3 Eagle attack on FPV had it been any other dji drone it would have been history

[Chaosrider]

Just diving down and up this gorge at 100kl/h and two Wedge Tail Eagles decided to attack my DJI FPV drone. If you do not want to wait:
1st attack 1.57 Minor.
2nd 2.39 Major.
3rd 3.21 Averted.
Cape Range National Park. Charles Knife Road, Exmouth. Western Australia. Had this been any other DJI drone it would have been history. Because the FPV is so loud and powerful and rapid prop motors, it lives.

Cool vid! A bit too much lead-in before getting to the real action.

My canyon is full of eagles and other birds of prey. I caught one on camera once, but much farther away than this. Sometimes, one or two of them will follow me back to my house when I come in to land.

Thx!

 

[RobW01]

Just diving down and up this gorge at 100kl/h and two Wedge Tail Eagles decided to attack my DJI FPV drone. If you do not want to wait:
1st attack 1.57 Minor.
2nd 2.39 Major.
3rd 3.21 Averted.
Cape Range National Park. Charles Knife Road, Exmouth. Western Australia. Had this been any other DJI drone it would have been history. Because the FPV is so loud and powerful and rapid prop motors, it lives.

Amazing footage. Hope the Wedgies were okay. Magnificent creatures.

 

[Richard R]

Nesting area maybe?

Yes most likely. They were protecting their territory. Frankly we need to 100% respect nature and I would have returned to home immediately upon first strike. As others have mentioned birds can get injured and seldom recover.

 

[John Gowland]

One of the best “bird encounter” videos I have seen! Thanks for sharing!!

Thank you so much.

 

[John Gowland]

Is there any way they might not have come in contact with the propellers? Those must have smarted a bit. They would cause pretty good lacerations if a human got in the way of them.

Because it came from high it must have contacted the props. Yup they would draw blood from your fingers. The milliseconds as it flew away was not time to show any blood from the birds talons/legs. But as I mentioned elsewhere there must have been some damage to the talons and legs, but not a great deal I hope.

 

[John Gowland]

Just diving down and up this gorge at 100kl/h and two Wedge Tail Eagles decided to attack my DJI FPV drone. If you do not want to wait:
1st attack 1.57 Minor.
2nd 2.39 Major.
3rd 3.21 Averted.
Cape Range National Park. Charles Knife Road, Exmouth. Western Australia. Had this been any other DJI drone it would have been history. Because the FPV is so loud and powerful and rapid prop motors, it lives.

Oh, my Buddha, I have just noticed something amazing! You see where the major attack came from? The sun! Attacking birds frequently attack with the sun behind them to blind side, prey. I have noticed this with Australian Magpies when defending their chicks, they will swoop and attack anything that gets between them and their chicks. Look up "Australian Magpies attacks", they are the most aggressive birds on the planet at this time of the year. They often attack with the sun behind them do delay detection so they can do maximum damage to people, dogs, cats, and anything that moves.

That is why the Australian Airforce have a tradition of painting Magpies on their planes. Sort of “You will not see us till it is too late.” Funny as hell, till the bird takes a chunk out of your head or even more seriously take a person’s eye out, which has happened a lot.

https://i.redd.it/r60gc0y4q3v71.jpg

 

[Lister]

The WW II combat pilots used to say "Beware the Hun in the sun"

 

[Lister]

I have noticed this with Australian Magpies when defending their chicks, they will swoop and attack anything that gets between them and their chicks.

Walking along the river in Brisbane, I asked my Oz host "Why to all the cyclists have dozens of zip ties sticking out of their helmets?" He laffed.

Dive bombing magpie deterrents.

 

[John Gowland]

Walking along the river in Brisbane, I asked my Oz host "Why to all the cyclists have dozens of zip ties sticking out of their helmets?" He laffed.

Dive bombing magpie deterrents.

