Spring (E01)

March 21st is the first day of spring all across Canada. Life is on the move again, as the whole country begins stirring after the long cold days of winter. In northern Quebec, the female caribou of the Leaf River herd are on epic 600-kilometre migration to reach their calving grounds. They are racing against the clock to complete their journey before the spring melt begins. Along the way, they must face off against an ancient adversary that hounds them their entire lives – wolves. Spring is a time of transformation. On the Hay River in the Northwest Territories, 3.5 million tons of ice suddenly breaks free and plows downstream, roaring over a 30-metre waterfall as the river undergoes a thunderous metamorphosis. One of the most astonishing of all transformations is that of the wood frog. Deep beneath the leaf litter, wood frogs spend the winter frozen solid, suspended somewhere between life and death. Macro time-lapse photography reveals its heart beating for the first time in six months. The return of migrating animals is another harbinger of the season. The calliope hummingbird — one of Canada’s smallest birds — returns from Mexico to build her egg cup sized nest. And magnificent white pelicans return to their breeding colony on Last Mountain Lake in southern Saskatchewan, where the pelicans fish together using their own form of synchronized swimming to help them bag a big one. Spring is also the season of birth and new life. From boisterous Arctic fox puppies taking their first steps, to playful East Coast black bear cubs learning to climb trees, to curious sea otter pups rafting in kelp fronds and riding on their mother’s bellies, SPRING offers an intimate and heart-warming look at the lives of these young creatures as they learn to navigate the challenges of life in the wild. (CBC Television)