Bird attacks! Do you get a lot of bird encounters too?

[MavicAir2Marc]

Lightning?

Lightning is not seen on prey...just a thought though, they could just as well totally ignore it.

 

[Peter Hughes]

Lightning is not seen on prey...just a thought though, they could just as well totally ignore it.

Good point...totally forgot about those non reflective birds, mice etc ?? Catch you later.

 

[volition]

 

[ChrisOutdoors]

I fly in the wilderness weekly. Birds challenge the UAS every flight but only attempt at intimidating. I only take evasive action when I see a raptor, they own the skies and I've learned to respect them.

 

[SkyeHigh]

How fortunate was that!

 

[SpitFire]

I like to have a spotter with me to watch for birds,espically
If they are territorial in nature.

 

[bushie]

I fly regularly on a local beach where there are always seagulls (Australian Silver Gulls) They take no interest.

Only close shave I have had was in Thailand where a large raptor of some kind took a very close interest. I landed and gave away flying for the day.

 

[Rchawks]

I noticed from flying out back, some birds it's not always about aggression
but meer playfulness. Watching how they're interacting with each other in the air it seems they're interacting with me the same way. Granted this doesn't apply to all birds by any means and I'm not naive enough to suggest that all birds are docile, far from it. But some are merely curious and playful. Since flying drones I have had several aggressive interactions. I think it depends on the type of bird obviously. So far no eagles or hawks.?

 

[Thomas B]

Here’s one I had... hawk makes five passes progressively closer. I abandoned the flight and brought my M2P home.

 

[Rchawks]

Yeah that would be the aggressive type, lol. Great place to fly though. Beautiful.

 

[Tufargon]

Here’s one I had... hawk makes thre passes progressively closer. I abandoned the flight and brought my M2P home.

You needed the jaws music for that one lol. I kept sitting here saying go up go up go up!!

 

[Rchawks]

It is a scary feeling when a large bird keeps coming back to dive on your drone. I've had i happen twice but never a bird that large. He looked to be up to no good.

 

[Little bird]

Very cool video.

 

[Richiebricker]

No but I get alot of BEE attacks. A couple times Ive landed wondering what all that goop is on my drone. Its bee guts.

 

[Flynz]

We get quite a bit of bird action here in Colorado. But I've only been attacked once (last week of all weeks). And it was more of a threat than an attack. He pulled away at the last minute.

We have lots of raptors very interested but never attached before. We also have problems with seagulls, swallows, and pigeons. Pigeons have to be the dumbest bird on God's green planet. They always just circle the drone and get in the way of the video. It's almost like they're puppies wanting the drone to come and play with them.

We've also had issues during mating season for hawks. We've had to either change shots for monthly progression photos, and removed shots from lists where there are active nests.

The best thing to do if confronted by angry birds is to get as high as possible, as fast as possible. Birds have a hard time attacking things above them. And even if they are successful in attacking a drone from below, they're not hurt by the props. So hit left stick up to get out of trouble. Then fly away from the area.

Here in The States we have the 400' limit, but we are allowed to break that ceiling in emergency situations. I don't know if Australia has that as well, but it would be worth checking out. We've never had an issue with having to go that high though. The birds usually just want us to go away, and a couple hundred feet work fine.

Dumb pigeons. Great analogy.

 

[Flynz]

Very cool video.

Stunning!

 

[Flynz]

Often have pigeons do flybys. Often a group and quite close. Sea gulls seem to take the drone personally and come in to sort it out. They worry me. Never seen a hawk or a magpie. I guess a hawk would be hunting. Magpies are very territorial and can be aggressive.
When big da get close , hover go into sports mode and rapidly ascend. No bird they know can do that so you are not a bird and they loose interest. Run and they follow. Cos birds do soar. Sometimes you need to repeat the manoeuvre.
I got swamped by sea gulls once. I gave up.
I also sometimes fly at the end he of DLOS. Sometimes the gulls are easier to see than the drone. And they squawk so if you are near the coast and at distance listen carefully. You can tell if you have winged observers.
Enjoy.

 

[PTBperegrine]

I frequently had encounters with birds doing threat displays and once came home with blood and small feathers on my drone. I then used commercial stickers to put a "Shark face" on my M2Pro. As I intended, it didn't scare any birds but it did get them to focus on the area between the rotors and coincidentally put them in the best spot for visibility and photography. The various raptors I encounter weren't fooled at all. It may be useful to know their approach habits. Normally they will approach from above you. This will scare any (feathered) bird. If you ignore this they will circle closely above you. No small birds will stay when they see this happen. If you still ignore them, they will do one, maybe two flypasts with legs down - their equivalent of waving swords in your face. You won't get another warning. I added a fluorescent orange skin (from decal girl) and then added lateral bands of black tape. This means everything sees you and, in nature, this usually means that you are poisonous/toxic and have nothing to fear. This really works well in my wedgie encounters. They will circle above but I ignore them and they don't progress to closer moves. I came out of a cave I'd been exploring in a cliff face and was accompanied by three tightly circling wedgetails. At about 100m from home, I hovered in sport mode, then slammed up through them to hover above them. They all dived away. I must stress that this was a first encounter. If at a regular flying spot, the value of these defences would fall dramatically.
Hope this helps. ?

 

[Jondotgon]

Prior to having a Mavic 2 I used a Yuneec Q500 Typhoon a lot, and in three years it never drew interest from birds. With the Mavic 2 get them harassing the drone frequently. And from almost my first flight.

 

[volition]