It's faked, at the 3 second mark the wing disappears for a moment. Later on when the eagle is flying down the shadow doesn't appear until its right next to the ground, it should be there when it's still by the tree.
I think it's really a sign of the times that this was taken as seriously as it was. People need to get out and learn at least a little bit about natural history. Time to break away from the electronic gadgets! Even if it was only for a minute or two a day it would be a significant improvement!
It's not only the shadow that's wrong, but even more obviously it's a matter of incorrect anatomy and incorrect movement.
The shape of the wings is totally wrong. Even in the beginning few seconds of flight at the start of the video the shape is wrong, and it just gets hokier from there. The wing shape is wrong for a golden eagle, and the color is wrong for a bald eagle. The color really isn't even right for a golden, but it looks like that's what the animators have attempted to copy.
As for incorrect movement, for those of us who've seen real golden eagles (or even videos) stooping and binding on a large quarry it's blatantly obvious that all of the movements of the bird in this clip are wrong. The whole "turn and swoop" sequence is completely incorrect... It looks more like a model airplane making an unrealistic bank-less turn than any self-respecting bird. There's absolutely no reason a raptor would make that type of approach to large ground quarry.
