National Geographic: Wild Passions Page #2

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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.

I would collect turtles,

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.

He's spent six months here,

hoping to capture the first flight

of a young harpy chick.

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,

and maybe it never will.

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 was rolling the camera and

I got the first flight.

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