video-eagle-plucks-moving-drone-camera-out-sky-midair

Video: Eagle Plucks Moving Drone Camera Out of the Sky in Midair

Talk about a bird’s eye view.

Watch as a bald eagle takes on a drone while flying above a beautiful sprawling beach.

https://twitter.com/buitengebieden_/status/1356659896649932802?s=20

Battle for the Skies

The drone steadily flies over the ocean aiming at the beach and shoreline ahead. All of a sudden the camera is rocked and shaken. Tail feathers are seen at the top of the camera as the eagle flies away with the video recording device.

The bird points the camera downwards while leaving the beach and flying over land. It perfectly captures its shadow revealing the large body and wide wingspan soaring above the sand and trees. The photography skills used by the eagle are quite impressive with the different angles and use of shadows.

It’s believed the camera was taken to the bald eagle’s nest and the drone was captured as prey. However, there are records of the birds destroying or catching drones due to the device entering an eagle’s territory.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane… No. It’s a Drone.

This is actually not a strange occurrence. In fact, in July 2020, an eagle attacked a $950 drone belonging to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, which is abbreviated E.G.L.E.

While surveying a lake located above the Upper Peninsula the drone’s pilot says he saw the camera begin to twirl downward all of a sudden. An eagle was seen leaving the scene. The device was later fished out of the body of water.

Another example of eagles vs. drones is when a Dutch police force used eagles to sink illegal drones. The birds enforced these attacks to maintain the privacy of events and keep politicians or dignitaries safe.

Training for these practices includes teaching the eagles to see the mobile recording devices as a form of prey. Once taking down a drone, they were rewarded with a special meaty treat. The birds were even armored with claw protectors to attack the bigger drones.

The Viral Video of the Eagle Attack

Twitter user “Buitengebieden” posted the video on February 2. It’s gained widespread popularity gaining more than 291,000 views and garnishing over 2.7 thousand likes.

The drone was never located, but the owner was able to pull the video off of his cloud storage.