Serious danger for drones

[Rayzr]

Great video. Thanks for sharing. I had a similar experience yesterday while flying (no video) with about eight pigeons performing a similar maneuver twice. I assumed I was near a nesting area or such and left the area. I am not trying to donate a drone to that cause lol.

Rayzr

 

[PompousWindbag]

You said the pigeons "touched" your drone. It looks like they didn't lay a feather on it? Beautiful countryside you live in, there. Overall, that's a stunning bit of footage, made even more memorable by the bird encounter. Really nice.

 

[Adrian-Harris]

I find most birds have a survival instinct that tends to keep them from running into things, they also have very good eyesight and are very good flyers. I fly a light aerobatic plane and I fly low and have noticed ALL birds I encounter dive, so I always pull up. Drones are slow so my guess would be to stop when birds are coming at you. Unless of course they are attacking, then all bets are off.

M

I have read the best thing to do is to climb vertically very quick, as that is something that birds can not do.

 

[ericole]

Today, I think I was very lucky not to have destroyed my beloved Mavic 2 Pro, in fact after a nice flight, while I was landing, a nice group of birds, perhaps pigeons, touched my drone, even if the height at that moment it wasn't much, in case of impact the damage could be serious, as you can see towards the end of the video I have attached. Greetings to all YouTube

how can you tell they touched it? didn't look like your drone moved any.

 

[HOG2K]

Sounds like you should figure out how to attach a pair of javelin missiles to your drone. Make short work of those evil feathered heathens.

True true, but after the skies cleared from the fallout of feathers, PETA would be there waiting to pluck the propellers from your drone.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Hi Mario,
Just to let you know you are not alone. Here are a few of my pictures taken back in August 2018 of my pigeon attack / near miss. They are similar even though we are from different Countries. (I am in South Australia) Mine is an early model MP1,
Cheers,
mereflyer

Crows attacking my Mini. Apart from some small zoom there is no photoshopping at play. One photo was taken from the mini, another from my DSLR on the ground. These were not setup shots, I was flying the mini and taking some tripod mounted dslr shots of it in the air, when I was attacked by the crows. I switched the DSLR to timed shoot and flew the drone / took photos with it. Neither crows or drone were injured.

 

[RH009]

Crows attacking my Mini. Apart from some small zoom there is no photoshopping at play. One photo was taken from the mini, another from my DSLR on the ground. These were not setup shots, I was flying the mini and taking some tripod mounted dslr shots of it in the air, when I was attacked by the crows. I switched the DSLR to timed shoot and flew the drone / took photos with it. Neither crows or drone were injured.

That's one angry looking Crow, but what a great picture! They never forget, so I'd be careful of it hunting your drone for years to come. Just kidding.... kinda.

Rob

 

[MS Coast]

Crows attacking my Mini. Apart from some small zoom there is no photoshopping at play. One photo was taken from the mini, another from my DSLR on the ground. These were not setup shots, I was flying the mini and taking some tripod mounted dslr shots of it in the air, when I was attacked by the crows. I switched the DSLR to timed shoot and flew the drone / took photos with it. Neither crows or drone were injured.

Those are wonderful photos. How many birds were involved?

 

[mario54]

Fortunately no one, evidently they were all excellent pilots .....

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Those are wonderful photos. How many birds were involved?

It started as 2, but over 15 minutes it turned into a pack. Eventually about 10. They got their own back by dumping all over my car

 

[Crouching Leopard]

That's one angry looking Crow, but what a great picture! They never forget, so I'd be careful of it hunting your drone for years to come. Just kidding.... kinda.

Rob

A couple more. Right place (my back garden) right cameras, right time. At first I was just taking single shots of my then new drone to see if I could get a decent personal profile shot for myself for this forum (see my profile photo), then it just started. My DSLR took over 1000 shots in about 15-20 minutes. The birds were absolute expert fliers. All came vey close to the drone and pulled away at the last second. It was incredible to watch the dextirity of the flying, hovering above the drone, attacking in unison. The cries drew in other birds, then some magpies came in to attack the crows. It was like watching a ww2 aerial dogfight over England. All at a height of about 8 metres above my yard. At one point I wanted to bring the drone down to avoid potential contact, but I felt it was safer to leave it there and let the birds fly around it.

 

[FlyingFilmmaker]

Really great and unique shot! Glad the drone is fine! I've had birds flying fairly close to mine, but they seem to have pretty good OA (dare I say better than drones).

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Really great and unique shot! Glad the drone is fine! I've had birds flying fairly close to mine, but they seem to have pretty good OA (dare I say better than drones).

Thanks. It was amazing to watch. Just at the moment I thought they were getting too close, they pulled away. Literally centimetres. Thats why I love my original mini, small, agile and yet with a camera that can take some stunning photos and videos. You just have to be able to understand and pilot it through its other limitations.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

A couple more. Right place (my back garden) right cameras, right time. At first I was just taking single shots of my then new drone to see if I could get a decent personal profile shot for myself for this forum (see my profile photo), then it just started. My DSLR took over 1000 shots in about 15-20 minutes. The birds were absolute expert fliers. All came vey close to the drone and pulled away at the last second. It was incredible to watch the dextirity of the flying, hovering above the drone, attacking in unison. The cries drew in other birds, then some magpies came in to attack the crows. It was like watching a ww2 aerial dogfight over England. All at a height of about 8 metres above my yard. At one point I wanted to bring the drone down to avoid potential contact, but I felt it was safer to leave it there and let the birds fly around it.

You're right, they never forget. This was 2020. 022 and I still get angry birds over my house. The day after these shots they literally dumped a large bags worth of "droppings" all over my car. Took me ages to clean it off.

 

[Deleted member 93449]

Wow, that was close. I've had a few encounters with birds but nothing that close. I guess we're invading their territory so it's understandable.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Really great and unique shot! Glad the drone is fine! I've had birds flying fairly close to mine, but they seem to have pretty good OA (dare I say better than drones).

In the last shot, if you believe the theory, with the position of the head tail and legs, you can almost see a Tyrannosaurus rex ancient predecessor in there. Also interesting how they spread their wings out to make themselves look bigger.

 

[MS Coast]

In the last shot, if you believe the theory, with the position of the head tail and legs, you can almost see a Tyrannosaurus rex ancient predecessor in there. Also interesting how they spread their wings out to make themselves look bigger.

I think their wings are spread for maximum lift in slow flight, staying near the drone.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

I think their wings are spread for maximum lift in slow flight, staying near the drone.

Could be. Either way, if the drone were alive, it would look intimidating.

Pure coincidence, Yesterday afternoon I was doing some slow flying with my FPV at about 60 metres height when I was "swarmed by a couple hundred Galahs (called a "giggle!"). Squaking like crazy, the swooped just below me, then came up in height a went all around me. Kind of used to this as I see them everyday around the house and local parks. They have just never gotten this close before. They did this a few times. Eventually, I decided to get out of the way and shot the drone upwards, then land. That threw them off. When I flew again, they had lost interest.