Migrating Pelicans and a Blue Heron in Central TX

[smbishop]

Took my new Mini 4 Pro out for the first time and encountered this! Not the best editing, but it was fun.

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[mavic3usa]

The editing is fine. I don't know how I feel about this so I'm not going to comment on your particular flight especially if posted in the showcase forum. I don't know enough about birds and bird behavior to know what happens during these encounters. If I'm not from the area and don't know the patterns, etc then I would avoid the site completely thinking I'm not supposed to be there. However, if you live there and you see these birds flocking every year, you might be more familiar. I've heard birds get stressed at certain times and you don't have to be right up close and near them for that to happen, it could be prolonged. I like you captured the bird that flew off and you didn't give chase like so many other videos. Otherwise, good thing the Mini is small and mostly quiet. Thanks for posting.

 

[GFields]

Interesting video. Where in TX is this? I lived in Austin a couple years and have done work from Houston to Dallas

 

[smbishop]

Interesting video. Where in TX is this? I lived in Austin a couple years and have done work from Houston to Dallas

Grapevine Lake, North TX, near the airport. A great site for flying!

 

[GFields]

Grapevine Lake, North TX, near the airport. A great site for flying!

Looks like a great place to fly.

 

[smbishop]

The editing is fine. I don't know how I feel about this so I'm not going to comment on your particular flight especially if posted in the showcase forum. I don't know enough about birds and bird behavior to know what happens during these encounters. If I'm not from the area and don't know the patterns, etc then I would avoid the site completely thinking I'm not supposed to be there. However, if you live there and you see these birds flocking every year, you might be more familiar. I've heard birds get stressed at certain times and you don't have to be right up close and near them for that to happen, it could be prolonged. I like you captured the bird that flew off and you didn't give chase like so many other videos. Otherwise, good thing the Mini is small and mostly quiet. Thanks for posting.

I understand. I was pretty far out. The photos are cropped in quite a bit and the video was taken from a couple of hundred feet.

 

[MS Coast]

I don't see anything in the posture or behavior of those pelicans that indicates they were disturbed or alarmed. Most of them were preening and all but the one bird walking on the close side of the flock never even raised their heads.

A typical adult White Pelican weights 12 - 15 pounds and has a wingspan of 8 to 10 feet, second in North America only to the California Condor. A half-pound drone flown by a sensible pilot maintaining a respectful distance didn't seem to bother this bunch at all.

 

[akdrone]

Very nice. Congrats. With regard to the other poster's concern, the definition of "harassment" is generally considered to be any activity that causes wildlife to alter their behavior. No particular reason to believe that was the case here but it's one of the reasons I got a Mavic 3. It has allowed me to get much closer images obviously but you did a fine job on this.