Angry Birds! Falcons attacking conservationists caught on camera
The moment a group of conservationists were attacked by a group of furious falcons as they tried to tag their young has been caught on helmet cam. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO
In a scene that could have come straight from the famous Hitchcock film The Birds, university researchers are forced to defend themselves with wooden shields as the birds swoop down at them, talons bared.
The hairy moment was caught on head cameras worn by the team, as they tried to track the young birds at Toledo University, Ohio.
Experts at the university removed the chicks from the nests on the university's premises for approximately 45 minutes in a bid to take blood samples, checking for the presence of toxic chemicals, weigh each one, and clamp them with an ID band.
But the angry parents were clearly furious that their nests were being targeted - and the staff from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife were forced to turn out well prepared for attack.
A university spokesperson told Caters News: "All adult falcons will defend their nests and their chicks, although these birds are particularly good at it.
"After the hatchlings are banded, they're returned to the nest, none the worse for wear.
The parents quiet down once the chicks are returned and things are back to normal within an hour.
"Birds have a poor sense of smell, so there is no danger of them rejecting their babies after they've been handled by humans."
See the footage below:
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