Absolutely, one of the funniest I ever saw was my grandchild on a bike at about 5 years old being attacked by a Magpie. At first he started to bike in circles then abandoned the bike and shot off on foot like a bullet. My son and I were on the floor crying with laughter. If I had been a responsible parent I would have saved him but it was just too funny. He did have a big helmet on with spikes so he was in no danger. If he was I still could not have helped him convulsing with laughter on the grass.

 

[rjwmorrell]

I think I would have high tailed it out of there after the first attack

That would likely be the most responsible thing to do. I am not familiar with drone or wildlife laws in Australia, but in Canada you cannot use a drone to harass wildlife. If the birds are attacking your drone, you probably disturbed them. What's more is after the first attack the OP fixed the drone on viewing the eagles. It makes for nice footage but I guarantee the eagle came away injured after the second attack.

 

[Rich Sugden M.D.]

Just diving down and up this gorge at 100kl/h and two Wedge Tail Eagles decided to attack my DJI FPV drone. If you do not want to wait:
1st attack 1.57 Minor.
2nd 2.39 Major.
3rd 3.21 Averted.
Cape Range National Park. Charles Knife Road, Exmouth. Western Australia. Had this been any other DJI drone it would have been history. Because the FPV is so loud and powerful and rapid prop motors, it lives.

So when you saw the eagles you turned towards them… why?

 

[BD77]

Just diving down and up this gorge at 100kl/h and two Wedge Tail Eagles decided to attack my DJI FPV drone. If you do not want to wait:
1st attack 1.57 Minor.
2nd 2.39 Major.
3rd 3.21 Averted.
Cape Range National Park. Charles Knife Road, Exmouth. Western Australia. Had this been any other DJI drone it would have been history. Because the FPV is so loud and powerful and rapid prop motors, it lives.

To me, it seems like you were chasing them, after 2:00 mark.
Flying to higher altitude then quick return would have avoided second and third encounter.

Flying Drones Near Birds - What to Do If Your Drone is Attacked - Pilot Institute

In this guide, we will discussed about how many bird attacks on drones still happen, these laws apparently are not enough.

pilotinstitute.com

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Put down the tar and feathers and step away from your pre conceived notions folks.

The pilot institute and pretty well anyone who has never been outside of North America has no conception of dealing with a wedge-tail. They are unlike any other bird of prey. Although not considered to be the world’s biggest eagle as a species two scientifically confirmed female examples at 9’4” and 9”2” wingspan are the largest recorded non extinct bird of prey by that metric ever confirmed and that’s not taking into account the reported but unconfirmed individuals with over 10 feet span and then we get to their typically *ahem* Australian nature.

The Wedge-tail is known to attack sky divers, hang glider and ultra light aircraft and come off in better condition than the target of their ire. They pair for life, stake out a territory and then defend it against all comers. Not because it’s nesting season or for any other reason other than because they can and anything in that territory is theirs to do with as they please. Just ask them. They attack and carry off anything up to and including mid sized kangaroo and although we haven’t lost any humans to them to my knowledge there has been a few reported instances of them attacking and carrying smaller children some distance before thinking better of it and releasing them.

From the moment John unknowingly put a drone in the air in what they considered their airspace and they saw it it was a given it was going to be attacked. In acro mode with a possible 90mph the FPV drone may have been able to out run them assuming they weren’t between the drone and home but even in stabilised sport mode they were faster then he was and as you see, there is no “give up” in their DNA. Why turn towards them? Because you can’t deal with what you can’t see.

Although they may have received some superficial abrasion and cuts it is highly unlikely any serious injury was inflicted. These animals are as tough as boot leather and deal with harsher foe, other Wedge-Tails in particular in fheir day to day lives.

Nice video John, my only suggestion is maybe next time ask a local ranger. They’ll know of any pairs with a staked out territory in the area.

 

[BD77]

Put down the tar and feathers and step away from your pre conceived notions folks.

