Got attacked by a swarm of bees today!

[Zee_Bass]

That is amazing! Looks like those props took some damage. Did you replace them? A new meaning to prop wash. LOL

After cleaning them off they don't look to have taken any damage!

 

[Zee_Bass]

After I landed I ended up seeing a bunch of bees all over my drive way. I swept them up in a pile. I read somewhere else about the possibility of mating.

Maybe you can help me identify what they are!

 

[Docwatt]

Happened to me with my MMini in Melbourne....was carnage (for the bees!) and messy for the Mini. Had a good video clip but couldnt work out how to upload it here? Hope this works!
https://youtu.be/Ep6J7DQLK7w

 

[Noah McDonough]

Yes, unfortunately the sound of the drones makes bees think they are being attacked.

 

[Simone L]

I was playing around with RTH accuracy just a bit ago while my daughter swam and I realized the MA2 had a swarm of bees around it! Has anyone experienced this before?

I did not expect to see what I did once my drone landed.

Here are a few pics. After reviewing the SD card you can clearly see them swarming it. I didn't know what to do but land asap.

The meadow I fly in has a hive/box and I always wondered if they would swarm it. Have stayed away so I don’t interfere but wow!!! Did they follow it down or sting you!

 

[Zee_Bass]

The meadow I fly in has a hive/box and I always wondered if they would swarm it. Have stayed away so I don’t interfere but wow!!! Did they follow it down or sting you!

A few followed it all the way down above my house and 1 was still on it when I came down to land.

 

[Ex nihil]

Well, they sure are honey bees. But in that picture, they are all male drones, no female workers. So, you really did mess up a mating flight! Spoilsport. Not a swarm. I don't see the queen in there, maybe she escaped. Anyway, she had an exciting wedding day. I don't know how a mating flight behaves if attacked, usually they are ways too high to get in anybody's way. I doubt they would have been attacking you, the drones don't even have stingers; all they do is mate, eat and keep the hive warm. Maybe we can do some drone resaerch with drones. This is new behaviour. Quite a nice life until the ladies throw them out the hive to die come winter. They just got in the way on this ocassion.

 

[DavidT_ NZ]

A few followed it all the way down above my house and 1 was still on it when I came down to land.

Sport Mode needed ...... whoosh! And a few Red Baron manoeuvres! ? ?

 

[Bxr532001]

I was playing around with RTH accuracy just a bit ago while my daughter swam and I realized the MA2 had a swarm of bees around it! Has anyone experienced this before?

I did not expect to see what I did once my drone landed.

Here are a few pics. After reviewing the SD card you can clearly see them swarming it. I didn't know what to do but land asap.

Mavic Air 2, 1 Bees 0

 

[Franco7]

Bees can sense and be confused by UV light and Ultrasonic sound, possibly the sensors had something to do with there confusion

same thing I think, you can see they focused the attack on the front and mainly in the back where a lot of sensors and lot of energy is flowing (I mean IR, UV, sonar), maybe their interpretation is some kind of combat screaming, interesting at least.

 

[Buzzman]

I was playing around with RTH accuracy just a bit ago while my daughter swam and I realized the MA2 had a swarm of bees around it! Has anyone experienced this before?

I did not expect to see what I did once my drone landed.

Here are a few pics. After reviewing the SD card you can clearly see them swarming it. I didn't know what to do but land asap.

DRONE VS. DRONES (bees that is)
Fascinating. I've flown a Mavic2 Pro for a little over a year now. My Mavic2 was also attacked by flying bees several times in the past few weeks. As a bit of background I'm an entomology professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. In the past I was a USDA research entomologist and studied honey bees so I am familiar with their behaviors. For example, virgin queen honey bees have sex at 15mph high up in the air with "drone comets" up to a dozen or more male honey bees (drones) in highly specific areas known as drone congregation areas (DCA's). These DCA's are in the same geographic spot year after year. Drone honey bees from many managed and feral colonies assemble there every afternoon. The drone bees are holoptic meaning their compound eyes meet on the top of their heads. Perfect upward-looking vision to chase after virgin honey bee queens. They also are tuned in to the queen's sex pheromone (called 9-0-2).

