Birds...how scared should I be?

[code_ultra_zyl]

I see a lot of birds with my Mavic. I fly in the Puget Sound region and film the natural environment, using mainly a Mavic Pro. Crows and water birds are unconcerned with the Mavic, especially if you are flying slow (it is quieter this way). I have gotten many great shots flying just 15 feet over ducks, cormorants, etc... and they don't seem to care at all. Our turkey vultures are large, 1.5-2m wingspan, and usually curious, but totally non-agressive toward the Mavic. They will circle lazily twice, then fly off. Canadian geese don't like the drone, and tend to fly away from it, so I give them some distance. If you are hovering above the forest, the small birds that live in the treetops will eventually come out and start swooping the drone, though they tend to keep a safe distance. This is their standard behavior for ANY large bird that approaches them. Eagles, I worry about... if you are in an area with a nest (even if it is some distance away) they can be territorial. Just last week, I had one swoop in to check out my Mavic (he spotted it from a great distance)... so I switched into Sport and bee-lined it out of there.

Technical note: I use an Ipad Mini 4 as a monitor. This is large and bright enough that I CAN spot birds, power lines, etc. via the camera when I am flying.

 

[senorbrx]

This mean looking fella swooped for my Mavic this weekend whilst flying in Buckinghamshire (they are common there)

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/resources/images/5134432.jpg?type=article-full

I panicked and was close to home so just landed...I've seen similar bird attack threads but was intrigued by people's general fear level here?

I lost my Phantom2 Vision+ to some attacking seagulls. Saw them swarming it, then down it went & now sits on bay bottom. Some day may dive & try to find it-- maybe make a good mantle piece? My Mavic also attracts birds-- so I fly away as best I can.

 

[Baltorep]

Check out my experience and oh so close call with a hawk. Birds scare the heck out of me. I’m only a visitor in their world. Much respect!!

 

[bobj151]

My VERY first flight I had a huge Turkey Buzzard start to circle my drone above it. He was definitely thinking about taking a swoop at it. I landed it and then started flying much lower to the ground.

Same here ,big Turkey Buzzard went around my Mavic twice and flew off .Also my first day flying .

 

[themultirotorman]

I have had a Marsh Harrier take an interest in my Phantom. They generally stay out of the way if they get too close to your mavic just throttle up and climb. They cant fly vertically!

 

[caciuslove]

Im not sûre there s a bord spécialist around but if someone can tell what s thé best skin/color to put in your mavic to avoid birds ?

 

[Andrew F]

I frequently fly on the island of Maui. I've had random bird interactions that usually get solved by aggressive / irratic flying on my part. But last time a flock of cattle egrets from a couple of hundred yards away would leave the ground and circle and swoop into my Mavic repeatedly. These are big birds and there must have been eight or so doing this. I'd imagine an impact would be a negative event. Rapidly climbing would scatter them a bit but nothing would stop their behavior other than landing. This repeated several days in a row. In over a year flying at the same location with the same birds nearby, they've never paid attention to it. I can't imagine there is anyone here who experienced this who would not have been concerned about damaging or losing the drone (over water) or harming one of the birds. I just hope whatever changed their behavior was transient. This was early October.

 

[Stemiko]

Wild parakeets ('maritacas') have aggressively swarmed my drone several times in Brazil; they attack in screeching, fast-flying squadrons of a dozen or two. They get really close, and I've always landed immediately without further incident, so I don't know if they'd actually strike the drone, but I sure think so.

 

[tuscan]

Im not sûre there s a bord spécialist around but if someone can tell what s thé best skin/color to put in your mavic to avoid birds ?

As I understand it anything bright yellow or yellow/black is a natural warning to birds. I hope I am not wrong as I am just wrapping up my Mavic in Limoncino yellow from Dronewrap. Lol.

 

[qbert]

I have had several incidents with birds, non ending in disaster of either the bird or my Mavic.
I fly in a large 300 acre field surrounded by trees. On just about every flight I have to evade and or return home because I have invaded the home territory of any one of a dozen species of small bird, the worst being the Swallows who once they get started don quit until I land. To avoid this I try to stay 50 ft away from the edges so as not to bother them and that seems to be fine most of the time and yet still gives me lots of room to fly. I've also been buzzed by a hawks on several occasions but a little dippsy doodling with the Mavic usually deters them from any serious attack.

