Whole new take on bird’s eye view
After a brief stop on one of the documentary channels, I’m convinced that a bird’s eye view is cool! One word, no need to seek a synonym.
The airplane thing has been there, all of my life. Doesn’t matter that I took my first window seat when I’d already joined the ranks of the overeducated. Planes had provided mankind with the chance to look down and see the “big picture”. One of my first computer games was a flight simulator, purchased mainly because of the view from up there, no matter that it was a simulation. Next up on the wow list; satellite photos, and the eventual segue into the various view sites.
Tonight, I watched some crazy fellow scientist attach a wireless camera to the head of a raptor. Then, in a perfectly instinctual act, the bird climbed, turned and fell straight into the same space as a hapless hare. Sorry about the word play, but let’s bow our heads in a moment of silence, because in the great scheme of things, the score was bird 1, rabbit 0.
But the view! Somehow (tricky mechanical kludge) we were able to spy both behind and ahead of our bird. Great shots of the tail feathers doing micro adjustments to the swoop path. Over-the-shoulder shots as “we” crossed a small river and barely missed a tree branch. Flight data on a whole other plane…
If I could get a cool gift for this holiday, maybe a hawk with a head cam would be nice. I’m not ready to take on the responsibility for something that can kill with such poise, but the film footage was better than most TV programming.
