אחד מסרטוני הטבע המרהיבים שראינו באחרונה: ספארי ימי בקליפורניה, שמוציא טיולים בספינות תיירותיות בהם ניתן לצפות בדולפינים ולויינתנים, תיעד באמצעות מזל"ט כמות אדירה של דולפינים ולוויתנים מהאוויר.
אה, וזה כולל גם תיעוד אינטימי מרתק של אמא והגור שלה, משתעשעים להם במים.
לכתבה באתר feeder
Captain Dave Anderson of Capt. Dave's Dolphin and Whale Safari in Dana
Point, California, at great personal risk, has recently filmed and
edited a 5-minute video that contains some of the most beautiful,
jaw-dropping, footage ever taken with a drone from the air of a huge
mega-pod of thousands of common dolphins stampeding off Dana Point,
California, three gray whales migrating together down the coast off San
Clemente, California, and heartwarming close-ups hovering over a
newborn Humpback whale calf snuggling and playing with its mom as an
escort whale stands guard nearby, filmed recently in Maui.
According
to N.O.A.A. Southern California has the greatest density of dolphins in
the world. We have pods up to 10,000 strong stretched out for miles
like the wildebeests of Africa. Over 400,000 common dolphin alone. We
also have the largest concentration of blue whales on earth.
Capt.
Dave explains, "This is the most beautiful and compelling five minute
video I have ever put together. I learned so much about these whales
and dolphins from this drone footage that it feels like I have entered a
new dimension! I have not been this excited about a new technology
since we built our underwater viewing pods on our whale watching boat.
Drones are going to change how we view the animal world. Wow!"
Capt.
Dave had to film this off a small inflatable boat, launching and
catching the quadcopter drone by hand where a miss could mean injury to
him from the four propeller blades or loss of the drone. He actually
lost one drone on takeoff when it nicked his small VHF radio antenna on
the 14 foot rigid inflatable he was filming from and it went into the
water. Alone six miles offshore Capt. Dave , without thinking , dove
into the cold, late-January waters off Dana Point to retrieve the
valuable footage taken on a flight a half hour earlier that morning. "I
had my hat and glasses on, I was fully clothed with long-johns on to
keep warm and my cell phone and wallet in my pocket," Captain Dave
explained. "It was a stupid move, but the copter started sinking so fast
it was my only hope to get the amazing footage I had just shot". Since
then he has attached flotation to the skids, which would save the
footage, but every flight over the water still risks the DJI Phantom 2
quadcopter with a small GoPro HERO3 Black camera on it, as the $1,700
rig is not waterproof and the skids will not keep it upright on the
ocean.
"I get so nervous every flight over the water now, after
the accident, my hands start shaking," explains Capt. Dave. "My wife
says no more drones if I lose this one. But she said that before I lost
the other one. Now that she's seen what it can do, I think she's just as
hooked as I am".
"This technology, that offers such steady
footage from the air for such a low price and is so easy to fly, is new.
This was a ten or twenty thousand dollar copter a few years ago and
flying those took a great deal of skill. I can't wait to see what
footage this year will bring with this drone, getting a different
perspective on the amazing sightings we already have off Dana Point.
There is debate in many states right now about making use of these
drones illegal. People are justifiably concerned about invasion of
privacy. But it would be a shame to have this new window into a whale's
world taken away."
Entanglement in fishing gear takes the lives
of nearly 1,000 dolphins and whales ever day around the world. Captain
Dave formed Orange County's first whale disentanglement group in 2008
and has been involved in disentangling several whales, including a gray
whale named Lily, whose disentanglement in Dana Point Harbor made
national headlines. He authored the award-winning book, "Lily, A Gray
Whale's Odyssey", which won eight awards in 2013 including the
prestigious Benjamin Franklin award for Best New Voice from the
Independent Book Publishers Association.
A Special Note From Captain Dave:
Attention
any would be whale videographers: please only attempt this if you are
extremely familiar with whale behavior as it is illegal to do anything
that causes the whales to change their normal behavior with big fines-
and the authorities do watch YouTube. Different areas have different
laws on approaching whales. I am a whale watch captain with nearly 20
years of experience. All laws were obeyed by us during filming. In Maui
we sat watching whales from a distance for hours before they moved
closer to us. You can never approach them there closer than 100 yards.
The Mom and calf as you can see in the film were completely undisturbed
by the small drone. NOAA is currently reviewing drones and may create
laws or guidelines for using them around whales.
Fully licensed music by David Hollandsworth, themusicase.com
Video footage is copyright David Anderson/DolphinSafari.com and may not be used without permission.
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