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Anybody able to guess what this is??

Posted by Gary Mortimer on November 22, 2009 at 9:47pm

I can't tell you exactly where it is, but I can tell you there are only 75 in South Africa and we managed to fly bang over the top of it at first attempt yesterday.There is a good reason for only posting a low res image as well.All in all a very exciting use for sUAS in Africa and exactly what we set out to do. There will be stacks of environmental uses for sUAS
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  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer November 27, 2009 at 10:25am
    The camera is just a canon IXUS and flying a bit lower helps with the resolution, but I can't let you see those. Perhaps a T3 challenge should be getting a picture of a golf ball and then I could find the best camera to use!!
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer November 27, 2009 at 10:23am
    I did on the previous page ;-)
  • Dale November 25, 2009 at 6:14pm
    seriously, good job, that is a great use, very noble. put an ir camera and have it fly over to watch for poachers at night.
  • Dale November 25, 2009 at 6:08pm
    nude beach around a sinkhole, with an elephant walking past!
  • Chris Irvine November 24, 2009 at 9:22pm
    There is a technical name for this geographical feature. I don't remember what that is, but it is a sink hole that indicates the presence of diamonds. Would I be right? And if yes, can I just have the cash?
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer November 24, 2009 at 11:32am
    No worries Angela and I guess egg poachers are everywhere, I have even seen microwave ones ;-)
  • Angela Carr November 24, 2009 at 6:51am
    Very cool! I hope you don't mind, but I sent this topic to the editor of our magazine for a possible feature. If you think that's too much public exposure I understand, but I don't think egg poachers read Unmanned Systems magazine!
  • Rich Weaver November 23, 2009 at 6:17pm
    I was thinking a melon with solder spatter
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer November 23, 2009 at 11:25am
    Blimey lots of people guessing!!

    That green small circle in the top of the picture is a wattled crane nest, the cranes have pushed the wetland aside to create a moat.

    _39924949_crane_lambertini_203.jpg


    Now there are perhaps only 250 wattled cranes left in South Africa and the 75 sites are the known nesting sites.

    The idea is to fly over them and see if there are two eggs on the nest if so the crane people can remove one to bring on in captivity and thus help save the wattled crane.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3537759.stm

    Sadly the eggs attract quite a sum of money on the black market so the locations cannot be divulged and I wont be posting any more pics!!

    But very pleased to get right over this site on the first try.
    BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Many threatened birds 'need help'
    A third of the world's most endangered bird species are still awaiting action to help them survive, conservationists say.
  • Developer
    Jordi Muñoz November 23, 2009 at 10:30am
    Thermal waters in a grotto(gruta)?
This reply was deleted.