Migrating Sandhill Cranes. Photo by Greg Mann, MI

The stunning 2003 film, “Winged Migration,” gave viewers a wing-side seat with free-flying birds making their incredible journeys. Now, some of the footage viewers didn't see is coming to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library for research and education.

French producer/director Jacques Perrin of Galatée Films collected 200 hours of film over 3 years in 40 countries on all 7 continents. The final movie is 85 minutes long, so there’s plenty of material left over.

"They have some really beautiful courtship shots and parents feeding chicks at the nest. They have material on owls, albatrosses in the South Pacific, seabirds, and lots of great bird behaviors,” says Macaulay Library video curator Ed Scholes. "We'll archive a high-quality digital version here while the original film stays in France. Eventually, all the video will be available to the public via the Macaulay Library web site, www.animalbehaviorarchive.org

This fall, Macaulay Library video archivists will spend several weeks in France, working with ornithologists from the Natural History Museum of Paris to evaluate the material and select some of the best footage to begin archiving.

"We'll be archiving the material with as much associated data as possible,” says Scholes. "The filmmakers kept logs so we know when they were in the field and where. We can see what the weather was doing. We want research to be done with this material. For example, it could be used in studies on the biomechanics of flight."

A one-year grant from the Lounsbery Foundation, which promotes collaboration between scientists in the United States and France, will cover the cost of converting the first 35mm clips to a digital format. The Lab could also gain access to unused material from other Galatée films, including footage of primates, insects, and sea creatures."W're happy to establish these relationships—it opens up a whole new world of connections for us in France" Scholes says. "I think what’s most unique is that American and French scientists and filmmakers are working together to do the right thing, giving new life to this valuable footage."