National Geographic: Wild Passions Page #2
- Year:
- 1999
- 30 Views
I had a hole through my leg big enough
to stick a coke bottle through.
But danger doesn't deter
the best wildlife filmmakers.
They'll go to incredible lengths
or heights to get the shot.
That's what Neil Rettig is famous for.
Here, he's climbing 150 feet up
to film the world's most powerful bird
of prey the harpy eagle.
It has a wingspan
of more than six feet,
and talons the size of bear claws.
The harpy will attack any intruder
that gets too close to its nest
including a precariously
perched cameraman.
The first time an eagle flew at me,
I was scared to death.
The problem is if you're climbing up,
and you don't know where they are,
you have to look in a 360 degree
radius around to try to spot
when they're coming,
because if you didn't see 'em,
they'd definitely hit you.
They're incredibly powerful.
If you weren't roped in, they could
knock you right off the limb.
leatherjacket that was totally shredded by the end of it
It was just like a big hole
in the back, you know.
How do you end up in a spot like this
warding off attacking eagles?
Like most filmmakers,
Neil's been following this path
from his earliest days.
I grew up in an area that had
a lot of wildlife.
My parents were very supportive.
and salamanders, and snakes, and so forth.
And I really had an interest
in birds of prey especially.
Today, when he's not on the road,
Neil spends every spare moment
raising hawks on his Wisconsin farm.
You're a good boy.
I got into falconry in
the late '60s and early '70s.
Birds of prey are just so free
and fantastic.
Neil's hobby became a career back
in the 1970s,
when he learned of a giant eagle
that had never been photographed.
A complete novice at the time,
Neil shot the first film ever made
about the harpy.
Now a highly-respected old pro,
he's returned.
hoping to capture the first flight
I think all of us have
a lot of experience sitting
in a blind for weeks at a time,
and not shooting a single inch of film
waiting for something to happen,
The young harpy spent weeks testing
its wings and Neil's patience.
And then one day
he went maybe 60 feet out
into the canopy of the nest tree
and I was ready, you know,
I had my finger on the shutter release
and I was ready
to roll the camera thinking,
"This is it.
We're gonna get this first flight."
And it just took him forever.
He slowly walked down the limb
and he kept walking.
And I go, "Oh, my God,
he's gonna walk all the way back."
But then, finally,
he just suddenly flew.
I got the first flight.
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"National Geographic: Wild Passions" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/national_geographic:_wild_passions_14595>.
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