A pigeon with a small camera attached. Neubronner used the trained birds to capture aerial images before and during the war. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY DEUTSCHES BUNDESARCHIV
A post on the New Yorker‘s website adds one more drop in the ocean of appreciation we have for birds:
The Origins of Aerial Photography
…In 1908, Julius Neubronner, who had used carrier pigeons in his work as an apothecary, filed a patent for a miniature camera that could be worn by a pigeon and would be activated by a timing mechanism. Pigeons were also used by the French to capture the position of the German army in the First World War, most notably at the Battle of Verdun and the Battle of Somme. Following the Second World War, the C.I.A. developed its own pigeon camera; according to the agency’s website, the details of the camera remain classified.
A few of the other photos from this post:
Pioneer photographer Nadar, who took the first aerial photograph ever made when he photographed Paris from an enormous balloon, posing for studio portrait in a similar contraption to commemorate his feat. (Photo by Time Life Pictures/Mansell/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)
“Boston from a Hot-Air Balloon, October 13, 1860.”
Julius Neubronner with a pigeon and a camera, 1914.
Organikos 