S.F. Seagull Steals Camera, Goes on Photo Shoot at Crissy Field

SF Weekly ^ | Wed., Sep. 12 2012 | Erin Sherbert

[nickcarraway]

This definitely makes for some very interesting bird-watching, the kind you might only see in San Francisco.

This is kind of hard to believe, but a San Francisco seagull purportedly snatched a GoPro camera out of the hands of a French tourist filming the sunset at Crissy Field -- and flew away.

According to the tourist, who loaded the video on YouTube, the bird managed to continue filming the footage of the beautiful skyline as it cruised through the air.

Naturally, the sight of this has drawn skeptics, who say, rather accurately, that this would make a pretty darn great advertisement for GoPro. What do you think: good composition by the bird, or good editing by the tourist?

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time a bird has allegedly flown away with a GoPro camera.

[nickcarraway]

[nickcarraway]

I thought the French were boycotting San Francisco because the savages banned Foie Gras?

[dfwgator]

And so it begins....

[freedumb2003]

I was sitting outdoors section of the food court at the mall in Ventura, CA about to enjoy my lunch. My napkin blew down and when I bent down to pick it up, this damn seagull grabbed my WHOLE BIG MAC.

if I could have caught him I wold have had squab for lunch!

[tsowellfan]

Is that Michael Savage?

[nickcarraway]

He was concerned about your health.

[Michael.SF.]

That is the St. Francis Yacht Club in SF where the seagull drops the camera. I am a bit skeptical on this because from the time the bird drops the camera until the camera is retrieved is about 20 seconds, which means they ran a distance of 100 to 150 yards across some beach, then got into the St.Francis (or onto their deck area) and made a bee line for the camera.

The crowd at the St. Francis takes a dim view on interlopers.

[nickcarraway]

Couldn’t it have been retrieved by someone who was already there?

[Michael.SF.]

I would say it was not “faked” but rather it was staged. The camera is left “unattended” and sitting on the cement wall separating the parking lot next to the St. Francis from the narrow beach area. The woman who picks it up laughs because she was one of the people who staged it.

Likely they were at the St Francis already and set the camera there just to see if what we saw would actually happen.

[af_vet_rr]

I wondered if it was one of those "viral" videos, but then I thought, GoPro has plenty of much better videos to show off their cameras.

Wingsuit Flying: Reality Of Human Flight (skip the ad, video worth watching, but also shows why wingsuit flying is the most dangerous form of skydiving/base jumping there is and why so many participants die)

Experience Zero Gravity

Those videos would sell a camera much better than a seagull. If I were a younger man and had no family...some of that wingsuit stuff would tempt me.

[Talisker]

...wingsuit flying is the most dangerous form of skydiving/base jumping there is...

Yeah, but I'll bet SpecOps is all over this. Imagine an insertion miles away, no chute except at the last second, after flying for how many miles through canyons to get somewhere under radar.

Of course, I can't see all that much equipment being carried, and flying at night would be out (unless night vision was used... hmmm...). But still, for military forces who live on the edge, I highly doubt this hasn't been investigated.

[af_vet_rr]

Yeah, but I'll bet SpecOps is all over this. Imagine an insertion miles away, no chute except at the last second, after flying for how many miles through canyons to get somewhere under radar.

Of course, I can't see all that much equipment being carried, and flying at night would be out (unless night vision was used... hmmm...). But still, for military forces who live on the edge, I highly doubt this hasn't been investigated.

It is being heavily investigated by those folks. In fact the people I know who do this stuff are all ex-military.

There is a company in Germany that is working on a wingsuit that would allow loads over 100 pounds, in addition to the person, and they make it clear that special operations is their target audience. They aren't thinking in terms flying down mountain slopes like you see in the videos, they are thinking of high altitude insertions where somebody then glides 20-30 miles or more in. The Grypon is probably the best known example, but I've heard of others. It would allow for a much stealthier insertion than other means.