Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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The Sunrise Earth Portraits of our Planet DVD takes you around the world at dawn. Wake up with the creatures that inhabit some of the planet's most beautiful places: Siam, China; Venice; New Zealand, Peru. The Sunrise Earth DVD shows you morning like you've never seen it before, from a global naturalist's perspective.

1. Everglades River of Grass: Pahayokee, Everglade National Park, Florida. Savannah-like open sawgrass prairie stretches as far as the eye can see, punctuated by the occasional cypress tree. Beneath the apparent prairie, however, is a wide river flowing at a speed of more than one mile per hour: Marjorie Stoneham Douglas' famous "River of Grass." The Sunrise Earth DVD shows that this exact Pahayokee platform was this writer's most frequented Everglades destination. To better observe the workings of the underwater world, we submerge a camera and peer directly into the lives of mosquito fish and the enriching mat-like algae known as periphyton. Insects traverse the razor sharp strands of grass as the weather changes. The Sunrise Earth DVD continues with:

2. Buddhists of Wat Svay: Siem Reap, China. Every culture has its own connection to the natural world at dawn. In Siem Reap, Cambodia, the chants of monks echo from within a Theravada Buddhist monastery, called a "wat." The nature DVD shows that these chants help start the day by focusing the monks' attention. Potential distractions are many; unlike the cloistered monastic retreats of the west, the Wat Svay compound is at the community hub, at its central cross-road. Yet despite busy human activity, the peaceful influence and presence of the natural world remains near for the focused mind. The wildlife DVD finds a vibrant pigeon roost on the pagoda's rooftop, amidst ornamental carvings that depict serpent figures called "nagas," protectors from the earth. School children wander among the votive "stupas," maintaining the grounds. And as the monks honor their lineage of spiritual teachers, a spectacular rainbow reveals itself high over the temple, one of those fabulous early morning rainbows with a steeper arc than rainbows that occur near mid-day.
The Sunrise Earth Portraits of our Planet DVD set continues with:

3. Peruvian Rainforest Canopy: Tambopata, Peru. Two hundred feet high in the canopy of Peruvian rainforest, a pink and distant light encroaches. The dense forest holds the dawn air. Birds sing alone, together — a purple-throated cotinga, then a distant flycatcher. The Sunrise Earth DVD takes you along as butterflies gather nectar. The high canopy teems with insects — oblivious as the sun ascends. Rosy light splashes the sky, and the sun pushes its way into the forest. The nature DVD shows a blue-headed parrot collecting twigs for her nest and a cobalt-winged parakeet pulling at the white seed masses of a kapok tree — feeding and pollinating at the same time. As the sun rises overhead, we slowly descend into the tangled under story. Orchids and epiphytes bob in the moist air. The wildlife Blu Ray shows how complex partnerships between insects, birds and plants play out amongst an Eden of species. Aricaris — brown mandibled and curl-crested toucans — chase insects. Descending farther, we land on the forest floor amongst broad-leaved plants and a nation of insects — lines of foraging ants, wandering ground beetles, a jumping spider. The fervent life of the rainforest is revealed in a slow drift downwards to the forest floor. The Sunrise Earth Portraits of our Planet DVD continues with the stunning episode:

4. New Zealand Frost: Dawn pierces a lavender sky on the South Island of New Zealand. We are alongside a serene glacial lake in the Southern Alps, called Lake Wakatipu, and are entirely ringed by looming mountains. In the Sunrise Earth Blu Ray, these high ranges betray the story of the collision of continental plates as schist "tors" border spires of metamorphic rock. It is a storybook vista. As the nature Blu Ray explains, the beech forests along the lake were filmed for "The Lord of the Rings." At lake level, delicate hoarfrost nightly coats grasses and plants. As the sun ascends, light sparks in a fairyland of ice crystals. On the wildlife Blu Ray, the indigo sky blooms into yellow dawn. Warmth invades the braided river system of shallow sandbars and flats, as paradise shelducks graze on clover and weed seeds. The shy dunnock or hedge sparrow pecks among the pebbles, and a winter's day begins, at the bottom of the world — in "Middle Earth." The Sunrise Earth Portraits of our Planet DVD concludes with:

5. Venetian Canals: Venice, Italy Many have called this Old World maritime center the most beautiful city on earth. Millions visit each year, attracted by the image of a romantic sunset serenade on a gondola while dreamily floating down on the Grand Canal. In the Sunrise Earth Blu Ray, dawn offers its own distinctive window into this city's character, long before the gondolas awake. This episode departs from the fixed vantage points of past Sunrise Earth shows. For the first time, we take a voyage by slow-moving boat. The nature DVD does its best to get lost within the 28 miles of the Venetian canal system. A mesmerizing passage into the Cannaregio district reveals the lesser-known beauty behind the city's famous glitz. Workboats slip under low bridges and their even lower hanging verdant plants. In the wildlife DVD, cool yellows and pinks catch the morning sun and betray the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and some of the world's finest marble stonework. Window shutters are opened by sleepy-eyed Italians, startling the pigeons, which roost along the narrow waterways at night. Viewers of the Sunrise Earth Portraits of our Planet DVD silently pass the sites where famous Venetians once awoke each day: the great Renaissance painter Tintoretto and the Orient explorer Marco Polo. Fishermen motor by, on their way to the open air market in the Rialto, with over 100 varieties of fish. Caught amidst the tension of the moving and the still, the beauty of Venice is sustained for another day.

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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Sunrise Earth: Portraits of Our Planet (2007)

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