Big birds in my area of Florida

[GaryDoug]

We have a lot of large birds around my area at the mouth of a river on the Gulf of Mexico. They are mostly bald eagles, ospreys and pelicans. The pelicans are not very aggressive or territorial but do get in the way sometimes, not being used to seeing a stupid little "bird" that does not yield the avian right-of-way ;-). The others are a different matter. The eagles and ospreys get into a lot of fights to protect their territory. Usually the ospreys win because they team up on the larger solitary eagle. All of these birds are bigger than my Mini. After about 50 flights, I have not had any issues; but it is winter and I expect the birds to be more active later in the year. I have read that reflective tape can help and have outfitted my mini with some (see avatar). I tried to keep it out of the camera's view field. Does anyone have any idea if this actually works to deter bird strikes? Thanks.

p.s. It does help to be able to see this tiny drone from far away, so I guess that is some benefit.

 

[Thomas B]

I deal with eagles and hawks in many rural AZ locations... if you are lucky and just get buzzed recommend abort and RTH. I have not found anything that reliably deters the birds of prey from protecting their nesting territory.
If you don’t they’ll eventually take your drone down.
Here’s an early encounter when I was learning... 4 total pass by the hawk ... closer each time. Could have been a long walk if I had persisted.

 

[Saigondroner]

This sounds like a question for “Sully” Sullenberger...or at least Tom Hanks .

Seriously, I doubt any optically reflective tape affects anything more than my ability to maintain VLOS, or find my drone after a distant forced landing. Most reflective tape is 100% plastic. A MM is so small & underpowered, w little obstacle avoidance. I would steer far away from open water flights, with shifting wind patterns, and birds of prey lurking about.

When I fly over water, I prefer to fly a P4; but a Mavic 1 or 2 Pro is so much more portable. I had osprey problems a long time ago, Chesapeake Bay, MD. Best....

 

[Saigondroner]

I deal with eagles and hawks in many rural AZ locations... if you are lucky and just get buzzed recommend abort and RTH. I have not found anything that reliably deters the birds of prey from protecting their nesting territory.
If you don’t they’ll eventually take your drone down.
Here’s an early encounter when I was learning... 4 total pass by the hawk ... closer each time. Could have been a long walk if I had persisted.

Yup. That is some bad a** trouble. The Dutch police have perfected their anti-drone skills.

 

[Thomas B]

Yup. That is some bad a** trouble. The Dutch police have perfected their anti-drone skills.

Not surprised that somebody is using them for this purpose. Wonder if the birds bring the drone to their handler to facilitate getting the registration number for operator I.D.

 

[GaryDoug]

I would steer far away from open water flights, with shifting wind patterns, and birds of prey lurking about.

Haha, that would be pretty much all of this area. Not going to happen. Maybe I will be a test case.

 

[Saigondroner]

Haha, that would be pretty much all of this area. Not going to happen. Maybe I will be a test case.

Here's your test case.....

Eureka!! Use mylar party confetti as chaff! The perfect countermeasure! Just like WWII It's not magnetic, and only optically reflective. Delivery control could be done using a dronefishing remote release system. Mylar confetti is very lightweight, so payload might not be an issue.

I have used this bait drop system with success on my Mavic Air:

https://www.lazada.vn/products/dron...o4n.searchlist.list.1.50cc2626uNyXqt&search=1

Now all you need is to research which color scares the h*** out of eagles & ospreys. I like the green stars :-D