A Literal Bird's-Eye View: Head-Mounted Camera Captures Falcon as He Flies and Hunts

Head cams -- a small video camera mounted on one's head -- are becoming increasingly popular as the technology becomes more affordable. Everyone from extreme sports enthusiasts to TheBlaze's own Mike Opelka has one. But here's another interesting use of helmet cam technology: falcon cam.

Fitting a falcon with a small helmet embedded with a tiny video camera, the falcon cam shows the steadiness of the bird's flight, how it hunts and a stunning view of the landscape.

The video uploaded a few days ago by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council writes that the footage was taken in 2011 and "will blow your mind away." Check it out:

In Abu Dhabi using falcons to hunt, as seen in the above video, is a cultural tradition. So popular is falconry, that the area even opened a falcon hospital in 1999 to care for the birds of prey. CNN reported on the state-of-the-art facility in 2010, calling falconry "an integral part of the region's cultural heritage":

Hospital director Margrit Muller told CNN: "Falconry is not regarded as a sport in the UAE, as it is in the United States and Europe.

"In the Middle East falconry has a different background. Even 70 years ago in the UAE most of the population were Bedouin living in the desert.

"It was hard to survive, so they used wild falcons to hunt meat. It wasn't a sport, it was a necessity for survival.

"So falcons were integrated into the Bedouin family like a child and even today, falcons have exactly the same position in the family. They're not regarded as a sports tool -- they are like a son or daughter."

The BBC and PBS have also in recent years shown what a the bird's eye view from falcon looks like, except the camera was mounted more on the animal's back. Watch BBC's report:

See PBS' video here.

(H/T: Gizmodo)