hunter, not much bigger than a Robin, but it's fast.

A dashing chaser of small birds in the British uplands.

[birds calling] The male does most of the hunting during the nesting season.

[birds calling] The female accepts the prey so abruptly that the smaller male often gets knocked aside.

She then takes the food to her favorite rock where she plucks it before delivering it to her chick.

[birds calling] Most Merlins nest on the ground in dense heather but this old Crow's nest provides a suitable alternative.

The youngster is the lone survivor of four chicks.

This pair's failure is quite common.

The widespread decline of Merlins is a complex problem.

[birds calling] People made these open hillsides by cutting down the trees centuries ago, inadvertently creating an ideal habitat for these long winged falcons.

[birds calling] These heather moorlands, the Merlin's favorite habitat, are important hunting grounds.

But today, with subsidized farming and forestation, people are encroaching on the very habitat they created originally, driving Merlins out.

Where it still remains, heather is also a good place for Grouse to breed, providing a quarry for the world's most perfect flying machine.

The Peregrine, a supreme hunter, a masterpiece of aerodynamic design.

[birds calling] It's strategy, a mixture of surprise and speed.

[birds calling] Soaring down from the clouds, it may achieve a dazzling 100 miles per hour.

It moves with such power it can knock a speeding Grouse out of the air.

[birds calling] The prey will be brought back to the nest where the chicks are preparing for their first flight.

Even at this tender age, their hunting potential is obvious.

Peregrines have been coveted by falconers for centuries, and still are.

Chicks are sometimes stolen from the nest.

Even in adulthood, they face further problems for Grouse-shooting humans don't like Grouse-eating birds and Peregrines are often shot.

[birds calling] The chicks are most vulnerable when scrambling away from the nest for the first time.

To encourage them to fly, the adults purposely starve them and they become frantic with hunger.

[birds calling] The adults intervene only when the chicks risk injury.

[birds calling] When at last the male brings food, only the boldest will take the shaky steps to be fed.

[birds calling] Over a period of two or three days, it becomes obvious to the fledglings that mobility is the key to survival.

So, learning to fly becomes an imperative.

Their first attempts are not as graceful as the encouraging example given by their mother, but practice makes perfect.

[wings flapping] Or not so perfect.

In many areas, Peregrines are increasing, recovering from the catastrophic era of environmental poisoning when Peregrine numbers crashed to record lows.

[birds calling] The deadliest pesticides have since been banned in Europe and the U.S., but not worldwide.

Now their insidious threat is spreading to the wintering grounds of many of the world's birds of prey to the lands where continents meet.

[foreign language] Islamic prayer calls echo over Istanbul.

Once the capitol of two empires, a city bridging Europe and Asia, separated by the Bosphorus.

This historic gateway is a major crossing point for many birds as they travel the international skyways to the sun.

The Short-toed Eagle is a snake hunter from Bulgaria heading south for the hot African plains.

Flapping flight is tiring over long distances, so whenever they can, they use thermal updrafts to conserve energy.

These are scarce over the sea, so migrants make for narrow crossing points like Gibraltar and here at the Bosphorus.

The autumn passage includes these Black Storks from Poland, White Storks from Germany, Buzzards from Czechoslovakia, Sparrowhawks from Russia.

The skies above become a gathering place for long distance travelers.

The ground below does too, as bird watchers from all over Europe converge to observe this inspiring spectacle.

[people chattering] These are Lesser Spotted Eagles from Russia, just a few of the 15 to 20,000 passing here each autumn.

And it isn't just foreigners who take an interest.

The locals are also enthusiastic about the migration and traveling birds and bird watchers become ambassadors for conservation.

[people chattering] With winter approaching, birds of prey like the Sparrowhawk are traveling because they have to, driven south by the lack of food.

The birders travel not just for a holiday, but to identify and count the numbers passing by.

These counts contribute to our understanding of the breeding populations through much of Eastern Europe and Western Russia.

And falling numbers give early warning of environmental problems.

[people chattering] Hobbies and Honey Buzzards head for Africa to eat insects, hawks to hunt birds, eagles to catch mammals, and some, such as Egyptian and Griffon Vultures, to scavenge.

But all risk contamination from the pesticides exported to the tropics.

[people chattering] These poisons accumulate in the environment, are passed on to birds of prey in the food chain, then carried back to Europe in the bodies of these birds each spring.

