In May, rangers set up a motion-sensor camera at a gorge in Margaret River to capture images of fresh-water crocodiles but the camera disappeared shortly afterwards.
Months later, they received a call from a ranger 110 km away saying their camera had mysteriously turned up. Three 30-second clips revealed the culprit to be a young eagle who stole the camera and flew with it for more than 100km, capturing the region on film as never before.
The footage showed the eagle swooping in from above, and carrying it up into the air, before embarking on his journey; after the trip, it deposited the camera on the ground and was captured on film again pecking at the device.
Roneil Skeen, who set up the camera said he and his ranger team were shocked to see the aerial journey play out in high-definition.
He explained: “It was pretty amazing because it’s one of the first camera traps to ever get picked up. 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.”
However, he added that in the future they will be bolting down their cameras.
Image credit: Getty
