IN SEARCH OF THE RARE EVERGLADES KITE (wild refuge series)

Produced By Philip Hobel
1976, 24 minutes

Every year, twenty million tourists fly into Florida looking for sun and water and an easy living--the very same reasons the ibis, heron and four hundred and seventy one other species make Florida their permanent home. A few of these exotics are to be seen on the beaches to which most tourists cling in their seasonal invasions. But the shore creatures are only the appetizer; the main course lays further inland, in the back woods, the swamps, and the marshes known as the Everglades. That's where this adventure begins and our first stop is a pelican rookery not far from the coast. Pelicans roost in one groove year after year, until the cumulative effect of their droppings completely defoliates the trees - stripping the leaves right off! Cormorants, along with Darter, Frigates and Bobbies, belong to the Pelican order. The have heavy bones and no air sack, so they ride low on the water, cruising until they spot something. They dive as deep as 60 feet to impale their victim on a hooked beak and shake it into submission!

Subjects & Collections

Related Films

WILD REFUGE (series) This thirteen-part series draws viewers into the excitement of the North American wilderness with true life adventures.

THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES (wild refuge series) Describes the life styles and natural habitat of three groups of mountain animals. One is that controversial renegade, the mustang.

NATURAL ENEMIES: THE DEER AND THE WOLF (wild refuge series) Throughout each year, in the woods and grasslands, grazing animals and their predators are bound together in a constant cycle of life and death.

THE OCEANS: GOING UNDER IN THE BAHAMAS (wild refuge series) Using a mini-submarine, this film accompanies an underwater expedition to a luxuriant Atlantic reef, teeming with life.

EXPLORING THE KINGDOM OF THE REPTILE (wild refuge series) Focuses on two kinds of reptiles--snakes and alligators.

THE RAIN FOREST'S GREEN HELL (wild refuge series) In a departure from North America, this film visits the Amazon rain forest - home of monkeys, tapirs and Indians who still use poison darts and blow guns to hunt.

THE ETERNAL MYSTERIES OF MIGRATION (wild refuge series) With the advent of autumn in the northern tundra, a Caribou herd begins its 300 mile fall trek led by a wise old female.

LONG DISTANCE COMMUTING WITH THE GREY WHALE (wild refuge series) From the Arctic, a herd of California grey whales is followed as it moves down the Pacific coast, 7,000 miles to breeding lagoons on the coast of Baja, Mexico.

COME FLY WITH THE HAWK (wild refuge series) At Cape May in the New Jersey shore the great hawk migration has started down the Atlantic fly-way.

THE GREAT BISON HERDS AND THE OLD WEST (wild refuge series) In Arizona, the great, shaggy buffalo are closely observed, once more numerous than any other game animal in the world, their numbers are now greatly diminished.

SAVING THE LARGEST BIRD IN THE WORLD (wild refuge series) The High Sierras are the last refuge of the California Condor, with less than 100 birds left, they are one off the most threatened birds in the world.

PROWLING WITH THE MIGHTY POLAR BEAR (wild refuge series) In the Arctic tundra a polar bear and her cubs engage in rough and tumble play undisturbed. In the gulf of the St. Lawrence River, baby harp seals are clubbed to death for fashionable furs.

ON THE TRAIL OF THE BIGHORN (wild refuge series) Because of their elusive nature, bighorn sheep have been notoriously difficult to film. This program is able to follow them into the remote outback of Utah, Nevada and the Rockies and observe their habits, even though they can spot a man up to five miles away.