The toxins adversely affect breeding success and contribute to the decline of many species.

The problems suffered by birds of prey passing over the Bosphorus highlight an important fact.

All life is connected in one way or another.

Countries that try to export their problems will not escape them for long.

Environmental issues are not only national, they are global.

[wind blowing] Death comes in many forms.

In the wild, cold is a major killer and carrion feeders like Buzzards benefit from the misfortune of others.

In Central Wales, the most famous scavenger, and one of Britain's rarest birds, is the Red Kite.

Only in the sheep farming hills of Wales and Scotland are there enough dead animals to support large numbers of scavengers.

Magpies, Crows, Ravens and Buzzards soon hone in on any victims of overnight frosts or snow.

[birds calling] The Red Kite is a shy bird and awaits the assurance of other carrion eaters before deciding it's safe to land.

[birds calling] Many Kites have been wing-tagged for identification for there's much concern about poor breeding success in the tiny population.

Once, they were widespread, even snatching scraps in the streets of London, but hunting drove them to the brink of extinction.

Now, only here in the remote hills of Wales, have a handful of pairs hung on long enough for more enlightened attitudes to prevail.

But their recovery is slow.

[birds calling] Even now, bad habits linger and one or two Red Kites are killed each year.

They're shot, or sometimes poisoned, like many other birds of prey.

One such raptor holds on in a distant stronghold, the remote mountains and fjords of northern Norway.

[wind blowing] Late February on the Arctic circle, a time and place where the weather can be hostile to all life.

Fierce currents driven by wind and tide well up from deep fjords sweeping fish to the surface so fast they rupture their swim bladders.

Rendered helpless, Norwegian Haddock are swept ashore providing food for scavenging birds.

[water splashing] [birds calling] The dying fish attract impressive numbers of Sea Eagles, as many as 50 here, driven together by the punishing cold of long Arctic nights.

[birds calling] Like the Red Kite, Sea Eagles are wary and they won't land until Crows and Ravens have led the way.

[birds calling] They've inherited this caution from long experience having suffered at the hands of Norwegian fishermen who saw them as competitors, pests to be trapped and killed.

But, in recent years, breeding has been so successful that there's a surplus of youngsters.

[birds calling] But adult Sea Eagles never travel far from home.

So, recolonizing their old haunts in Scotland would be impossible without assistance.

[birds calling] So, people lent a hand, and more than 80 young Sea Eagles have been exported from Norway to establish new populations on the west coast of Scotland.

And it's no wonder the Scots wanted them back.

For a Sea Eagle is everything an eagle ought to be.

[mellow music] [water splashing] [birds calling] [water splashing] An adult female is nearly three feet high with piercing yellow eyes, razor sharp claws, a beak like a meat cleaver, and a wingspan of nearly eight feet.

[birds calling] The western highlands of Scotland, now home for the young eagles imported from Norway and a place to their liking.

There is rich feeding for all birds of prey.

Peregrines thrive here in an area which has changed little since the 18th century.

[birds calling] There are still numerous small birds to catch and open country offers unobstructed flying.

Peregrines prefer these estuaries where they can seize prey while flying over water.

[birds calling] For the Sea Eagle, there is plenty of fish as well as seabirds, rabbits, and carrion.

The numerous Coastal Otters have proved to be an ally leaving scraps for the ever watchful newcomers.

Sometimes, eagles even try to catch ducks, but only with limited success.

Ducks are faster than they look.

[wings flapping] [birds calling] More than 10 pairs of eagles are now collecting nest material and trying to breed.

Each spring, as the young mature, even more can be seen courting in the highlands as their ancestors did for centuries.

[birds calling] A few pairs have already raised young.

The first Sea Eagles to breed in Scotland for 70 years.

A cause for celebration and an example to show that, given the chance, birds of prey are great survivors.

[birds calling] But they're also vulnerable.

At the top of the food chain, they are the barometers of the earth's wellbeing, and the first to fall when things go wrong.

In Britain and the United States, most species are holding their own, even increasing.

But, in much of the world, many birds of prey are facing a grim future.

The eagle's disappearance and return is an important symbol.

Since man also lives at the top of the food chain, the eagle's vulnerability gives us a glimpse of our own.

[birds calling]