My weirdest encounter with our feather friends was when I was taking some shots from 250ft. As I slowly rotated my Mavic over the local beaver pond trying to catch a glimpse of them I heard a flock of Sand-hill Cranes coming my way I watched as they came towards the pond capturing the scene on video until to my amazement they started to circle my Mavic. They flew around in a large circle at least two times. It wasn't until I landed the Mavic that they turned and landed in the next field over from the pond. Sadly the video did not turn out very well as I spent most of my time keeping my eyes on the cranes instead of my tablet. I still have no idea for the behavior of the cranes circling the Mavic, it was not in their flight path and was lower than they were by several hundred feet. In fact, they actually deviated over to the Mavic to circle it and then wen back to the field that they looked to be originally going into.

 

[JonnyBenson]

Very scared!!!!!

At some point during your lifetime you'll probably get a broken heart from one and potentially marry another.

Be very cautious.

Well i thought that was funny [emoji53]

 

[mph300]

Well, better be scared straight up.

 

[OzoneVibe]

First post ...

I was in Southern Italy, a few months back, and I waited for ages for the hundreds of swallows to clear the air where I wanted to fly.
Eventually there wasn't one to be seen in the clear blue sky.
Flew a couple of hundred metres recording a vid, and was about to return, when the swallows mobbed the Mavic so much that I really couldn't actually see it.

Hit RTH and hoped .... and the swallows mobbed it all the way back to overhead, and flew off when it was descending.

Most annoyingly, I'd just stopped recording when it was initially mobbed .... because it would have been the most crazy video of swallows, ever!

Had a P2 before (actually, still have but never use), and my experience was very much a case of what type of bird and, more importantly, are the birds on a nest.
I've done a lot of paragliding ... buzzards in spring are something to be avoided. They really don't like large "birds" flying near their nests.
Same will apply to drones .... though I don't think anyone has written a definitive guide as to which are, or are not, aggressive to a drone.

Also - in the case of the swallows - I was pretty sure it was the sound of the Mavic that drew their attention to it.

 

[geevee]

Magpies, plovers, cockatoos, galahs, they’ve all had a go. Sometimes in groups and moving doesn’t help too much, especially if shooting in my local country area. Birds everywhere. I haven’t done a flight yet where the birds left me alone. I’m thinking about putting something on my Mavic, like a cat face. The two posts about a coloured wrap are great, thanks! I have also flown up and backwards, something birds can’t do, in an attempt to freak them out. Yes, I am afraid, and respectful, but mostly afraid. We don’t have Wedgies around here but I would immediately stop flying if I saw one. A big black cockatoo is scary enough!

 

[Befetti]

I have been flying helicopters for some years in Australia and have the following ideas.
Birds do respond differently to various colours.
Colours: I prefer bright yellow; easier for me to see and birds seems less interested (Maybe they know that nature colours things that they should be scared of very brightly). However, I have found that red and green seems to attract them. Someone in this thread has had better luck with red. I have skinned my mavic in yellow.
Nesting Magpies: They are tough. You almost need to have a standoff with them.
Hawks: Have had them curious but they realise close up that the propeller sound is not "normal".
Wedgetail Eagle: Now these guys are notorious for taking down black eBee survey planes here in the outback of Australia. I have not tried my yellow theory on them yet.
Swallows: I have only found them in pairs, or a few, thinking it is play time! Other posts have had more serious interactions.
So, I have no scientific results to share, only some anecdotes of flying helicopters of various sizes over about 5 years and a mavic that is 4 months old.

 

[Dabrain]

I have chased the Turkey Vultures that fly around the house until they turn and circle back behind the MP. Time to get out of the way, they are big birds and we both would get hurt. Ascend quickly, turn, desend, fly back to the house and wait until the Vultures leave the area.

 

[charliesRig]

I'm just going to leave this Here.......
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[Skydive100]

This mean looking fella swooped for my Mavic this weekend whilst flying in Buckinghamshire (they are common there)

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/resources/images/5134432.jpg?type=article-full

I panicked and was close to home so just landed...I've seen similar bird attack threads but was intrigued by people's general fear level here?

Hi.
The birds have been here well before our drones. Just respect their airspace and you should be fine. You did the right thing and landed.

 

[BrAinZ]

I fear seagulls here in the UK. I live near the sea, so they are always around. I figure if they are bold enough to swoop down and steal your fish and chips out of your hands, they wouldn’t hesitate to attack the Mavic if they fancy

 

[KTFARAH]

This mean looking fella swooped for my Mavic this weekend whilst flying in Buckinghamshire (they are common there)

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/resources/images/5134432.jpg?type=article-full

I panicked and was close to home so just landed...I've seen similar bird attack threads but was intrigued by people's general fear level here?

I flew a lot last year on the beaches in Asia, Lima Peru where birds are abundant. While they are very curious and want to fly into the MP, thanks to obstacle avoidance it never happened. Make sure do not fly in reverse in these situations as you will be crashing into the birds. You can check few videos on my YouTube channel KTFARAH1. Hope this helps.