by Grania
Because I am most charitably described as a nerd, the moment I saw this I immediately thought of Bilbo Baggins and his escape from wolves by eagle, you know, the bit that goes:
At the best of times heights made Bilbo giddy. He used to turn queer if he looked over the edge of quite a little cliff; and he had never liked ladders, let alone trees (never having had to escape from wolves before). So you can imagine how his head swam now, when he looked down between his dangling toes and saw the dark lands opening wide underneath him…
The Hobbit (obviously)
True, the city here is a far cry from Middle Earth; but the views and perspectives are just as stunning.
An imperial eagle named Darshan captured phenomenal views of the capital of the United Arab Emirates while taking cues from his trainer on the ground. The eagle flight was arranged by the nature conservation group Freedom Conservation with the purpose of drawing attention to eagle conservation. This white-tailed eagle has been critically endangered for the last 50 years. With a height of 2,722 feet (830 m), the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is currently the world’s tallest building.
Be sure to watch at least the beginning of the first video, as it shows the eagle being released, which doesn’t appear on the second video. But also watch the whole second video.
Full 5 minute version here
Hat-tip: John Hucul
Beautiful video and bird.
But what to make of the flixxy quote? “An imperial eagle named Darshan… This white-tailed eagle…”
Is it an Imperial Eagle or a White-tailed Eagle? Or is it an Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca) with a white tail? (They don’t have white tails, though.) Or a White-tailed Eagle (Haliaetus albicilla) acting imperially?
My guess is Imperial Eagle, since the head looks Aquila-like rather than Haliaetus-like.
I took it to mean that the eagle Darshan was Imperial and the White-tailed eagle was one of the species the flight was supposed to benefit.
Everyone seems to be really coy about naming the species.
I can’t find a reference to it on Freedom Conservation’s website, but their Facebook page says it’s an Imperial.
~Grania
Ah, that makes sense. Thanks!
Sub
Amazing how the eagle can even spot the trainer.
They spot prey that’s a lot smaller.
“First, their retinas are more densely coated with light-detecting cells called cones.
Second, they have a much deep fovea, a cone-rich structure in the backs of the eyes…it’s a convex pit. Some investigators think this deep fovea allows their eyes to act like a telephoto lens,…”
sub
Whoa…very cool.
I suppose that if you have a fear of heights, you’re not going to make it as an eagle.
That dive at the end O.O
That stoop impressed me, too!
That was the best bit – how great would that feel…
Reblogged this on Pink Peach News and commented:
#Dubai #wildlife
At 1:40, the falcon almost divebombs to its target. Incredible!
I expect, like the Stuka, it has good dive brakes.
cr
You see them fully deployed in the last shots. Wings fully splayed for maximum drag, with full flaps to reduce stall speed. The one thing that modern aircraft have which eagles don’t is reverse thrust, and I can conceive of anatomical arrangements that would mimic that, though probably not very effectively.
“anatomical arrangements that would mimic that”
I can only think of a lusty sneeze.
Having been projectile-vomited (once ; once too often) by a fulmar, and splattered on more than a few occasions by gulls of various sorts, I can think of two ways they could acquire reverse thrust.
That’s great and I thought if Gandalf riding the eagle too.
I love that you can see the eagle’s head looking around too.
Wow. And when it folds its wings to dive to its human… well, wow again.
Very impressive video, but have to say that my prominent impression is not “stunning” but “desolate”. Dubai is a testament to the hubris, and self-destructive nature of our species.
I have to agree re: Dubai. It’s a wasteland on a wasteland. But the bird was cool.
I saw the expanses of open water in the middle of a desert and thought “wasteful”. But “hubris” is a very good description too.
The wife (SWMBO – She Who Must Be Obeyed), keeps on dropping hints about a holiday in Dubai, fuelled by advertising spreads. Having worked in that part of the world, it would take in excess of £300/day to get me there again (travel included, paid door-to-door), and more to put up with the typical Emirate businessman. The Bedouin are much nicer people, but vanishingly rare. Really one of the more horrible parts of the world, and obviously having to pay a lot of advertising fees to try to drum up trade.
When (or if) modern human society divorces from the oil, this whole area is rapidly going to be very “Ozymanidas”. Think of the Burj as “one vast and trunkless leg of stone / standing in the desert all alone”.
Being of a similarly nerdish persuasion my thoughts on seeing things from the bird’s perspective, how effortless it all looked, were mainly about how glorious this would be in VR, on an Oculus Rift or Vive. Few games have ever done flight never mind done it well so it’d be hard…but man it’d be cool.
Great video!
This is obviously the reason that hardcore Islam favours throwing homosexuals from high places!
T.
Good point, Eagles must not get vertigo, also no flat earth society for Eagles, they can see the curve. It does look desolate, also the eagle seems fascinated by the tower. The dive at the end, wow
The curve is from the camera lens used. I don’t know what camera they used, but my GoPro-a-like runs at either 10mm equivalent, or 18mm depending on a software setting (which probably just crops the sensor area and cuts out the more distorted areas.
I would expect most compact “action” cameras to use similarly wide lenses. If you’re sky-diving with one on, you probably have more to worry about than precisely framing a shot from a camera on your chest. Likewise, putting a camera harness onto a large raptor isn’t something to spend too much time doing, if you want to remain attached to your digits.
Another effect of the wide angle is to exaggerate perspective, making distances appear greater and speeds higher. Hence those go-pro videos on Youtube that appear more dramatic than an ordinary camera would render. (However, since ordinary film of racing down a mountain pass is never as terrifying as doing it in real life, one could argue that the Go-pro effect is just compensating and restoring some of the drama).
cr