Moon-walking the jungle (Kilala.nl (Cailin Coilleach)) by Cailin Coilleach

I'm usually not that big of a National Geographic fan, but this evening I did happen to run into something nifty. NG run a show called Deep jungle in which a number of scientists trek through the world's jungles armed with modern-day equipment.

Among their equipment is a high speed camera that shoots film at an amazing 500 FPS, which seems insane to me. This piece of kit is required to shoot footage of the yellow-thighed manakin's mating rituals since, apparently, the bird's movements are just too quick for the human eye to follow. The little bird's wings actually flit faster than those of a hummingbird at 80 Hz, with the bird bouncing from tree to tree in split seconds.

I usually zap past any nature documentaries on TV, but this one managed to catch my attention:
* That manakin really is a rather cool bird. It even moonwalks!
* Kimberley Bostwick is a true geek among ornithologists. She's the first person I've seen who actually demonstrates a bird's mating dance herself :)

Video here

Posted in: bird , jungle , kimberley bostwick , national geographic , yellow-thighed manikin