You understand bird’s-eye view. How about the view of its prey?
It’s likely that mouse or fish don’t even see the canopy of feathers coming. Our eyes and brains barely work fast enough to process the sight ourselves, so the guys who work in the studio for the BBC’s Earth Unplugged slowed it down for us.
The Earth Unplugged slow-motion studio, which loves to deconstruct the spit of cobras and the flight of fleas frame by frame, has compiled a 70-second clip of a variety of birds as they take off, float and hover and, of course, stick their landings.
The perspective of the hunted is only one impression in the video, posted to YouTube on July 29, that shows the majestic mechanics of the flight of owls, pigeons, hummingbirds and eagles as every feather works in concert to fly.
There is a fierce and unflagging focus in the eyes of these amazing flyers, especially the barn owl, which fills the final frames with unfurled talons.
You can subscribe to the Earth Unplugged channel on YouTube here.
