This is the Three Wattled Bell Bird, recorded in Costa Rica, Central America.

Because of the secretive behavior of this bird, it is often only detected by the distinctive bell-like call given by the males. At close range, the vocalization of many in Costa Rica is heard as a complex three-part song, the “bonk” giving the bird its name. This hollow, wooden “bonk” is thought to be among the loudest bird calls on Earth, audible to humans from over 0.5 mi (0.80 km) away. 

Watch a phenomenal amount of videos with birds, including more that either look or sound quite unusual: the common potoo, the red-capped manakin, the not-to-be-missed birds of paradise, and the kookaburra. 

Puffins on Parade at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

In this absolutely incredible footage from EarthTouchTV, watch hundreds of thousands of sardines off the coast of South Africa swarm at the center of an animal feeding frenzy. With Earth-Touch divers right in the middle of the action, large, hungry predators — sharks, dolphins, diving gannets, and a 20 to 30 ton Bryde’s whale — all take part in this intense and fascinating sardine run.

There are hours of nature and underwater videos in the archives.

This beautiful paper cut-out animated video for Grant Olney’s Not From Body was directed by Hlín Davíðsdóttir. It follows an owl being ostracized by other animals in the forest and how the owl moves beyond that experience. From NPR: 

“My main focus was to tell the story of a character that, through a series of both sad and comical moments, finds his own path in life,” Davíðsdóttir writes. “I felt the song was about trying not to worry about things that are out of our control and I wanted that feeling to come across in the video.”

On a side note: Grant is a mathematician with a PhD in high-dimensional geometry. 

Related watching: Sesame Street’s 3 striped balls & polka dot ball and more works in paper. 

via @aatishb.

Called living fossils, horseshoe crabs are harmless creatures that have been swimming oceans for a few hundred million years. They predate dinosaurs and are closely related to spiders or scorpions. Every May and June, they crawl onto the beaches “from the Yucatan to Maine“ to mate and lay eggs in the sand in mass numbers.

At the same time, hungry Red Knot birds on the way to the Arctic from the southern tip of South America are looking for those millions of little green horseshoe crab eggs so that they can eat. The nourishment helps them gain energy so that they can finish their long migration and breed, as well.

In this KQED Science on the Spot, Rendezvous With Horseshoe Crabs, learn about these two species and what local teams are doing to protect the balance of their interdependency.

To learn more about horseshoe crab conservation efforts, check out Science Friday’s report: Beach Season For Horseshoe Crabs.