| View Larger Image | Hummingbirds! Beauty and the Beast | DVDStarring: 57 hummingbird species, 17 other bird species
Directed By: Thomas H. Kaminski
| List Price: | $22.95 | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Run Time: | 57 minutes | | Format: | Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC | | Studio: | Avian Video Center | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Release Date: | October 27, 2009 | | Sales Rank: | 52,779nd |
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FEATURES | - Satisfaction Ensured
- Your Pet will Love it.
- Makes for a great Gift.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Spectacular video of 57 hummingbird species, including all 16 US species, shows that for all their beauty, they are brainy little beasts that live by the Law of the Jungle. Viewers learn that hummers also are single moms, deadbeat dads, teenage chicks an. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 4 reviews)
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Kaminski makes another incredible hummingbird video by G. Klesius (Arlington, VA)  5 Stars
November 10, 2009
I was doing research for a National Geographic story I wrote on hummingbirds ("Flights of Fancy," January 2007, pp. 114-129) when I was referred to an earlier Kaminski DVD entitled Hooked on Hummingbirds. Its breadth and tone pleasantly surprised me, and it proved extremely useful in the preparation of my article. So when I learned of Hummingbirds! Beauty and the Beast, I purchased it out of curiosity as much as my interest in hummingbirds. I wondered how he could improve on the first DVD and whether there was, indeed, much more he could show us.
He did, and there is. He shows 57 hummingbird species, including the 16 that breed here. Pretty though ours are, many of the Central and South American species are impossibly beautiful. Some have long, exotic tails with names to match - the Violet-tailed Sylph and Booted Racket-tail, for instance. Others have ears that they erect to intimidate competitors. One has a loud voice that sounds more like a raptor than a hummingbird. Another, a U.S. species named the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, is shown preparing for mission impossible: non-stop migration across the Gulf of Mexico between the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Yucatan Peninsula. Amazing. The nesting scenes are in a class of their own.
This video isn't just about beauty and variety - although he also shows 15 other bird species, many of them exotics such as those found in Fiji and the Galapagos Islands. It's also about hummingbird behavior and ecology. You see those facets of their lives in slow motion and through other special effects. These let you grasp what they're doing as they zip along at speeds that leave your vision blurred and your head spinning. His music choices are great, too. Any visual associations you have with Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker" or Mozart's "Eine Kline Nachtmusik" may forever be changed. The whole thing is very informative and entertaining.
It is a must-have for anyone even remotely interested in nature. There is so much content that you'll have to watch it a few times to get everything. I give it my highest recommendation. --Michael Klesius
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Exquisite Little Beasts! by Carole E. Neal (Lewes, DE, USA) 5 Stars
January 31, 2009
This beautifully-filmed DVD is the second Avian Video Center hummingbird program we've purchased, and we are so happy to have witnessed, via excellent camera work, these small, but powerful creatures. In addition to showing every U.S. species, it depicts dozens of incredibly colorful hummers that are found in Mexico, Central and South America. It also shows hummers for what they really are: wild animals that live by the law of the jungle, with special adaptations that allow them to do what they do. We enjoyed the comparison of hummers' hovering flight to that of raptors, for example, but one of our favorite revelations was that the birds shut kown their kidneys at night. Wish we could do that! We liked the information "time out" when we were shown hummers flitting from flower to flower (none of those flowers are red!) to the tune of Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers." There is so much information that you have to watch it several times to take in everything. A very creative, informative and entertaining DVD that we, and our young grandchildren, give our highest recommendation. I'm buying another to give as a gift!
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Fabulous DVD! A Must See... by Barbara Robinson 5 Stars
December 02, 2008
This DVD does a masterful job of revealing little-known elements of hummingbird behavior and ecology through some amazing film and very well-written narration. As a master hummingbird bander for the Hummingbird Monitoring Network, I also am struck by the amount of research that went into the making of this video. Among the intriguing information tidbits is the discussion of hummingbird flower mites, which ride in the bird's nostrils and compete with it for nectar. In addition to seeing them running along its bill, we see them through a microscope as they pursue nectar, pollen, and each-other. Some of the Latin American species of hummingbird are among the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. With a total of 57 hummer species and loads of fascinating facts, this will have to be watched several times to get everything it has to offer. This monumental effort warrants a five-star rating.
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Extraordinary Hummer DVD by Richard S. Abele (Los Angeles, CA) 5 Stars
November 14, 2008
This incredibly impressive DVD captures many fascinating and often unknown hummingbird behaviors, as well as the remarkable beauty of species found in both the US and south of the border. My family and I have never seen a hummer program this good on a commercial DVD release. Videographer Kaminski is at his best delivering incredibly colorful clips of hummers "doing their thing," often in slow motion so we can see what they're really doing. His humorous narrative provides loads of educational information and rare insights into the typical lives of 57 species. The musical score is outstanding. This is a very entertaining DVD that should be in every hummer enthusiast's collection.
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| Hooked on Hummingbirds
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Features: Spectacular, close-up footage. Slow motion, stop motion, and real time. Shows hummers flying, feeding, fighting, and nesting. Amazing sights of hummers building their nests, feeding their chicks and defending their territories. Shot in the U.S. and Costa Rica. Award-winning program. Unveils the secrets of hummingbird aerobatics. Including upside-down flight - as well as their roles as closet carnivores, nectar robbers, and housekeeping fuss-budgets. 53 minutes. Color DVD.
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| Wind Dancers-More than a Glimpse
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Recently featured on Minneapolis/St Paul TV--'Minnesota Bound'.
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