But, this bee attack on my Mavic2Pro was different. I also study the mating biology of native ground-nesting solitary bees. My students and I were studying a large native bee pollinator known scientifically as Centris pallida. About the size of a bumble bee. There is a large nesting aggregation (covering about 20 hectares and containing several hundred thousand Centris bees. There are two types of males in this bee species. The larger "metanders" fly in low sinuous patrolling flights over the soil. They alight and detect the scent of females waiting underground. They dig them up and mate with them. The smaller males try to intercept females at plants. I was flying the Mavic2 Pro hovering above the ground from 10 to 20 feet in tripod mode. The male bees chased the Mavic even up to 50 feet. Sadly, my Mavic was now a flying Cuisinart. Upon landing there was a lot of debris (bee splats) on the props and even one male jammed into the front area next to the gimble. It was slightly windy and unfortunately even in tripod mode the video was unusable for my purpose. I wanted to use other software to automatically track the flight routes of the patrolling male bees by their cast shadows. There was too much drift in the Mavic video to be usable. About a week later we were at a different Centris (C. caesalpiniae) nesting site near Scottsdale, AZ. This time the female bees chased and hit the drone. I have not flown my Mavic near any known DCA's.

So, that was interesting to see your post about bee attacks. Scientifically, it is puzzling. All bees that have been tested are deaf to airborne sounds. They are only sensitive to vibrations when they are standing on the same substrate that is vibrating or like during the waggle dance when they are only a centimeter apart or so. So- WHY the long-distance attraction to my Mavic? Sound or optical cues
for attraction? Could it be the spinning props? I could put the Mavic (non-running) up on a short pole and see if the bees are attracted. From my studies, I know that the bee's wingbeat frequency is 166Hz. Next, I need to record the sound of the hovering Mavic and determine its frequency using Audacity, Raven or similar programs. I'd be interested in communicating with others about their bee attacks using regular email: [email protected]














patterns

 

[Lets Fly]

After I landed I ended up seeing a bunch of bees all over my drive way. I swept them up in a pile. I read somewhere else about the possibility of mating.

Yes honey bees for sure. I have stated in others threads that honey bees fly around my Mavic Air on almost every video, but only two or three, never a swarm.
I always thought it was the Mavic Air loud buzz, but I guess not.

 

[Buzzman]

After I landed I ended up seeing a bunch of bees all over my drive way. I swept them up in a pile. I read somewhere else about the possibility of mating.

The bees in your driveway (the photo you attached) are cleary drone (male) honeybees,
Apis mellifera. Leads me to believe that you were flying in a drone congregation area (DCA). This is
where male honey bees chase virgin queen bees to mate with them.

 

[Ttrent]

Murder Hornets?

 

[MaviAir1975]

Well, they sure are honey bees. But in that picture, they are all male drones, no female workers. So, you really did mess up a mating flight! Spoilsport. Not a swarm. I don't see the queen in there, maybe she escaped. Anyway, she had an exciting wedding day. I don't know how a mating flight behaves if attacked, usually they are ways too high to get in anybody's way. I doubt they would have been attacking you, the drones don't even have stingers; all they do is mate, eat and keep the hive warm. Maybe we can do some drone resaerch with drones. This is new behaviour. Quite a nice life until the ladies throw them out the hive to die come winter. They just got in the way on this ocassion.

I had a similar problem with my Mavic Air and I was not so close with the place where there was a bees cultivation. Is it possible the frequency of the prop attract them? I didn't test with the new Mavi Air prop from Airscrew that have a different pitch sound.
Your points are very interesting and I think it could be great to do a research on it. Also because in that case we should we aware if we disturb the ecosystem and maybe fly some where else.

 

[Zee_Bass]

Murder Hornets?

Thanks to some knowledgable people on here it appears I interrupted a honey bee mating session!

 

[Happyonmyhill]

I’ve had it happen. You can see them swarming around if you hover. Never stuck around long though. Suppose it’s possible they could gunk up your bird enough to impact flying. Careful cleaning up too. Mine had stingers all over it?

