Thunderbird Swap Shop 1X01

Eli was recently fired and pretends to go job hunting every day. His family either ignores him, or nags him. He's looking for an escape, but has no ideas. One of his daily routines is passing the time at the natural history museum. He falls for a tour guide and finds out she wants to go to Australia for a month and try to find a Thunderbird, considered extinct. The expedition is underfunded, but due to an unforeseen calamity, Eli comes into some money and decides to fund the adventure if he can join it. He tells his family he got a job overseas and will send money back. They don't seem to care. In Australia, they find a family of Thunderbirds. Eli suggests they open a zoo and preserve to showcase the creatures and also look for more cryptids. Some of the obstacles in his way are his family, government officials, animal rights activists, a cult of young Baal worshippers who believe the discovery is a sign from their god, and a strange boy who might control Eli's universe.