A sea eagle snatched a camera from wildlife rangers in Western Australia who were hoping to film alligators. But the video is more astonishing than alligators, since the camera was functioning during the eagle’s flight and the clip ends with an eagle selfie.
The rangers had the camera set up on the ground in the Kimberley region at the Margaret River. According to The Associated Press, the motion sensor camera was set up in May in the hope of capturing rare images of alligators. However, a sea eagle swooped down and picked one up, with the camera rolling.
The eagle filmed a 150 kilometer journey over rough terrain before landing. It then turned around and began poking at it, even posing for a selfie. Ranger Roneil Skeen told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that they only recently discovered the camera.
“It was pretty amazing because it's one of the first camera traps to ever get picked up,” Skeen said. “They've had camera traps moved [by animals] before, but not taken off, like a flying camera you know? It was pretty cool so we were pretty shocked.”
Skeen noted that they do know it was a juvenile eagle, since adults usually pick up their food and would drop it immediately. “But this one was still learning because he just took it near the cliff-side and he never dropped [it], he just put it down and started picking at it,” he said.
The rangers will now make sure their cameras are more secured on the ground.
image: screenshot