'Raptor Force' swoops down on 'Nature'

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Fascination with flight, every sort of flight, from helicopters and jets to parasails and gliders, should be all it takes to lure viewers to "Raptor Force," the latest from "Nature" at 9 p.m. Friday on PBS 45/49.
Owls, hawks, eagles and falcons give us bird's-eye views of remarkable kills thanks to innovative new technology. Viewers even become part of the spectacular corkscrew dive of the peregrine falcon, a maneuver called the "stoop," in which the falcon climbs to well above 1,000 feet, rolls over -- back down, belly up -- like one of the Blue Angels and dives toward its prey which also is in flight. The prey bird never sees it coming.
Much of the footage is thanks in large measure to Rob MacIntyre.
MacIntyre actually built the tiny camera, battery pack and transmitter -- less than 3 ounces, total weight -- used to get the footage that makes "Raptor Force" so spectacular. A tiny harness keeps the equipment in place, and even carrying extra weight, the birds compensate quickly.
"Here's what I like about the film," MacIntyre says. "You will learn something. What will you learn? You will learn how individual feathers function during flight," working like tiny rudders and ailerons to adjust flight patterns. "I plan to shoot more video footage and send it out to Langley [Air Force Base] so those guys can see."
Indeed, "Raptor Force" strikes comparisons between raptors and any number of innovative aircraft, comparing, for example, a great gray owl's soundless flight to that of a Stealth bomber or the F/A-22 jets, nicknamed Raptors, to the maneuverability of a peregrine falcon.