Seagulls

[ScatmanJack]

Hi there, My 1st post on this forum and a lot to learn about flying my drone.

Are there any records of Seagulls attacking Drones?

I now live on the Algarve Portugal in a lovely fishing village. Was flying my Mavic Pro last week and there were lots of seagulls around. I kept getting messages from the sensors saying I was close to objects, No issues or attacks, as they were probably upset by my drones presence.
Just wondering if any pilots have had this problem before.

 

[rehkram]

Safe to assume any bird might attack a drone if they perceive it to be a threat to them or their nest, or mistake it for lunch.

When flying near ponds recently a large raptor had a go at my Mavic Mini and missed narrowly. From the black and white checkered underside of the tail I ID'd it as an osprey. I had thought they only preyed on fish, but apparently not. I hadn't seen it coming, adrenaline was pretty high. When I regained my wits I descended fast and flew it back for a landing. No show on the video sadly.

 

[usaken]

I had a big hawk very curious about ay drone. He was 3 times the size of my Mavic Pro. I got down as quickly as possible, not so fast as to appear to be fleeing. Also, I was concerned about ring vortex. On another flight a few days ago A very small bird circled my drone all the way down on decent.

 

[dronerdave]

I fly around gulls often and found they seem to swarm around my MP. Kind of scary but none have made contact with me or others flying with me. Seems some people have had reported aggressive seagulls taking a shot at a drone but it hasn't happened to me yet. Same with Starlings, and Swallows, they swarm but never hit the quad. Osprey and Eagles have swooped down on me but have missed. The strange thing is it seems once they dive or get close to my quad, they leave me alone after that. BTW I run bright strobes all around my carbon fiber skinned MP. Not sure if the red, green and white Arc-II's make any difference.

 

[Mossiback]

Seagulls (or other large bird) can definitely take down a drone and is most likely when they are defending a territory during nesting season. Having said that, I doubt that your sensors would detect a bird simply because they would pass by it so quickly. I think it more likely the false detection was caused by the sun overloading the sensors.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Many incidents of all kinds of birds swooping on r/c aircraft (including "drones" AKA multicopters).. especially this time of year during mating and nesting season - keep an eye out, they can bring YOUR bird down ;-)

 

[Haygenda]

Seagulls (or other large bird) can definitely take down a drone and is most likely when they are defending a territory during nesting season. Having said that, I doubt that your sensors would detect a bird simply because they would pass by it so quickly. I think it more likely the false detection was caused by the sun overloading the sensors.

I've been caught in a swarm of seagulls, maybe 30 plus gulls. Not hit by any and I am not sure how I didn't hit any. But my sensors definitely detected the birds and the drone hovered in place. The obstacle avoidance message came on and off. When it was on I couldn't move in any direction. When it was off I was barely able to move before it came back on. In hind sight, the easiest way to get out of the flock was to go up. I have also read on this forum that gaining altitude or getting above the birds, the birds are unable to come at you from above, limiting their ability to attack, especially birds of prey.

 

[Mossiback]

I've been caught in a swarm of seagulls, maybe 30 plus gulls. Not hit by any and I am not sure how I didn't hit any. But my sensors definitely detected the birds and the drone hovered in place. The obstacle avoidance message came on and off. When it was on I couldn't move in any direction. When it was off I was barely able to move before it came back on...

Good to know. I guess the key is how many.

... the birds are unable to come at you from above, limiting their ability to attack, especially birds of prey.

I think you meant to say; "the birds are unable to come at you from below." Birds of prey tend to attack from above.

 

[Mavic Mac]

Here is one of the many threads about the birds.
CLICK HERE
And check this out LINK

 

[Haygenda]

Good to know. I guess the key is how many.

I think you meant to say; "the birds are unable to come at you from below." Birds of prey tend to attack from above.

Thanks for catching that, yes I did mean the birds are unable to come at you from below. I do wildlife photography with a DSLR on the side, I have photographed many a birds of prey attacking from above and none from below.

 

[MAvic_South_Oz]

Welcome to the forum @ScatmanJack

Search the site here for birds, seagulls, that sort of thing, lots of threads.
Yes, seagulls do attack drones, depends on time of year etc, nesting, young in nest etc is a bad time.
They can damage a prop and cause a crash quite easily.

Best to go straight up full speed, then full speed towards home . . . no bird can climb too fast.

The OA incident might not have been a gull though.
They would usually only pass very quickly, not be hovering too close in front to set it off to any great effect.
More likely your OA warnings were possibly due to facing towards the sun, do you recall if that was the case ?

 

[FASTFJR]

Hi there, My 1st post on this forum and a lot to learn about flying my drone.

Are there any records of Seagulls attacking Drones?

I now live on the Algarve Portugal in a lovely fishing village. Was flying my Mavic Pro last week and there were lots of seagulls around. I kept getting messages from the sensors saying I was close to objects, No issues or attacks, as they were probably upset by my drones presence.
Just wondering if any pilots have had this problem before. View attachment 99744

YES! While flying in Bermuda last summer my M2P was attacked by 5 seagulls



If you go to the 3:00 mark in the video you can see the beginning of the attack, I quickly bailed from the shot and flew back

 

[peterc4]

Always fly up if under attack from birds they cant fly half as fast up, talking from experience

 

[Simone L]

Safe to assume any bird might attack a drone if they perceive it to be a threat to them or their nest, or mistake it for lunch.

When flying near ponds recently a large raptor had a go at my Mavic Mini and missed narrowly. From the black and white checkered underside of the tail I ID'd it as an osprey. I had thought they only preyed on fish, but apparently not. I hadn't seen it coming, adrenaline was pretty high. When I regained my wits I descended fast and flew it back for a landing. No show on the video sadly.

Osprey are very territorial. I had one come after me when I was paddling a SUP board. Too close to her nest.

 

[Carl36]

Hi there, My 1st post on this forum and a lot to learn about flying my drone.

Are there any records of Seagulls attacking Drones?

I now live on the Algarve Portugal in a lovely fishing village. Was flying my Mavic Pro last week and there were lots of seagulls around. I kept getting messages from the sensors saying I was close to objects, No issues or attacks, as they were probably upset by my drones presence.
Just wondering if any pilots have had this problem before. View attachment 99744

Very nice shot,where abouts in Portugal.

 

[Peter Hughes]

Watch this video.

I shot it in Napier, New Zealand. Not only was the drone attacked by a Gull within a couple of seconds from takeoff it summoned it’s mate to join in!

They chased the drone up and down the beach & I had it land and give up in the end.

 

[Shameless Shamus]

Beautiful pans Peter!
How long ago did you shoot this video? It looks like it's chilly weather there?

 

[Peter Hughes]

Beautiful pans Peter!
How long ago did you shoot this video? It looks like it's chilly weather there?

Hi, thanks very much.
I think I’ve posted the full video with very little editing. I was trying to show how sustained the attack was....these Gulls definitely not fans of DJI ?.
Can’t remember the temp but it was shot in New Zealand this February, which is their late Summer and we were wearing T shirts and shorts....something we don’t wear tooo often here in U.K.!
Take care, stay safe and catch you later. Peter.

 

[Shameless Shamus]

I have a little Tello drone and man the humming birds get really close to it!

 

[Peter Hughes]

I have a little Tello drone and man the humming birds get really close to it!

Wow. That would be a great video.