Experiments have been performed to investigate onset and development of the buoyancy driven secondary flow in a horizontal parallel plate channel with uniform bottom heating. Flow visualization in water (Pr ≈ 7) was performed by injecting a continuous sheet of dye into the bottom boundary layer just up-stream of the heated surface, and operating conditions in the ranges 125 < Re < 1,000 and4.7 x 104 < Gr * < 8.0 x 106 were considered. Top, side, and end views revealed onset of the secondary flow as thermal plumes, which rise from the heated surface and form pairs of counter-rotating vortices. Subsequent development of the flow is characterized by a breakdown in the regular plume structure and transition to buoyancy driven turbulence. Onset of the secondary flow is advanced by increasing the heat flux and/or decreasing the flow rate, and results may be correlated in terms of a critical Grashof number and a dimensionless longitudinal distance. Liquid crystal sheets applied to the heated surface reveal significant spanwise temperature variations due to the secondary flow. The unsteadiness of the flow is discussed and comparisons are made to previous experimental and numerical work.