At the end of the Ice Age, the tundra where geese prefer to mate extended all the way to Cologne. Today geese, which winter in the relatively mild environment of Western Europe, travel thousands of kilometers to the Arctic Circle. One of their favorite spots is Kolguyev Island on the Barents Sea. “Migrating Birds - Scouts Of Distant Worlds” brought high-resolution aerial and ground cameras to the island to capture the moments when the goslings in their “down jackets” hatch – and the gulls begin their first attempts to hunt them.

When hundreds of thousands starlings form gigantic, dancing clouds in the skies over Rome, it’s about survival. By flying at high speeds in tight formations, the birds can defend themselves against bigger predators that lie in wait near the starlings’ resting places on the River Tiber. For the first time ever, “Migrating Birds - Scouts Of Distant Worlds” films this spectacular dance for survival from the air.

Another first is the winter migration of ibises from Bavaria to Italy. Ibises are trusting creatures. That made them easy prey for hunters and led to their complete extinction in Europe in the seventeenth century. Now human foster parents are teaching ibises born in zoos how to migrate again. The researchers fly in ultra-light aircraft to accompany the birds on their journey across the Austrian Alps to Tuscany. Amazingly, the ibises are able to find their way back alone – an indication of how deeply ingrained migratory survival strategies are.

Around half of the world’s 20 billion songbirds die every year. Most of the birds we know from our gardens make their migratory flights at night, while we’re asleep. That helps them avoid predators and prevent exhaustion. But an animated sequence depicting this mass migration shows the dangers that lurk on the birds’ long journeys. Migration isn’t a given. What birds have learned over the course of evolution can be unlearned if that helps them to survive. Peter Berthold, Germany’s leading ornithologist says: “My personal prognosis is that, if global warming continues as it is, we won’t have any more migratory birds in 100 years.”