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Is This Incredible Photo for Real?
Check out this photo sent in by a friend. His email was entitled, "Photographed by a Hunter in Montana" and read:
Don't know if this is real--people can do pretty amazing things with computers--but if it is, it's a pretty crazy shot.
If you know anything about this photo, let us know.
Thanks, Todd.
First reaction is this is a fake, the giveaway for me...no fox tracks in the snow...i would think you would be able to see potholes in the snow where the rear feet of the fox shold have been. They put a "snow fog" over where they should have come out, but I see evidence of a footprint there, or anywhere else around where he might have come from...what do you all think?
Posted by: trent | December 19, 2006 at 10:38 AM
No tracks? What are you talking about? The whole place is covered with tracks.
Posted by: NobodySpecial | December 19, 2006 at 01:15 PM
looks real to me
Posted by: | December 19, 2006 at 01:40 PM
if they did edit it they did a damn good job, the only thing that doesn't look real is that the left talon of the eagle isn't touching the fox. and i really can't tell about the other one... but its a good pic
Posted by: ole' | December 19, 2006 at 05:24 PM
the front feet seem to be missing on that critter. look how square they appear...almost like they were left on another photo...
Posted by: hull | December 19, 2006 at 05:49 PM
The photo is 100% real. I managed to track down some more info for you guys. Here is a link to some more photo's from the same encounter: http://www.tarsiger.com/index.php?pic_id=komi1142612071&lang=eng
"The animal on the photo is, without any doubts, a Red Fox. Furthermore, it is actually part of a series that was shot in Finland by Pekka Komi. This photo could give the mistaken impression that the Golden Eagle is attacking the Red Fox to prey on it, but that was not the case. Actually, they were fighting for a carcass that had been laid out to attract various raptors. For some time the outcome of the fight was unclear, but in the end the Golden Eagle won and the fox ran away. Pekka Komi who took them has posted 5 photos from this series on Tarsiger (if I remember right, there are more that weren't posted"
Posted by: eric | December 19, 2006 at 09:17 PM
well i guess that puts the mystery to rest
Posted by: Boar Slayer | December 19, 2006 at 10:10 PM
Looks fake as hell to me...and any old web sight cant conferm it either...it needs to be reliable, and when the link wont even work for it...
The position of the fox...the eagle...size relation....
it seems pretty sketchy to me...
Posted by: Lee B. | December 20, 2006 at 04:04 AM
You have to copy and paste the link manually to view it. For some reason just clicking on the link directly doesn't work.
Posted by: eric | December 20, 2006 at 11:21 AM
The Berkut eagle was regularly launched from the pommel perch where it was carried by it's mounted mid-asian owners and sent to kill wolves by crushing their skulls from behind and above. I've seen films of this. Wow!
Posted by: Neil Smith | December 20, 2006 at 12:55 PM
Falconers use golden eagles all the time to take foxes and wolves. I beleive they use goldens in england to take the small deer there as well
Posted by: ron | December 20, 2006 at 02:18 PM
I'm a believer.
Posted by: bob | December 20, 2006 at 02:20 PM
i dunno looking at the link it seems pretty real to me. i mean to fake all those photos and get the eagle and the fox to look exactly the same. I mean it'd be a lot of work.
Posted by: Alex | December 20, 2006 at 02:25 PM
your fake as hell lee B
Posted by: mullet | December 20, 2006 at 02:40 PM
Fake or real, it sure gets one's attention.
Posted by: Jerry | December 20, 2006 at 02:44 PM
It is a really cool picture. I have actually seen a Golden Eagle take a fox before and it is an impressive sight, I wasn't lucky enough to get pictures though.
Posted by: Bill | December 20, 2006 at 02:53 PM
I enjoy doctoring photos from my hunts to show my friends. This photo doesn't look doctored to me. The situation, surrounding, and characters are very probable. The photo is crisp. Ask yourself why would someone make it up? They wouldn't. The fox is lucky he didn't end up being the meal.
Posted by: gb | December 20, 2006 at 03:00 PM
Don't click it, COPY & PASTE it.
http://www.tarsiger.com/index.php?pic_id=komi1142612071&lang=eng
Posted by: GB | December 20, 2006 at 03:03 PM
I THINK ITS REAL I LIVE WHERRE THERE IS A SANCTUARAY FOR BALD EAGLES AND IVE SEEN THEM GO AFTER FAMILY DOGS AND ATS SO WHY NOT A FOX IN THE WILD I KNOW IT ISNT A BALD EAGLE BUT THERE PATTERNS OF FEEDING ARE SIMILAR AND THEY CAN BE TERITORIAL
Posted by: Robert Murray | December 20, 2006 at 03:19 PM
I am a photo retoucher by trade...so I see no field of depth. Everything is in focus. Very suspect. Well done.
Posted by: Nick | December 20, 2006 at 04:06 PM
I think it looks real to me. The dead body, other bird and the position of the eagle all point to the fact that they where fighting over food.
Posted by: matt | December 20, 2006 at 04:24 PM
As a long-time wildlife photographer I studied each of the five photos in large sizes. I say they are legit. The complaint of the fox's feet "squared off" - look at a blow-up and you'll see the feet are down in the snow. The complaint of the photos being too sharp throughout - each blow-up shows the backgrounds are fuzzy.
Posted by: Ed Park | December 20, 2006 at 04:29 PM
I see no evidence of the eagle's right foot being around the fox's leg, without that, how did the eagle lift the fox, and if you take the fox and turn him about 45-60 degrees to the left, he is running on the ground with all four feet at the proper levels and looking very natural. My money is on fake as fake can be.
...Bill
Posted by: BILL COFFEY | December 20, 2006 at 04:55 PM
My wife and I teach computer and Photoshop classes at the local college: we think they are legit. It would be extremely difficult to fake those shots, with the lighting, focus and action as they are. If they are fakes, which is very unlikely, then they are extremely good fakes, and you'd have to ask: Why?
Posted by: Richard A. Smith | December 20, 2006 at 07:13 PM
Can't comment on quality of photo but looks real to me. Scenario seems legit as well. Spoke with some folk w/ the Raptor Rescue here in CO and they have and account of a pair of Golden Eagles taking down a pronghorn. I don't doubt the photo or the scenario.
Posted by: BK Johnson | December 20, 2006 at 08:56 PM