Bird strike

[Flynz]

I have garnered some interest from a few birds, I switched to Sport mode and climbed as quickly as possible, the bird in question left me alone.

Agree. Birds don’t fly virtually and if you do they leave you alone. Sports mode and straight up.

 

[Flynz]

Sorry about your loss and welcome to the forum. I have regularly had pigeons circle my MP in formation and have been hassled by sea gulls. Pigeons Ave always stayed away, I have some rapid fly past video. But the gulls are more aggressive.
As another poster said stop , turn in sports mode and ascend rapidly. Birds can’t do that so you can’t be a bird. They tend to fly away. Only failed once with a very large flock of sea gulls in a river area near the coast. I got a couple of good picks of a bridge but quickly landed.
I have read posts here about hawkes too.

 

[Badgersurfer]

Sorry about your loss and welcome to the forum. I have regularly had pigeons circle my MP in formation and have been hassled by sea gulls. Pigeons Ave always stayed away, I have some rapid fly past video. But the gulls are more aggressive.
As another poster said stop , turn in sports mode and ascend rapidly. Birds can’t do that so you can’t be a bird. They tend to fly away. Only failed once with a very large flock of sea gulls in a river area near the coast. I got a couple of good picks of a bridge but quickly landed.
I have read posts here about hawkes too.

It's interesting what you say with regards the gulls attacking. I live within a mile of the seaside and i regularly get gulls fly around me but so far never actually attacked. The closest encounter I had was a pair of Oystercatchers. I was about 500m out and one of them winked at me in my M2P lens. I then looked at the drone and saw they were mobbing it. I just sped home full speed in Pmode which was sufficient. It is obviously the sound that irritates the birds as I have flown thermal gliders and slope soarers since the 60s and have had virtually everything fly alongside me with never and angry word uttered. In fact I used to regularly get a Kestrel fly alongside my soarer, I think he may have an affection for it.

 

[FlyoverDRN]

It seams that 50ft is where I get them too, but it's mostly a chicken game.
I still don't wait around, switch my MM to Sport mode and climb, they can't keep up with that fast ascent. Then after the birds leave, I go back down.
If they come back, I climb again. After a few times, they seams to get bored of that game and leave me alone.

 

[dino9832]

I've seen what I believe to be hawks circling in groups up to 3 at a time. Typically they circle an area for a bit and move on. I was at around 375' when this guy appeared. Not much room to "legally" fly higher to avoid him. I high tailed it back home without incident.

I've notice the MM seems to descend slowly in any setting. It'd be nice if you could quickly drop to say 15' to avoid bird damage.

One possible way to run them off might be with sunlight off a mirror. Just flash them a few times. It'd be hard to aim for sure! One of those survival mirrors with an aiming hole in the center comes to mind. FYI, I haven't looked into the legal aspects of this yet.

 

[kamidoko1974]

My mini hit, or was hit by, a pigeon yesterday. Took a bad fall from about 100 feet... condition critical. Anyone had a bird attack a MM? Mine came in second.

It is quite common actually. Especially seagulls in May and June can become very aggressive with intruders...

 

[Bob1956]

Bird flew away, minus some feathers. Mini is totaled, camera separated, broke one motor leg. Had no insurance. Bought a new one.

I’ll bet anything the falcon doesn’t have insurance either.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Birds are such a nuisance.

It may be a nuisance to you but it may well be a matter of death for the bird, aside from them possiblty deterring a percieved threat or defending territory.
At least you are learning to give them space

 

[Woodsman]

My mini hit, or was hit by, a pigeon yesterday. Took a bad fall from about 100 feet... condition critical. Anyone had a bird attack a MM? Mine came in second.

I have had some close calls. I was 350 feet up and the camera rocked 90 degrees but recovered as a shadow moved past. I'm attaching 2 shots, one of a swarm the past the Mini 6 times, since they are small birds, they must have been real close. The other is of a Turkey Vulture over my house. He had his friends over for some roadkill and he didn't like the disturbance.

 

[shaneb50]

I came really close yesterday almost hitting a flock of birds ? coming down from the sky as I was landing my drone .
Fortunately no harm was done and all was good

 

[BrokenAero]

Yep, No harm - No fowl . . .