Joe Frickin' Friday Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Summary: You get to ride on the back of an eagle as he glides from the top of the Burj Khalifa - the tallest structure in the world - to his handler's arm down at ground level. Best parts: watching the eagle constantly turn his head to check out the scenery on the way down, and then at 1:39 when he says "a-ha, there's my buddy," and tucks his wings in for a speed-dive. Link to comment
Rocer Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 A few amazing parts to that video. First, that at that distance and over city noise the eagle can both see and hear his handler calling him in. Then, when the eagle gets down to business for his return he doesn't lolly gag around. It would have been nice to see a split screen from the ground and from the eagle's camera throughout the sequence. There was also an interesting few seconds of what may have been strong buffeting as the eagle rounded the high building. Link to comment
TEWKS Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 If we get to come back, I know what I want to be! Chuckled at the 1:57 mark, the little pooch seems to quickly step towards cover. Pat Link to comment
Guest Kakugo Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Eagles are the hardest birds of prey to train. They form a life-long relationship with their handler which makes it very hard to pass the bird to another person if the handler dies. Considering an eagle can live 30 years, not unlikely. Austringers of Mongolian and Turkish background start handling eagles before they are 10 and will often have just a couple of birds in their lives. The birds' long lifespan, difficulty in training and high price makes them a status symbol. A zoologist friend who worked in Mongolia brought back footages of how the eagles are trained to hunt wolves. Highly impressive considering the bird is trained to aim for the eyes and the throat. Dubai elites, very much like all noblemen of Arab extraction, have a love story with birds of prey going back many centuries. The local ruling house sponsors falconry in extremely generous fashion. In the last decade this generosity has been extended to anything having to do with birds: Dubai has some well funded and successful projects to breed critically endangered birds in captivity. Link to comment
russell_bynum Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Awesomesauce. I loved the dive at the end...tuck the wings in get down to business. Birds of Prey are right up there with sharks on the awesome scale. Link to comment
greiffster Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 Fantastic. I've watched it 5 times now. That is why flying is always the #1 Super Power. Link to comment
Joe Frickin' Friday Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Austringers of Mongolian and Turkish background start handling eagles before they are 10 and will often have just a couple of birds in their lives. The birds' long lifespan, difficulty in training and high price makes them a status symbol. A zoologist friend who worked in Mongolia brought back footages of how the eagles are trained to hunt wolves. Your mention of Mongolia made me think of this article,which has some nice pictures of a young female eagle hunter (a rare bird herself). I can't remember where I first saw this article; it may have been been here on BMWST. Link to comment
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