Flying with birds in BBC's Earthflight - in pictures

Earthflight joins the breathtaking journeys across six vast continents of snow geese, cranes, falcons, albatross, eagles and other birds . Spycams film right in the heart of the flock with microlights, hang-gliders and wirecams making up the aerial filming arsenal Photograph: John Downer Productions

Part one is set in North America Photograph: BBC

Earthflight’s epic adventure begins in the Gulf of Mexico as 5 million snow geese prepare to fly the entire length of North America. Each spring, these families of geese head north on a gruelling 3,000-mile journey to the Arctic to breed Photograph: Matthew Gordon/John Downer Productions/BBC

Hitching a lift with pelicans on their leisurely route up the golden coast reveals the never-filmed-before behaviour of devil rays somersaulting out of the water and the daytime spawning of thousands of grunion fish. Eventually the pelicans make their final descent into San Francisco Bay, gliding past Alcatraz and slipping under the Golden Gate Bridge Photograph: Michael W. Richards/John Downer Productions/BBC

A fish eagle flying under a rainbow at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Africa Photograph: Rob Pilley/John Downer Productions/BBC

A Cape gannet flying over a gannet colony, Bird Island, South Africa Photograph: Michael W. Richards/John Downer Productions/BBC

Tulip fields and cranes. Using cutting edge new filming techniques to show everything in exquisite detail, viewers have a uniquely privileged perspective flying 9,000 metres high over the sands of the Sahara or skimming metres over the Great Wall of China Photograph: Christian Moullec/John Downer Productions

Each episode will look at bird migration on a different continent, using innovative cameras and filming technology Photograph: John Downer Productions

Part five will show birds from Asia and Australasia Photograph: BBC

Parakeets roost in a tree Photograph: BBC

Budgerigars over Uluru Photograph: BBC

Scarlet macaws in South America Photograph: Philip Dalton/BBC

A scarlet macaw in South America Photograph: BBC

Part six, On a Wing & a Prayer, is the 'making of' episode Photograph: R. Cook/BBC

One unwelcome fellow traveller is the bald eagle. At every opportunity it plummets into the flock to grab a meal. But it’s salmon not geese that lure the eagles away to Alaska. As the annual salmon run kicks off, duck and dive among squabbling grizzly bears as the eagles snatch a share of the feast Photograph: BBC

Some of the stunning 'Earth from the air' type shots were taken by Christian Moullec, from his microlite, flying right alongside the birds Photograph: BBC