Ilha Formosa Taiwan Where Mountains Meet the Sea (2008)

Some stills from this short (40-min) documentary, with no spoken language, only music.

OK, I lied, it's image-heavy. Some stills have subs with explanation what is shown. I kept some, because so little is known about this small country.

See, China, what did I do here?

Volcanoes - The Fires of Creation (2018)

 

This was a short documentary, with annoying narration. That's why I am weary of docus that are shown on some festivals etc. because they are so personal. And I don't care about it. Give me numbers, data, facts. I grew up with nature documentaries where sir Attenborough was giving the info on how long the flamingos' legs are. I want to learn something and it's not how the narrator felt, or pondering on flying bag as the meaning of life.

But oh well, some screenshots are nice.

Ghost of the Mountains (2017)

 

 

Few screenshots from the documentary on irbis, the snow leopard, this time from the national park deep in China plateau. 

You can also help a bit here: https://snowleopard.org/

Documentaries of 2022

In case anyone wants to watch some interesting documentaries, here's the list of the ones I've watched in the past year. Some are standalone films, and some are multi-episode series. And one is comprised of 7 seasons.

BBC Autumnwatch 2020 Part 8

 

And with this post we end the wonderful observations of the nature in UK. In this episode we learned about the fantastic physiological adaptations of the Gannet birds (the dive with the speed of over 83 km/h and as the scientists experimented with the models - they could have, they never do, but could have reached the speed of around 286.5 km/h), the in-built GPS of he salmon (even in the embryos), and about the animals that start to colonize even the active industrial complex such as the glass factory.

BBC Autumnwatch 2020 Part 7

In this episode we spent the most time in Tentsmuir in Scotland watching, of course, seals, but also bearded tit, a very colorful and cute bird whose reed habitat was destroyed by a fire in April but rejuvenated by the time Autumnwatch was filmed. Also, I learned what a speculum is - it's a patch of iridescently blue wing feathers on both male and female mallard duck. The hypothesis as to why it's exactly the same is tentative - probably it refracts the light to avoid predation from hawks or falcons.

And also fungi and ther network. I love fungi, as probably some of you know, so seeing a tiny segment on them made me happy.

BBC Autumnwatch 2020 Part 6

 

In this, yet another informative episode, we learned how cephalopods are changing colors (which is actually quite amazing as they see the world in black and white), how flapper skate eggs look like (I did not know that) and about the danger that our hedgehogs face.

 

BBC Autumnwatch 2020 Part 5

This episode, again, was highly informative and talkative, therefore less pictures to provide. But we learned about the reappearance of the fox spider in the UK, about one species of a goose that has males to migrate to Norway for molting, and about the pockets of wildlife in the heart of London.

And also - how to recognize many animals' droppings.

Rivers Lifeblood (2020)

And I'm back to posting screenshots from the documentaries. First is DocLights, of course. It was about the rivers and their role in the ecosystem. Also, learned that Congo River is the deepest river in the world - at one place it has 200m of depth. 

[Rearview Mirror 2020] Documentaries

 

In the series of 2020 reviews, first - documentaries. I have watched 83 documentaries, both standalone movies and several-part series. I count 6-part series as one documentary though. You can say I have watched 83 titles.

This is just in case someone wants to watch something.

 

BBC Autumnwatch 2020 Part 4

In this episode we learned about the imported grey squirrels pushing the red squirrels, native to Europe, from their habitsts (sadly it's happening everywhere) and natural methods of culling the greys' population. There was a whole, wonderful segment on the life of an oak. Also - how a spider's legs work.

BBC Autumnwatch 2020 Part 1

Autumnwatch 2020 takes us to 4 locations: southern tip of the island, the middle part, Scotland and Wales.

Enchanted Forest (2020)

 

 I have to say, Doclights/ZDF documentaries quickly moved into my top 10 movies this year. It's not heavily sensationalized, overly dramatic or full of gimmicks like other companies (PBS, I'm looking at you). The narration is calm but explains everything that needs to be explain with a dash of humor.

Islands of Wonder 3/3: Hawaii (2020)

 

In this episode we witnessed the disappearance of the Hawaii archipelago, the oldest bird in the wild (a 67-yo female albatross named Wisdom), fish that can climb upwards the waterfall, and humpback whales that come to Hawaii for winter.

I'd love to do that as well.

Islands of Wonder 2/3: Borneo (2020)

 

In this episode we visited Borneo - and its inhabitants. Like gliding reptiles (over 20 species), pitcher plants that feed on insects or bat's guano, orangutans who know what and how to apply for arthritis, and a dwarf forest with dwarfed trees.

Islands of Wonder 1/3: Madagascar (2020)

 

If you thought Australia was weird - meet the Madagascar menagerie: a pelican spider that hunts other spiders (and looks like a pelican too), a tenrec that can produce a litter of 35, and in danger rubs spikes on their back to sound the alarm (the largest litter of all the mammals and the only one that does this kind of warning), a tiny chameleon that lives for 4 months only, aye-aye with one creepy finger from your worst nightmares...

BBC Natural World: The Monkey-Eating Eagle of the Orinoco (2010)

 

In this documentary we follow a small family of three of the harpy eagles. We witness how protective a mother can be (and females are around 1/3rd bigger than the males), how smart they can be (using natural insecticide in plants) and how magnificent those birds are.

Owls: Masters of the Night (2020)

  

In this one we meet few families of owls as they try to raise their young. A very informative documentary with phenomenal cinematography.

Into The Wild Colombia: Finding a Family 5/5 (2018)

With this last episode we bid farewell to Colombia's forests, monkeys, frogs and birds. In it, we follow Mona - a young cotton-top tamarin monkey.She left her family in search of her own. And she saved her new one from the big, bad snake.

Into The Wild Colombia: Warriors of the Llanos 4/5 (2018)

In this episode we follow a herd of capybaras as they brave the scorching season of drought, ans also a tiny family of burrowing owls as they race time to bring up their offspring before the coming rainy season. Then we learn about the jacana birds - here the females are territorial and they leave males right after laying the eggs, so it's the guys job to raise the chicks.