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Swallows avoidance system.

MavicKhan

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If I asked you (...or me, some weeks ago, for that matter...) how well swallows can avoid a Mavic, what would be your guess?

...Well, it seems they have a very advanced, quite natural, avoidance system "installed"...

Check it out:


MK
 
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More daring than me. I was flying around a bridge and got swarmed by swallows. I was worried more about a bird strike so I just kicked into sport mode and got away as fast as I could. Before that though I did get a good video of them swarming around.

I have this blue bird that is nesting in a box in the back yard and if I get anywhere near that house when I am flying, she comes out and goes absolutely nuts around the MP.
 
More daring than me. I was flying around a bridge and got swarmed by swallows. I was worried more about a bird strike so I just kicked into sport mode and got away as fast as I could. Before that though I did get a good video of them swarming around.

I have this blue bird that is nesting in a box in the back yard and if I get anywhere near that house when I am flying, she comes out and goes absolutely nuts around the MP.

Dare had nothing to do with it. :)

I had noticed the odd swallow flying around but it was not until I started the pass under the bridge that I noticed all the nests and, from that, was also then able to start noticing and identifying all the little dots, zooming around in my small iPad Mini2 screen.

By that time, the Mavic was surrounded and I figured it would make as much sense to continue forward then it would to pull back. :rolleyes:

MK
 
This is excellent! Today in a rural area of Northeast Texas, we were working with a group of awesome teachers and suddenly HUNDREDS of swallows circled the Mavic Pro. We went to a different area...same thing! With each attempt, more and more birds circled.

In my Central Texas home, I've noticed birds tend to ignore my drones (thought bats are often curious.) The swallows' behavior really surprised us. Intriguing how different species react differently to drones!
 
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I had my Air on the ground preparing to launch and a few would zoom by. A couple of times I thought they were going to hit.
 
If I asked you (...or me, some weeks ago, for that matter...) how well swallows can avoid a Mavic, what would be your guess?
...Well, it seems they have a very advanced, quite natural, avoidance system "installed"...

Considering swallows take mosquitoes, gnats and other tiny insects "on the wing", their maneuverability and avoidance capability is quite high and well known amongst ornithologists around the world. Millions of them can fly together at speeds of roughly 8 meters/second, without bumping into one another. (Of course these are unladen swallows flying south with the sun beating their wings 43 times every second, African and/or European, and in the end it's a simple question of weight ratios :D).

Honestly, the odds of being struck by a swallow, be it one or hundreds flying around your Mavic, are vanishingly small. We have examined roosts of thousands of bank and barn swallows while using a Mavic and other quadcopters, stirring up individuals in all directions, and never worry about their incessant buzzing by the craft on all sides. They can bob and weave to catch a single mosquito or wind their way through grassy vegetation. Avoiding a slow-moving Mavic for them is child's play.

 
Considering swallows take mosquitoes, gnats and other tiny insects "on the wing", their maneuverability and avoidance capability is quite high and well known amongst ornithologists around the world. Millions of them can fly together at speeds of roughly 8 meters/second, without bumping into one another. (Of course these are unladen swallows flying south with the sun beating their wings 43 times every second, African and/or European, and in the end it's a simple question of weight ratios :D).

Honestly, the odds of being struck by a swallow, be it one or hundreds flying around your Mavic, are vanishingly small. We have examined roosts of thousands of bank and barn swallows while using a Mavic and other quadcopters, stirring up individuals in all directions, and never worry about their incessant buzzing by the craft on all sides. They can bob and weave to catch a single mosquito or wind their way through grassy vegetation. Avoiding a slow-moving Mavic for them is child's play.


Cool ! :)

...but what I what to know is: Can they carry a coconut? :D

MK
 
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This is excellent! Today in a rural area of Northeast Texas, we were working with a group of awesome teachers and suddenly HUNDREDS of swallows circled the Mavic Pro. We went to a different area...same thing! With each attempt, more and more birds circled.

In my Central Texas home, I've noticed birds tend to ignore my drones (thought bats are often curious.) The swallows' behavior really surprised us. Intriguing how different species react differently to drones!

What I have come to learn, regarding these kind of birds and seagulls, is that we don't need to worry much about them. Swallows can avoid the Mavic (...apparently quite easily, according to lisadoc, above...).

Seagulls are aggressive but in a cowardly kind of way. The moment I "demonstrate" to them the Mavic's quick ascent ability or fly towards them, they immediately widen their "intimidation" circle or just plain simply fly away.

I bet birds of prey are a completely different matter...

...but, believe it or not, the animals I had more problems with were bees.

Apparently, they recognize the UAV noise signature as kind of a "super-mastter-bee", encircle the craft and follow it tightly no matter the speed or directions changes.

It was something to be seen when I encountered a large swarm once, had them engulfed the Mavic and followed, it no matter what...It seemed like CGI in a movie. o_O

It was not fun having to thoroughly clean it, afterwards. :rolleyes:

MK
 
If there are little ones in the nest they can get quite protective.
 
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