Birds

[Rchawks]

A Kestril. Were you near the nest?

Yes, apparently he thought so. I wasn’t over or near the nest at all. I have a video of it and you can see him sizing me up from a distance and came at me full throttle. I haven’t seen any of them in months.

 

[MS Coast]

This one was attacking me. View attachment 187624

Did that Kestrel make contact with the drone, or just pass nearby?

 

[Rchawks]

It did not make contact with the drone at all. But came very close several times. I was flying FPV at the time and was able to just stay out of it’s flight path. Within a few days time though this one showed up and wasn’t aggressive at all so I assume it’s not the same bird from 2 days before. Even though it’s near the same general area.

 

[Rchawks]

Here in the NT we have plenty of forktail kites that are a pain especially when you’re trying to fly a grid.
Has any anyone tried using a flashing light on the top of the body?
Regards
Gagey

I wonder about that too. I have one for flying near dusk and it’s very tough to look at while the drone is on the ground. I’m not sure if it would be effective on the birds or not during the day. Surely birds would be sensitive to bright light, I don’t know.

 

[MS Coast]

It did not make contact with the drone at all. But came very close several times. I was flying FPV at the time and was able to just stay out of it’s flight path. Within a few days time though this one showed up and wasn’t aggressive at all so I assume it’s not the same bird from 2 days before. Even though it’s near the same general area.

That's definitely not the same bird; it's a different species.

"Attack" may not be the right word for a bird simply flying close to the drone. When I'm wade fishing, sharks frequently come within 50 feet, but I would say that constituted a shark attack.

I suspect that if the Kestrel wanted to hit your drone, it would have happened.

 

[Rchawks]

I need to find out how to load the video on here because the pictures just doesn’t show the event very well.