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What type of birds have been aggressive towards your drone?

Tomahawk

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Feb 10, 2017
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Hello All,

I know the obvious eagles, hawks and some seagulls have caused "events" but today I was repeatedly dive bombed by a small sparrow or finch at about 100 feet over the forest. Too high to see what it was exactly but it was small and had no fear. After my initial laugh at the instance, I RTB'd as even a strike from this little bugger could have been fatal for my Mavic. Little Turd... Anyone else?
 
A flock of pigeons. There were hundreds and they all circled the Mavic. I dove down with the Mavic to get out of there.
 
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I had a flock of about 12 ravens form a tight circle around my drone for about a minute. They never touched it, but made me nervous.


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yesterday a small flock of Swifts took a close look at my quad while flying in a nearby town. I'm not sure that it was aggression though. (Starts ~40sec)
 
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Here in NZ I have found over the years it is only Black Back Gulls that are aggressive towards UAV's. Sea Gulls don't even give it a second look. I live beside a harbour, so many of my flights are around the water. Sometimes I'll take off with no sign of Black Back Gulls anywhere then they just appear. I usually land and move if that happens as I don't want to hurt them or the UAV.
 
Mostly the small birds. The larger predators just seem curious. I had a small bird doing inverted figure 8s trying to get at my craft.


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A shitload of hummingbirds darted at my Mavic and were super pissed.
 
Small birds. The generic kind. Bigger birds are curious. I give them respect, pray, and avoid areas where I see them circling.

I've had a large bird swoop down shortly after landing.

Now the small birds are aggressive. You see them chasing larger birds away. They are very territorial. Another airspace restriction... [emoji35]
 
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It might be more productive to examine what time of the year does it happen the most and then think of the type of bird as a secondary problem.
It's nesting time now and most birds get territorial. My dog gets dived bombed every summer by a variety of nesting birds.

Rob
 
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I'm in Houston Texas filming near the Gulf of Mexico and have had groups of Seaside Sparrows swarm around my drone. This is mainly when I'm filming in the bayous. The Seagulls, Herons, Flamingos, and Pelicans leave the drone alone here though. Ducks don't like the drone but only flap their wings when I get too close to them.

I would agree that this might do with the season as sometimes they are aggressive when the babies are near.
 
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