The pilot institute and pretty well anyone who has never been outside of North America has no conception of dealing with a wedge-tail. They are unlike any other bird of prey. Although not considered to be the world’s biggest eagle as a species two scientifically confirmed female examples at 9’4” and 9”2” wingspan are the largest recorded non extinct bird of prey by that metric ever confirmed and that’s not taking into account the reported but unconfirmed individuals with over 10 feet span and then we get to their typically *ahem* Australian nature.

The Wedge-tail is known to attack sky divers, hang glider and ultra light aircraft and come off in better condition than the target of their ire. They pair for life, stake out a territory and then defend it against all comers. Not because it’s nesting season or for any other reason other than because they can and anything in that territory is theirs to do with as they please. Just ask them. They attack and carry off anything up to and including mid sized kangaroo and although we haven’t lost any humans to them to my knowledge there has been a few reported instances of them attacking and carrying smaller children some distance before thinking better of it and releasing them.

From the moment John unknowingly put a drone in the air in what they considered their airspace and they saw it it was a given it was going to be attacked. In acro mode with a possible 90mph the FPV drone may have been able to out run them assuming they weren’t between the drone and home but even in stabilised sport mode they were faster then he was and as you see, there is no “give up” in their DNA. Why turn towards them? Because you can’t deal with what you can’t see.

Although they may have received some superficial abrasion and cuts it is highly unlikely any serious injury was inflicted. These animals are as tough as boot leather and deal with harsher foe, other Wedge-Tails in particular in fheir day to day lives.

Nice video John, my only suggestion is maybe next time ask a local ranger. They’ll know of any pairs with a staked out territory in the area.

 

[BD77]

I disagree. An international rule of thumb is “If wildlife notices you, you’re too close”. Once he was noticed, he should have at least TRIED to retreat. We don’t have THAT video, so we can only speculate.
The situation is asymmetric: Absent law enforcement, he is only risking his big expensive toy. The eagles are threatened and react to that, risking their health. The human started this, and IMO, made a subsequent tactical mistake. Do this on foot, in an American national park, and you may get killed by wildlife . In this scenario, the tourist risks very little. The thrust of the article is how nicely his sturdy drone held up. I think there other lessons to be learned, or not.
The one time I chased a raptor ((red tail hawk (20 years ago), I had an 1 meter electric assist glider. I saw the hawk in a thermal and I joined him. As I got close to the hawk, and the thermal, I cut the motor and we both glided up 1500 feet in a few minutes. The hawk never noticed me, nor reacted. If I saw the same thing today, I would pass. I figure if I do it 10 times something undesirable is eventually going to happen.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

I disagree. An international rule of thumb is “If wildlife notices you, you’re too close”. Once he was noticed, he should have at least TRIED to retreat. We don’t have THAT video, so we can only speculate.
The situation is asymmetric: Absent law enforcement, he is only risking his big expensive toy. The eagles are threatened and react to that, risking their health. The human started this, and IMO, made a subsequent tactical mistake. Do this on foot, in an American national park, and you may get killed by wildlife . In this scenario, the tourist risks very little. The thrust of the article is how nicely his sturdy drone held up. I think there other lessons to be learned, or not.
The one time I chased a raptor ((red tail hawk (20 years ago), I had an 1 meter electric assist glider. I saw the hawk in a thermal and I joined him. As I got close to the hawk, and the thermal, I cut the motor and we both glided up 1500 feet in a few minutes. The hawk never noticed me, nor reacted. If I saw the same thing today, I would pass. I figure if I do it 10 times something undesirable is eventually going to happen.

Many people disagree with things and I understand that but where that is based on text book or anecdotal knowledge it often leads to a mis gotten conclusion.

