Wildlife photographers regularly brave the wilderness and all kinds of weather conditions to capture amazing picture of animals. They usually don’t brave miles of cold, sticky mud to save animals.

But that’s exactly what Krzysztof Chomicz, a Polish photographer, did when he spotted a large bird of prey stuck in the mud far from shore. And the entire rescue was captured by a drone on video.


Chomicz was taking photographs near the marshlands of Swinoujscie, a city in north-west Poland, when he and some other photographers spotted the giant bird submerged in the oily mud during low tide. The bird was stuck and exhausted from his efforts to try and escape his muddy trap.


In the video, Chomicz tied a rope around his waist, while a friend remained on solid land, in order to pull him back to safety.


Eventually, Chomicz reaches the bird, and began the herculean effort to drag the bird back to shore.


It must have taken a lot of strength and stamina to carry the bird back to solid land!


Once they reached land, Chomicz put the beleaguered bird into a sack and brought him to an animal shelter.



There, the bird was hosed off and revealed a beautiful young eagle under all the mud. It was only around 6 months old and identified as a white-tailed eagle.


The animal shelter named the eagle ‘Icarus’ after the character from Greek mythology.


Thanks to the amazing efforts of Chomicz and his friends, Icarus has a second chance to fly in the skies again!


Watch the video of Chomciz’s amazing eagle rescue below:


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Australian freediver and underwater photographer Kristian Laine was shooting at Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef when he spotted a unique manta with a rose-colored underside: the world’s only known pink manta ray.

“I had no idea there were pink mantas in the world, so I was confused and thought my strobes were broken or doing something weird,” Laine told.






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Birds really don’t get the love they deserve.

When people think of cute animals, they rarely seem to think of birds, but this is a mistake.

Birds are incredibly fascinating creatures who come in all shapes and sizes, and some birds are just ridiculously cute!

Don’t believe us? Just check out these round, grumpy-looking and totally adorable little birdies:

Kev Chapman
These beautiful, ball-shaped birds are called Bearded Reedlings.

They’re only about 16 cm in size and they have a very cute and unique look: not only do they have a very spherical appearance, but they’re also rocking quite a dramatic eye-look.

Their tiny bodies are decorated with black markings that stretch out beneath their eyes as if they’re constantly wearing a full face of metalhead makeup.

Martin Mecnarowski

As a result, these little birds constantly look a little bit angry, and because of their small size and poofy bodies, the effect is both hilarious and adorable.

The Bearded Reedling’s markings are actually called “moustaches”, but let’s be honest: that’s eyeliner!

Only the male reedlings have these markers, which makes it quite easy to tell the males and females apart.

Peter von Bagh

Apart from looking like cute, angry, little flying balls, the Bearded Reedlings have another adorable trait: they are pros at stretching.

Kaeptn Chemnitzeise.JPG

Bearded Reedlings quite enjoy chilling out with their legs fully stretched out into a split.

They like to grab on to two branches, one for each foot, and just hang out.

We wish we looked that relaxed while attempting the splits!

Nick Goodrum

The Bearded Reedlings are found in Europe and Asia and usually live in reed beds.

They tend to live in flocks and they survive on a diet of bugs, spiders, snails and reeds.

These fluffy little birds prove just how cute and cuddly-looking birds can be. And that when you are small and fluffy, looking grumpy isn’t very intimidating – it only makes you cuter.

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Every photographer’s dream is to get the opportunity to capture a unique photo, something the world has never seen before. Nature is ever-changing, complex, vibrant, and rich, so it is certainly challenging for a wildlife photographer to leave everyone open-mouthed.


Yet, in November 2016, biologist Vanessa : managed to film probably the largest swarm of sea turtles to date, while flying her drone over the Costa Rican coastline.

The drone was used in a study that investigated olive ridley sea turtles and their reproduction.


The footage reveals thousands of them while swimming across a region just off Ostional National Wildlife Refuge.

There is about one turtle for every square meter, and as the drone ascends, new turtles are rising from below the surface.

Bézy said:

“I immediately knew there was something special going on. To this day I’m still blown away by the video. They look like bumper cars out there.”

Ostional was established in 1983 as a protected area specifically for the turtles, but as they are considered a vulnerable species, this might be the last time we see swarms this dense.

Roldán Valverde, scientific director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy in Florida, said:

“This is the only time I’ve seen a video capturing this phenomenon in the water. Most of the photography documenting this occurs on the beach.”

Bézy studies them and her goal is to raise awareness about the importance of protecting the species and hopes her footage will help it to remain robust. Even though these sea turtles are widespread, they have very few nesting sites globally.

Bézy worries about the rising tourism industry around the beaches where they nest, as regulations proposed to protect the area seem to not be enough.

Also, olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings have a very low survival rate into adulthood, so if we additionally threaten the population, it might crash fast.

She hopes that her investigation will find out the reason and the way such a great number of turtles gather there, especially in the period between August and October. This might be due to factors such as sand type, beach orientation, and sea currents.

These findings might provide an answer that can maximize the chances for survival for the species.

Olive ridley sea turtles are among the six sea turtle species that the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed as threatened, so mass aggregations of this kind are a critical part of their life cycle.

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