Uplifting Fun: Watch National Geographic TV’s ‘Extraordinary Birder With Christian Cooper’

Like a duck to water, life-long birder Christian Cooper, who hosts the new National Geographic TV show Extraordinary Birder, is at home as on-air talent — an engaging voice for this appealing deep dive into an uplifting program about the wondrous world of birds. Premiering June 17 on Nat Geo WILD and June 21 on Disney+, this six-episode series is designed to attract ardent bird-watchers as well as viewers who have never previously considered raising binoculars to spy feathered friends. There is feel-good, far-flung inspiration as Cooper travels across the United States and talks with experts who share fun facts and insider info about birds’ mysterious goings-on. Cooper has an eagle eye for spotting wildlife and a vocal skill for imitating birdsong. Enthusiastically flying the extra mile for meaningful stories, Cooper scales heights of the George Washington Bridge in New York City to visit a peregrine falcon mother and her chicks in a nest, negotiates volcanic terrain in Hawaii to unearth elusive honeycreepers and hikes Puerto Rico’s gargantuan El Yunque, the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System, to celebrate Puerto Ricans’ passion for parrots. But that’s not all.

Cooper’s name might be familiar to you for the shocking viral video that rapidly rose to national media attention in May 2020. On a quiet morning stroll through Manhattan’s Central Park as Cooper followed a birdwatching ritual that he has cherished since his father introduced him to birding when he was 10 years old, an encounter with a dog walker erupted into verbal racial tensions when he calmly asked her to leash her pet, per park regulations. His cell-phone camera documentation of the now-infamous incident riveted Americans’ awareness, sparking important nationwide conversations.

Three years later, birding continues to change Cooper’s life, as he explains in an essay that recently ran in The New York Times, which was adapted from his book, Better Living Through Birding, to be published by Random House on June 17. Cooper’s trio-themed book is a thoughtful, beautifully authored memoir, an inviting travelogue that highlights his many adventures in the Americas, Africa, Australia and the Himalayas, plus a primer on the art of birding. Cooper — a science and comics writer-editor, as well as a member of the board of directors for NYC Audubon — rejoices in the rapture of the natural world, encouraging his readers to seek comfort, strength, insight and joy amid nature.

The first episode soars in verdant Puerto Rico (June 17 on Nat Geo WILD), where Cooper, among other winged pursuits, kayaks through a bat-brimmed cave to locate the tiny emerald-green Puerto Rican Tody, reveals a rarely seen bird nestled behind a waterfall and alights upon a young, hearing-impaired pelican by the ocean. The other episode destinations are New York City (June 24), Hawaii (July 1), Palm Springs (July 8), Washington, DC (July 15) and Alabama (July 22). Along the way, Cooper learns how to care for injured birds, digs a dwelling for a tiny owl, meets another owl that saved a man’s life, gives a boost to an essential bird of prey, revels in the grandeur of great blue herons, greets a bald eagle family, white-water rafts to a strikingly serene island of nests galore, supports conservationists to help grassland fowl and drives a tractor to woo acrobatic birds. Geese, hawks, hummingbirds, kites, osprey, ravens, shrikes, white terns and woodpeckers also make appearances. It’s a welcome flutter of sounds, smiles and storylines.