 

[Daniel Lucey]

I fly quite a bit around Te Atatu Peninsula. There are no large colonies of Honey Bees there. These were definitely wasps.

New Zealand has some of the highest densities of German and common wasps in the world. This is because these introduced pests have no natural predators here, our winters in the North Island are mild and there is plenty of food for them.

BTW The world's largest recorded wasp nest was discovered at Waimauku (not too far from Te Atatu, near Auckland). It was 3.75 metres tall and 1.7 metres wide.

 

[Buzzman]

DRONE VS. DRONES (bees that is)
Fascinating. I've flown a Mavic2 Pro for a little over a year now. My Mavic2 was also attacked by flying bees several times in the past few weeks. As a bit of background I'm an entomology professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ. In the past I was a USDA research entomologist and studied honey bees so I am familiar with their behaviors. For example, virgin queen honey bees have sex at 15mph high up in the air with "drone comets" up to a dozen or more male honey bees (drones) in highly specific areas known as drone congregation areas (DCA's). These DCA's are in the same geographic spot year after year. Drone honey bees from many managed and feral colonies assemble there every afternoon. The drone bees are holoptic meaning their compound eyes meet on the top of their heads. Perfect upward-looking vision to chase after virgin honey bee queens. They also are tuned in to the queen's sex pheromone (called 9-0-2).

But, this bee attack on my Mavic2Pro was different. I also study the mating biology of native ground-nesting solitary bees. My students and I were studying a large native bee pollinator known scientifically as Centris pallida. About the size of a bumble bee. There is a large nesting aggregation (covering about 20 hectares and containing several hundred thousand Centris bees. There are two types of males in this bee species. The larger "metanders" fly in low sinuous patrolling flights over the soil. They alight and detect the scent of females waiting underground. They dig them up and mate with them. The smaller males try to intercept females at plants. I was flying the Mavic2 Pro hovering above the ground from 10 to 20 feet in tripod mode. The male bees chased the Mavic even up to 50 feet. Sadly, my Mavic was now a flying Cuisinart. Upon landing there was a lot of debris (bee splats) on the props and even one male jammed into the front area next to the gimble. It was slightly windy and unfortunately even in tripod mode the video was unusable for my purpose. I wanted to use other software to automatically track the flight routes of the patrolling male bees by their cast shadows. There was too much drift in the Mavic video to be usable. About a week later we were at a different Centris (C. caesalpiniae) nesting site near Scottsdale, AZ. This time the female bees chased and hit the drone. I have not flown my Mavic near any known DCA's.

So, that was interesting to see your post about bee attacks. Scientifically, it is puzzling. All bees that have been tested are deaf to airborne sounds. They are only sensitive to vibrations when they are standing on the same substrate that is vibrating or like during the waggle dance when they are only a centimeter apart or so. So- WHY the long-distance attraction to my Mavic? Sound or optical cues
for attraction? Could it be the spinning props? I could put the Mavic (non-running) up on a short pole and see if the bees are attracted. From my studies, I know that the bee's wingbeat frequency is 166Hz. Next, I need to record the sound of the hovering Mavic and determine its frequency using Audacity, Raven or similar programs. I'd be interested in communicating with others about their bee attacks using regular email: [email protected]














patterns

FYI, the wingbeat frequency of the male Centris bees was at a very narrow frequency: 166Hz
(= cycles per second). Honey bee flight sounds (worker bees I think) are reported to be at 230Hz.
Just flew my Mavic2 Pro indoors and recorded then analyzed its sounds. There is a low peak at
184 Hz that I'm taking to be the fundamental (dominant) frequency, but there is noise as you would
expect, other harmonics etc. Still, the scientific dogma is that bees are deaf to airborne sounds, they
don't have true ears like crickets, katydids or cicadas. All insects, including bees, have a Johnston's organ in the second segment of their antennae. These detect near-field vibrations in mosquitoes and perhaps even honey bees during the waggle dance. That still does not explain how/if bees can detect a flying UAV drone
from tens of meters away. Onward!

 

[alopeznj]

Lucky they were not the new Murder bee.