The Freedom of Flight: From an Eagle’s Perspective

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Flying-eagle-point-of-view-by-YouTube-Srachi

Shot in Chamonix near the Mer De Glace (Sea of Ice) – the longest glacier in France:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/G3QrhdfLCO8[/youtube]

Only birds and aerial vehicles can soar around the European Alps, but a thrilling point-of-view video lets you vicariously take flight over the amazing vista from the alleged perspective of an eagle.

The point-of-view footage, uploaded by YouTube user Srachi, supposedly shows an action camera (e.g. a GoPro) attached to the back of an eagle that’s flying around at extreme heights. According to the video description, the near 1.5-minute clip took place near the Chamonix village located at the Mer de Glace glacier of Mont Blanc in the French portion of the Alps.

Crave wasn’t able to confirm the authenticity of the eagle video, but there certainly appear to be no shortage of realistic head movements and wing flapping. Still, memories of a spectacularly fake eagle attack video from last year leaves me a bit skeptical.

So what do you think? Real or faked? It seems real; but the person should post an explanation of how he mounted the lightweight GoPro HD HERO3 camera and what the status of the eagle and camera ended up being, beyond the minute and 26 second short video.

…..and why can I not stop thinking of Gandalf, Bilbo, Thorin and Company when I watch this?!

Being subjected to John Denver while growing up also conjures up this song from my memory when I watch the above video play:

[youtube]http://youtu.be/3n4BPPaaoKc[/youtube]

Hat tip: Bloviating Zeppelin

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Here is a video showing one way it is done. The goshawk (the guy pronounces it gossil in the video) footage makes the best pilots look like mental vegetables when it comes to flight.

Proof that humans will never master the goshawk when it comes to flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CQfaBGWSo

It certainly looked real.
I used to have access to an eagle nest cam.
Often the parent eagle would stand on the branch between the cam and the nest while winds ruffled its feathers.
Looked just like the way the wind ruffled the feathers of this eagle in this video.
I noticed the eagle had to swerve to miss a fir tree.
That is real.
At least excellent fakery, anyway.
Eagles and other raptors have telescopic eyes that cannot focus both on the ground (looking for prey) and the nearer trees (or turbine blades) at the same time.
That’s why so many raptors get killed by wind turbines.
So, all in all, I’d say probably real or terrific fake.

It’s real, there are youtube videos showing how it’s done for other birds. I think the goshawk ones are the best because they fly like those speed bikers in the Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi, but they are a lot better at it.

Good thing that was done in France instead of the USA where you can be arrested for picking up an eagle feather off the ground.