I live in beautiful Cascais, Portugal.
The beauty of the place and it's adjacent areas is one of the reasons I've been considering getting a drone for as long as I did.
Unfortunately, part of the picturesque qualities of the place relate to the fact that it is a fisherman's village.
As such, seagulls abound in quite large numbers and although they mainly fly around the small fishing port and marina they also dwell into town where they are becoming a serious health and noise problem, since they target the village's roofs as nesting grounds.
My first flight, early in the week, was conducted in a flattened large area well into the village, in some grounds where the old bull-fighting arena used to be, before it was torn down, some years ago.
It hasn't been decided what will go there next, so the area is well taken care of, very large and completely devoid of obstacles, so it seemed like an obvious place for my initial training.
Even there, as I ascended the Mavic into 40 or 50 meters, 3 to 4 seagulls appeared and they were circling it above, screeching like mad, in what were clearly "intimidating" poses for what they considered an "intruder".
I observed that, in spite of the maneuvering and noise, they didn't actually dare to come very close to the Mavic but it might have been because I was also cautionary-descending whenever they approached. They might have been satisfied with those "retreats".
About an hour ago, I went downtown near the mentioned small fishing port to check things out and try to continue my training with the Mavic as there are some beautiful buildings there in addition to the small fishing vessels, themselves, that I wanted to get aerial footage from.
As expected, the number of seagulls was in tune with the area and I wasn't brave enough to even get the Mavic out of the backpack.
I have seen some video footage and reports online and they seem to confirm that, although certainly prone to "intimidating passes", the birds do not actually attack the UAVs.
Still, I am thinking that they might always misjudge a pass and end up hitting the Mavic, an encounter that would not leave them in very good shape but would also certainly mean a lost drone.
Apart from the obvious input - "Don't fly with seagulls around" - what are your perspectives and/or experiences with birds, in general, and seagulls, in particular?
Thanks.
MK
The beauty of the place and it's adjacent areas is one of the reasons I've been considering getting a drone for as long as I did.
Unfortunately, part of the picturesque qualities of the place relate to the fact that it is a fisherman's village.
As such, seagulls abound in quite large numbers and although they mainly fly around the small fishing port and marina they also dwell into town where they are becoming a serious health and noise problem, since they target the village's roofs as nesting grounds.
My first flight, early in the week, was conducted in a flattened large area well into the village, in some grounds where the old bull-fighting arena used to be, before it was torn down, some years ago.
It hasn't been decided what will go there next, so the area is well taken care of, very large and completely devoid of obstacles, so it seemed like an obvious place for my initial training.
Even there, as I ascended the Mavic into 40 or 50 meters, 3 to 4 seagulls appeared and they were circling it above, screeching like mad, in what were clearly "intimidating" poses for what they considered an "intruder".
I observed that, in spite of the maneuvering and noise, they didn't actually dare to come very close to the Mavic but it might have been because I was also cautionary-descending whenever they approached. They might have been satisfied with those "retreats".
About an hour ago, I went downtown near the mentioned small fishing port to check things out and try to continue my training with the Mavic as there are some beautiful buildings there in addition to the small fishing vessels, themselves, that I wanted to get aerial footage from.
As expected, the number of seagulls was in tune with the area and I wasn't brave enough to even get the Mavic out of the backpack.
I have seen some video footage and reports online and they seem to confirm that, although certainly prone to "intimidating passes", the birds do not actually attack the UAVs.
Still, I am thinking that they might always misjudge a pass and end up hitting the Mavic, an encounter that would not leave them in very good shape but would also certainly mean a lost drone.
Apart from the obvious input - "Don't fly with seagulls around" - what are your perspectives and/or experiences with birds, in general, and seagulls, in particular?
Thanks.
MK
