Drone films the moment a huge falcon attacked it at 2,300ft
Swooping in for the kill: Drone films the moment a huge falcon attacked it at 2,300ft and sent the aircraft spinning to earth
- Saker falcon swoops in on drone as it flies above Kamchatka peninsula in Russia
- Bird clutches the device with claws before dropping the device onto the ground
- It then inspects the remote-controlled object before flying away from the scene
- Footage was captured by Ilya Bardysh, 32, from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
A falcon attacked a drone as it flew at 2,300ft before sending it crashing to the ground.
Footage captured by cameraman Ilya Bardysh, 32, shows the saker falcon lunge towards the drone as it flies above a remote site on the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia.
The rare bird of prey then snares the flyer and clutches it in its claws before bringing it back to earth.
The saker falcon swoops in on the drone as it flies above the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Russia
The rare bird of prey tries to catch the remote-controlled device as it continues to fly mid-air
During the clip, the falcon swoops in towards the camera and grabs it by its claws.
The bird then drops the drone on the ground and lands next to the remote-controlled device to inspect it before flying away from the scene after hearing it beep.
Mr Bardysh, from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, described how he later found his drone by using GPS coordinates.
He said: ‘A falcon thief stole my drone. The falcon dragged the aircraft to a swamp, so I had to search for it using GPS coordinates from the DVR record.
‘I was descending, the height was about 700 metres.
‘I just thought ”wow, a bird” and the next second I was frightened. I turned off the drone.’
‘It was lucky the bird was not wounded by the rotors,’ he added.
The powerful bird clutches the flyer with its claws before bringing it back to the ground and inspecting it
Cameraman Ilya Bardysh (pictured), 32, from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, said he had to search for his drone using GPS coordinates from the DVR record
The footage was filmed late last year but has only emerged now.
Saker falcons are the second largest falcon species in the world after the Gyrfalcon and are often found in the semi-desert and forest regions in eastern Europe and central Asia.
The birds of prey have a broad wingspan and have variable plumage ranging from chocolate brown to a pale sandy colour, with streaking on their breast.
The falcon, which can reach speeds of up to 200mph when in pursuit of prey, is the national bird of Hungary, the United Arab Emirates, and Mongolia.
They are highly prized and Russia has stepped up efforts to protect them from poachers supplying Arab sheikhs.
