A curious eagle stole a photographer’s drone from the sky and then took a selfie with it.
Photographer Matthew Wood was making use of a drone to take aerial pics of the surroundings in the Pioneer Valley in Queensland, Australia.
Even so, he lost management of the device when an eagle plucked his DJI Avata drone from the sky.
The only clue Wooden has about what occurred to his drone right before it vanished forever is a just one-second selfie of an eagle staring straight down the camera at him.
“I was at a person of the well-liked landmarks in my region which is a mountain vary. I place my drone up in the air and was filming a gradual floaty hill descent,” Wooden tells PetaPixel.
“All was going properly until I was diving down one particular of the grassy hills and my drone took a hit!”
He suggests he turned the drone all around to see an eagle eyeing up and chasing the device. Wooden tried using to fly the drone absent but the eagle grabbed on to it.
“All I saw was the digital camera pointed at the floor while the eagle flew absent with it back to its nest,” the photographer states.
“The picture I obtained of the eagle was the only footage I could get from the goggles. It documents the last 30 seconds of the flight to aid you find the drone if it is misplaced.
“The eagle took the drone back again to its nest and was making an attempt to try to eat it!”
Wood, who shares his aerial photography on his Instagram site @skyhigh_imaging, says that he quickly jumped on his motorbike and went down the range.
The photographer was equipped to choose up a GPS signal. However, the drone appeared to be in a heavily grassed place, or higher in a tree and he was not able to retrieve it.
An ‘Educational Experience’ on Wildlife
At very first, Wooden was disheartened to get rid of his favourite drone but now he is grateful for the encounter. He says it will advise his aerial images in the foreseeable future and he will be much more aware of wildlife when flying his drone.
Wood explains: “Initially, I was pretty upset since of the cost but after a several times I have come to recognize I was in the eagle’s territory, and [the drone] grew to become their prey.
“It has turn out to be an educational expertise on the nearby wildlife.”
In an job interview with ABC News Australia, Professor Gisela Kaplan from the University of New England says drones are dangerous to birds as they can induce intense accidents on collision. They are also frightening for birds and are often viewed as a menace.
“Some birds have modified to city lifestyle and all of its noises, but this is a concentrated sound — it’s like a jackhammer in the sky,” Kaplan tells ABC Information Australia.
“And drones are unpredictable — they can go forwards, backwards, and sideways and that variety of unpredictability is pretty much unattainable to adapt to.”
Kaplan has advisable that drones be banned from specified spots in Australia through nesting time.
“You really do not let fishing when there’s spawning year, so don’t enable drones when there is a breeding period simply because it will stop the birds from breeding,” she states.
Impression credits: All images by Matthew Wood/@skyhigh_imaging
