Because nature doesn’t care about your breathtaking drone footage, this is a clip from a drone operated by Adam Culbertson of Terra Incognito Photo & Film featuring a golden eagle snatching it while it was filming the mountains of Utah. The eagle continued flying with it until it was out of range, and it was never recovered, although the footage was saved to Adam’s phone.

Just an eagle reminding me whose airspace I’m in! I kept thinking the eagle would drop it, but it quickly carried my new FPV drone all the way out of range (presumably to some faraway nest). Luckily these drones shut off their propellers as soon as they detect an impact, so the eagle was not harmed.

I’d like to think that golden eagle is in its nest now, waiting for the drone it’s sitting on to hatch. I originally imagined it was feeding pieces of it to its chicks, but that was too depressing. Not that the hatching thing isn’t, but it’s certainly a more pleasant thought than baby birds eating drone scraps.