Like the albatross glimpsed in the beginning of this 10-part, 5-volume series, The Life of Birds quickly takes flight. Sir David Attenborough hosts this unprecedented and extraordinary global look at the magnificent and often curious winged species with which we share our planet. Like the best wildlife shows, The Life of Birds offers a fresh and accessible view of creatures we may take for granted (didn't Alfred Hitchcock warn us about that?). The focus of this series is not on the different bird species, but on bird behavior. Remarkable and awe-inspiring footage preserves the wide range of tools and techniques with which birds fly, hunt for food, attract a mate, hatch their chicks, and defend themselves against predators. Each volume contains two episodes. Series titles include: "To Fly or Not to Fly?," "The Mastery of Flight," "The Insatiable Appetite," "Meat Eaters," "Fishing for a Living," Signals and Songs," "Finding Partners" (the inevitable mating episode), "The Demands of the Egg," "The Problems of Parenthood," and "The Limits of Endurance." One comedic diversion while watching this series is the Pythonesque (as in Monty) way in which Attenborough pops up in the most remote, most exotic locales. At one point, night-vision cameras capture the rare sight of the nocturnal kiwi as it forages for food on a New Zealand beach. The camera pans to reveal scant paces away our guide shining a flashlight on the nonplussed bird. Attenborough is also the creator of the classic natural-science series The Trials of Life, The Living Planet, and Life on Earth, all of which are also available on video. --Donald Liebenson
