A real bird’s eye view... thanks to ‘eagle-cam’
Tiny device captures rare footage of raptors
SOARING through the skies at 4,000ft, the white-tailed sea eagle can see for miles around.
The majestic bird of prey circles, swoops and dives at speeds of up to 100mph as it searches for its next meal – and narrowly escapes the sharp talons of a territorial buzzard.
The striking footage is not the result of computer graphics or a drone.
For the first time, people are being given a unique bird’s eye view of life high in Scotland’s skies thanks to a tiny on-board ‘eagle cam’.
Elite Falconry in Fife has spent more than £20,000 developing high definition recording equipment that can be safely attached to its raptors.
As well as allowing conservationists to better understand the life of rare birds of prey, it is hoped the new technology will be of interest to television and film companies.
‘The dream would be for our birds and cameras to be part of a big budget show like Game Of Thrones,’ said Barry Blyther, who owns the bird of prey centre near Kirkcaldy with partner Roxanne Peggie.
‘They could fly over film sets to give a real bird’s eye view and with a little bit of computer graphics they could even become dragons in flight. At the moment anything like that has to be done with drones, which do not move like living things.’
He added: ‘We have been both amazed and shocked by some of the footage we have captured.
‘We knew other raptors would fly at our birds but we didn’t realise they were hitting them with their talons and pulling out feathers. A buzzard or peregrine falcon may be smaller than a sea eagle but they can do a lot of damage if they hit them at 100mph in the head with their talons out.’
As technology improved and cameras reduced in size, Mr Blyther spotted a gap in the market.
The couple created a small harness and camera mount for a tiny HD video recorder that could sit just behind their birds’ heads, above their wings.
The couple have been using their three-year-old white-tailed sea eagle Marra, but they hope to use it on other birds of prey soon. Miss Peggie said: ‘We give them a fake camera first so they get used to it and don’t pull it off.
‘We are looking forward to using it on one of our golden eagles over winter up in the Cairngorms. It will be amazing to see how they deal with snow.’