Extremely close encounter with a bird!

[Dale D]

Almost got Goosed here, Check out 6:48 of video. Just call me Sully.

At 6:52-6:58 you flushed a flock of geese. I don't believe they were aggressive- just being scared away by the drone.

 

[Simone L]

That is what I thought until yesterday. This bird's trajectory was literally a helix (since I made my drone descend) with a radius of about a meter (my drone as the center). When it came close to ground, I could see that its legs were out and pointing towards the drone. It was definitely trying to grab the drone at the least.

That definitely sounds like a bird of prey.

 

[Simone L]

Or dogs

My dog hates the drone. I have to leave him inside the house. Goes completely bananas with the sound.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Always remember that birds are fast flying straight and super fast when diving. The Peregrine Falcon is the worlds fastest getting to 389kph in a dive. The one thing that no bird can do is climb fast. What can a drone do well? Climb fast, at least compared to a bird. Therefore, when possible, ALWAYS climb as fast as possible if you are worried about a bird attack. Once well above, fly off as quickly as possible and change directions on the way and start lowering so you can safely get back and land and move somewhere else.

 

[DaveS]

Almost got Goosed here, Check out 6:48 of video. Just call me Sully.

Actually that turned out to be a pretty cool shot!

 

[Sheppie]

Actually that turned out to be a pretty cool shot!

Yes, I thought so. Thanks

 

[DaveS]

I find Starlings to be the worst. They are small but they will go after anything anywhere near their nests and they do so in swarms. I do think they are a bit afraid of the drone because they don't actually try to hit it but they swoop around it VERY close. I think if a prop only nicked a bird, the drone would probably stay aloft. As to ascending or descending to avoid birds. My guess, do either one as far as possible, even land if you're descending because a don't think a bird will attack a drone on the ground. When I had trouble with the Starlings, they followed me up but when I descended, they left me alone.

 

[Deleted member 93449]

Wow, that was pretty darn close.

I had a close encounter with a black bird that made four passes at my drone.

Black Bird

 

[Texbow]

I find Starlings to be the worst. They are small but they will go after anything anywhere near their nests and they do so in swarms. I do think they are a bit afraid of the drone because they don't actually try to hit it but they swoop around it VERY close. I think if a prop only nicked a bird, the drone would probably stay aloft. As to ascending or descending to avoid birds. My guess, do either one as far as possible, even land if you're descending because a don't think a bird will attack a drone on the ground. When I had trouble with the Starlings, they followed me up but when I descended, they left me alone.

I had a similar experience while inspecting some energy infrastructure in the Amazon jungle. The birds looked like Starlings and they went nuts swarming around the drone but never hit it luckily

 

[Vaideeshwar]

Blimey, you have some tall buildings, cars and people where you live ;-)

Jees, that sounds ridiculous, my apologies. I was directly over grass when the bird started circling. What I meant was that flying horizontally would mean that I would soon be over buildings/cars.

 

[Vaideeshwar]

Wow, that was pretty darn close.

I had a close encounter with a black bird that made four passes at my drone.

Black Bird

Yep, my experience was similar to this. Only that the bird was like a meter away from the drone until I landed.

 

[Ars3nal3432]

Or dogs

Or paranoid people

 

[bp328i]

I had bees swarm my Phantom 4 Pro, that was a mess to clean once I landed.

 

[Vaideeshwar]

I had bees swarm my Phantom 4 Pro, that was a mess to clean once I landed.

didn't they go away after getting hit by the props?

 

[Lets Fly]

Almost got Goosed here, Check out 6:48 of video. Just call me Sully.

OK, you needed to cut this to about 20 seconds with the geese to make your point. Pretty area though.

 

[Sheppie]

OK, you needed to cut this to about 20 seconds with the geese to make your point. Pretty area though.

Yes I know, that's why I said 6:48 of the video.

 

[Nes]

Always hard to predict with birds. Throughout Indonesia I have found Swallows to come out in force and try and intimidate the drone away.. both with the Mavic and the Inspire..clearly size does not count.. In Bali once some wild Cockatoo's emerged from a tree and massed around the Mavic..as I was only around 40ft altitude I decided just to bring it down and once they saw a human associated with the drone they went away. I often fly in New Zealand and the Harrier Hawk there is a big bird with a wingspan around a meter. Several times they have diverted to come for a very close look but never show signs of aggression. I read once the Dutch were training Eagles to intercept drones, not sure if that ended up as a working Squadron or not.

 

[gottahavit]

My biggest scare with birds was a swarm of barn swallows near dusk.

 

[krodgerson]

I've stuck googlie eyes to my Mavic in the hope that they look frightening to birds.

 

[Dave Phantom]

Almost got Goosed here, Check out 6:48 of video. Just call me Sully.

Brilliant shot - you were extremely lucky - bet the geese didn't even see it!