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The Making of Mysteries of the Great Lakes
Filming breeding Bald Eagles in the wild is extremely challenging. The nests are high (often 80 feet up) in the trees. Wildlife photographer Neil Rettig captured extraordinary footage of wild Bald Eagles for Mysteries of the Great Lakes. Platforms with blinds had to be built the winter prior to filming – sometimes within a stone’s throw of existing nests. Which nests the Eagles would choose was a gamble, so four platforms with blinds were built in the hope that at least one would be active and successful in the spring. As luck would have it, three of the four selected nest sites were occupied by breeding pairs. To protect the birds from any disturbance, Rettig had to enter and leave the blind in total darkness. On a windless night, the crew used pullies and ropes to lift the gear into the trees and then left silently with Rettig behind the blind, and ready to shoot at first light. After four hours of photographer’s heaven, a serious storm arrived and forced him to abandon his blind.
The amazing Bald Eagle footage was almost lost. According to Director/Producer, David Lickley, the crew, camera, and raw footage, very nearly became a part of Lake Superior’s shipwreck lore when their boat began taking on water after picking up Rettig. Mercifully, by the time the crew was forced to abandon ship, they had reached water shallow enough to wade back to shore while balancing the camera and gear on their heads. In the end, everyone on that boat bonded in a way that only survivors can. It proves once again that there is sometimes a very fine line separating overwhelming success and total failure.
 The Great Lakes in particular require an aerial perspective to give them scale and to appreciate the vast terrain. Shooting aerials can be somewhat nerve-wracking. For example, during a scene in which a biologist is circling treetops in a Cessna in search of Bald Eagle nests, the camera was attached to a helicopter which followed the Cessna in order to shoot footage of the plane in action. The Cessna was in a sharp turn the whole time, and at the edge of stall speed. Every few seconds the plane’s computer would say “ground contact imminent,” or “stall in progress.” Nerves aside, aerials provide a ‘wow’ factor to the film. There’s nothing like skimming over the surface of the water and banking up a tall cliff face. For Mysteries of the Great Lakes aerials were shot of all the Lakes. |
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