A vibrant green and blue hummingbird, one of nature's jewelled messengers, perched gracefully on a thin branch against a blurred green background.
A jewelled hummingbird hovers near a heliconia flower. The vibrant red and yellow bracts stand out vividly, while the blurred background of green highlights the radiant colors, making these tiny messengers of nature truly captivating.
A small jewelled messenger with vibrant green feathers and a reddish-brown chest perches on a branch against a blurred green background.

Hummingbirds – Jewelled Messengers

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 53 min·Completed

This film showcases hummingbirds' migration and unique abilities, combining science and stunning visuals using ultra high-speed HD cameras.

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Genre
Nature & Wildlife
Duration
1 × 53 min
Definition
HD
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
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Synopsis

Additionally available in French and Spanish

Rockport, Texas is being invaded: 14 million Ruby-throated hummingbirds fly into this suburb of Corpus Christi in a period of 48 hours. They are about to undertake the most remarkable journey, flying non-stop over 1,000 kilometres across the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The trip will take 25 hours without a possibility to pause.

By the time they arrive in Rockport, the tiny birds weigh only 4 grams. That is dangerously little: they do not have enough fat to fuel the flight. For this, they need to weigh 6 grams – so they have to add half their body weight very quickly. The local people put up feeders around which hundreds of hummingbirds swarm. They feed and put on weight, ready for this critical and dangerous stage of their migration. After bing-eating, the birds set off. The local coastguard and military can now track the hummingbirds as they fly across the sea by radar.

This film reveals the remarkable lives of hummingbirds – one of nature’s most fabulous creatures. Everything about them is superb and extreme: highest metabolism, fastest heart beat and most rapid wing beat. This remarkable specialisation has been driven by flowering plants. Everything about hummingbirds has been shaped by this association – and in that relationship the plants provide and the birds work in their service.

The hummingbirds are the plants’ messengers – the key pollinators for 60% of the New World tropical plants. They pollinate plants in extreme climates where insects are unable to fly – like in the high Andean mountains of South America.

The reward for the hummingbirds is a kind of ‘rocket fuel’: the plants’ super high-calorie, sugar-rich nectar. But to obtain their high-energy fuel the birds have to expend huge amounts of energy – most obviously in hovering flight.

Of all the birds, only hummingbirds can hover for any length of time. And more than this, hummingbirds can fly backwards and even, just occasionally, upside down.

In other birds, the power is created in the outstretched down stroke of the wings; and then the wings are folded and lifted back to the start position for another power stroke. In hummingbirds, when they hover, both wing strokes create power and lift.

This film combines scientific revelation with astounding photography, capturing some of nature’s most remarkable and loved creatures. A wonderful visual tour-de-force – it uses ultra high-speed HD cameras and cutting-edge remote systems to enter the fascinating world of hummingbirds.

Team

Written and directed by Paul Reddish
Executive producer Ivo Filatsch
Production Company Produced by Terra Mater Factual Studios

Awards & Recognitions

Eckernförde, Germany Green Screen Festival Best Animal Behaviour 2014
Vaasa, Finland Wildlife Vaasa International Nature Film Festival Best Natural History Film 2014
Bethesda, USA CINE Golden Eagle Awards Televised Documentary & Performance Division – Environment & Nature 2013
New York, USA New York Festival's International Television & Film Awards Silver World Medal in Nature & Wildlife: TV Documentary/Information Program 2013
Redondo Beach, USA US International Film & Video Festival Best of Festival-Award for documentary productions 2013
Redondo Beach, USA US International Film & Video Festival Gold Camera 2013
Ménigoute, France Festival International du Film Ornithologique de Ménigoute Prix Paul Géroudet 2012
Bois-de-Villers, Belgium Namur Nature Festival Prix du Public 2012
Paris, France Pariscience Film Festival Buffon Prize: Best Film about Biodiversity 2012
Sondrio, Italy Sondrio Festival telvio National Park Award - Audience Jury Award 2012
Pamplona, Spain TeleNatura Best Director 2012
Bristol, United Kingdom Wildscreen Festival Jury’s Special Prize 2012
Rotterdam, Netherlands Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam Official Selection 2015
Ludwigsburg, Germany NaturVision Filmfestival Nomination 2012
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