Earth From A Bird's Eye View

It is an amazing sight of our beautiful planet from the point of view of birds. The birds are actually the cameramen in this new Discovery Channel special, Winged Planet.

The filmmakers bonded with birds when they were just chicks, so they could teach them to fly with the cameras.

The birds were taught to use launchers so they could take off with the extra weight of the camera on their backs.

 The footage is, in a word, breathtaking.

Some of the images are of Gamuts flying off the coast of South Africa. They're known to be intelligent and curious creatures and they’re on the move looking for their buddies, dolphins. The two species will hunt together with military precision.

The birds are the eyes in the sky, guiding the pod of dolphins to a school of sardines. The Gamuts dive seven-stories underwater, deeper than any other bird on Earth. It's tough catching fish at this depth, and many birds come up empty-handed. But the dolphins come to the rescue, attacking the sardines from below, driving them to the surface, where their winged friends can pick them off easier.

Winged Planet premieres Saturday, October 6th.