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S42 Ep10: Flyways | Clip

Searching for Shorebird Nests

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Scientists find nests of shorebirds, but they’re not the only ones looking for them. Just when they think hope is lost for the next generation of shorebirds, some heartwarming scenes greet them.

Features

To save these shorebirds, scientists are tracking every ‘step’ of their 9000-mile migration
Clip | The Perilous Life of Shorebird Chicks
Full Episode | Flyways
TRANSCRIPT

- [Nathan] You can see the bill of the chicks starting to poke out.

This bird is gonna hatch tomorrow morning.

- [Speaker] Nathan marks the location of the nest so his team can return tomorrow.

- If we're not there when the chick actually hatches, we're never likely to see them because they are moving away from the nest within a couple of hours of hatching, and it's incredibly difficult to find them in the bog after they've actually left the nest.

- [Speaker] And scientists aren't the only ones searching for nests.

Hidden cameras reveal a variety of predators.

- [Nathan] Uh oh, that's not good.

I found an egg with some, like an open egg with some blood in it.

That looks to me more like it was eaten, than like it hatched.

Got another one?

- [Scientist] Yeah.

- All right, well, let's leave these parents to their anguish.

Yeah.

Not good.

You're rooting for the birds.

That's why we're here.

I mean, it is a part of the whole process, but as, yeah, when you've watched the nest for a long time and it's not a good ending.

- [Speaker] Summer is here.

And from those hollows in the scrub, emerges life.

(birds chirping)

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