The eagles would have seen that drone from literally *miles* away, long before John was aware of their presence and once they did see it they most certainly came looking for him not vice versa. They acknowledge no superior and dominate their territory. Something that takes on an ultra light doesn’t blink at a drone. Comparing a Wedge-Tail eagle to a red tailed hawk is I suspect akin to positing the reactions of a great white shark based on a tuna. The tuna is big, it can even bite but the mindset is all together different.

Once the engagement has begun it’s pretty useless dealing with “could of, would of, should of”.

Edited for spelling and grammar

 

[BD77]

Many people disagree with things and I understand that but where that is based on text book or anecdotal knowledge it often leads to a mis gotten conclusion.

The eagles would have seen that drone from literally *miles* away, long before John was aware of their presence and once they did see it they most certainly came looking for him not vice versa. They acknowledge no superior and dominate their territory. Something that takes on an ultra light doesn’t blink at a drone. Comparing a Wedge-Tail eagle to a red tailed hawk is I suspect akin to positing the reactions of a great white shark based on a tuna. The tuna is big, it can even bite but the mindset is all together different.

Once the engagement has begun it’s pretty useless dealing with “could of, would of, should of”.

Edited for spelling and grammar

If all that is true, then one shouldn't fly drones in wedge-tail territory. Just as one shouldn't store food in their tent in grizzly territory. Specific knowledge is great, but over arching principles still apply. Why go to National parks and disturb wildlife?
Some people would read original post, and wonder if THEIR drone if strong enough and fast enough to evade such birds, or survive their predictable attacks. I have the opposite reaction, your reaction is somewhere in the middle, bird strikes happen.

Drone safety

Information on the rules and conditions for flying a drone in a Queensland national park or state forest.

parks.des.qld.gov.au

A quick Google "Australian laws about drones and wildlife" yielded above link.
Includes little tidbits like "Avoid directly approaching or flying your drone near wildlife". I believe you, wedge tails have a large sphere of concern. They should therefore be given a wider berth than other birds. Just as a grizzly deserves a wider berth than a tree squirrel, both for personal safety, and because they command a broader area.
Laws generally mimic common sense, but some people ignore both.
I mentioned a red tail as an example of a bird I wouldn't harass with my drone. I understand it is a less aggressive bird. I suggest that more aggressive wildlife deserve radical avoidance. A 30 second look at the law seems to support me. I suspect you won't agree.

 

[John Gowland]

What can I say to keep this going?

 

[John Gowland]

Well. I live in Perth, Western Australia. Wedgetails are everywhere here, thank goodness.
Did you know they can detect the urine of the tiniest of animals and swoop from up to 2 km high, catch and eat.
Even in densely urban areas, and Perth is one of the flattest, spread-out cities in the world, you can encounter them as soon as you press the left stick forward.
So, should you never take off?
Search
“how high can Wedge-tailed Eagles Fly”
The Wedge-tailed Eagle can reach altitudes higher than 2 km and soar in the air for up to 90 minutes at a time. The call of the Wedge-tailed Eagle, a 'pee-yaa', is rarely heard. The Wedge-tailed Eagle has a wing span that can reach up to 2.8 m and will stand up to 1 m tall. They can weigh up to 5 kg.
I disagree on one point. I hear 'pee-yaa', a lot because I fly in the hills a lot.
Home - Experience Perth Hills
There is a woman who cares for hurt/abandoned WA birds of prey and demonstrates their abilities. She let me have one on my arm, with a very thick leather, long armed glove.

Such a privilege. Such a wonderful bird.

 

[MAVE (Little bird)]

Just diving down and up this gorge at 100kl/h and two Wedge Tail Eagles decided to attack my DJI FPV drone. If you do not want to wait:
1st attack 1.57 Minor.
2nd 2.39 Major.
3rd 3.21 Averted.
Cape Range National Park. Charles Knife Road, Exmouth. Western Australia. Had this been any other DJI drone it would have been history. Because the FPV is so loud and powerful and rapid prop motors, it lives.

Looked like it was coming for the kill,
Awesome footage. Nice to watch.