More than 30 eager viewers attended the BBC showing of Neil Rettig’s stunning “Bird of Prey” film on Tuesday, November 12th, at the Woburn Public Library. Fortified by a variety of refreshments and the library’s state-of-the-art audiovisual technology, viewers who braved windy, freezing temperatures watched as the Great Philippine Eagle was located, tracked, bore, tended to, and ultimately fledged a healthy chick within what remains of the once thriving forests of the Philippine Islands archipelago. Together with a multidisciplinary, multi-national team that included Tree Rigger/Forest Guide Perfecto Balicao, and others, this huge eagle, once named “Monkey-eating Eagle, had been renamed Great Philippine Eagle by former president Ferdinand Marcos, who simultaneously promoted the bird’s name association with and supported widespread deforestation of his country. The film depicts despair and hope, as organizations like the Philippine Eagle Foundation work literally around the clock on essential tasks that include ensuring and monitoring safe nesting sites, tracking released chicks, and engaging school children and communities in education and advocacy for their national bird.

Stay tuned for future BBC-sponsored events that include movie evening, game night, and birds and breakfast/lunch.