WATCH: Bird Snatches Research Video Camera - East Idaho News
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WATCH: Bird Snatches Research Video Camera

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Getty 120213 SeaEagle2?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1386018490962File photo. iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A newly released video shows what happens when a sea eagle gets a hold of a camera and, not unlike what would happen in the hands of a human, the result includes a selfie.

The camera was set up by wildlife officials along Australia’s Margaret River in May to capture images of fresh-water crocodiles. When the camera disappeared a few weeks later, officials assumed it had fallen into the water.

It was months later that officials got a call from a ranger telling them the camera had been found at another river, nearly 70 miles away, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

The camera’s footage identified the culprit as a sea eagle who flew away with the camera and managed to record itself in the process.

“We knew it was a juvenile eagle because the adult sea eagles, once they get their food or their prey, they usually take it right up into the sky and drop it,” Gooniyandi ranger Roneil Skeen told ABC.  “But this one was still learning because he just took it near the cliff-side and he never dropped [it]. He just put it down and started picking at it.”

“It was pretty cool so we were pretty shocked,” Skeen said.

Though Skeen and his fellow rangers were pleased with the footage the bird provided, he told ABC they plan to bolt the cameras down in the future.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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