Share your tips on how to avoid birds!

Wingo · Apr 15, 2018

Birds can't fly straight vertically up...or down. So if you're drone is attacked just put throttle full up or down!

HiKen51 · Apr 15, 2018

Wingo said:
Birds can't fly straight vertically up...or down. So if you're drone is attacked just put throttle full up or down!

A diving falcon may not be going straight down, but it can adjust its course to follow anything going down or horizontal. Either that or it starves to death. Going straight up may only lead to a collision. But rapidly up and away is something it's never seen its prey do.

macoman · Apr 15, 2018

Cuervo said:
I spend some time looking around before I fly, give things a chance to settle down after I arrive on scene, birds and such will resume their business and I can see what's going on in the neighborhood.
Sometimes I don't fly, as much not to disturb birds and animals as worrying about the drone.
There are numerous peregrine falcon pairs along this stretch of the coast, they're hard to spot and would be impossible to outmaneuver.

Similar thing happened to me yesterday, Saturday. I took my new Mavic for the first time out to see how it fly. I went to a park in West deptford, new Jersey. I went out of my car, saw the sky and there was not birds around. I was thinking, wow... Perfect to fly and it was clear and sunshine. I took my Mavic on the sky, around 300 ft... Then from nowhere, hawks started flying on the sky. There were around 100 ft away. I took my Mavic down to 10 ft. They were looking at the Mavic from far away but nothing to worry. I noticed that they came on top of where I was flying to check the Mavic. I guess these hawks were hungry and thought the Mavic could had been a small little bird to eat.

dronerdave · Apr 15, 2018

I live where there are all sorts of raptors, waterfowl, and other marsh type birds. None of the hawks have bothered me yet. At one site I did have an Osprey take a dive at me but once I quickly shot up and away, it seemed to care less about any of us flying our Mavic's. None of us fly close to an active bird of prey nest for the obvious reasons. I think birds not used to the sound react differently. Flying over Geese seemed to heighten their awareness but after a few visits they calmed down. Mind you I'm not flying real low as to spook them off the water or ground. I've had more activity with the smaller Starlings and Blackbirds but never have made contact with any of those yet. I always run red, green and white strobes but can't say if that makes any difference. It sure doesn't with some small birds. I was checking out my roof the other day and the Hummingbirds took a lot of interest in my quad.

Cuervo · Apr 15, 2018

It's migration season for a lot of hawks, they tend to congregate in loose association near ridges or places where they might find rodents and small birds.
I looked up that location, the Delaware could indeed be a likely migration route.

HiKen51 · Apr 20, 2018

MadProphet said:
I was flying above our local lake and flew out over the spillway since I saw it was open as I drove in. I was taking a few pictures when I heard and then saw on my iPad that MANY swallows(?) were surrounding my Mavic. .

Got thinking about this--swallows probably wouldn't attack your Mavic, they feed on flying bugs. Well, the drone sounds like a swarm of bugs or bees. I'll bet the sound is what got the swallows to circling.

MadProphet · Apr 20, 2018

I wasn't so concerned about a direct attack, like might happen with a raptor. I was more worried about incidental contact. Truth be told, I didn't have time to give it much thought. From first birds to being surrounded was about 20 seconds. I was purely in reaction mode.
Afterwards, I was thinking if was baby bird time and they might have been defending their nests but your idea has merit, too. I will go back in a couple of days. See what happens.

jeffk · Apr 21, 2018

black_magic100 said:
If anybody has any advice when dealing with birds in the area please let me know. I live in Ohio and I see hawks everywhere, which means I never ever take my drone LOS or I know that it will be taken out of the sky.

Honestly I'm really surprised at how territorial birds are. The mavic is extremely loud so you'd think that they wouldn't attack it.

This is easily my biggest fear whenever I fly my bird especially if I am on vacation and don't know what birds are local.

jeffk · Apr 21, 2018

black_magic100 said:
If anybody has any advice when dealing with birds in the area please let me know. I live in Ohio and I see hawks everywhere, which means I never ever take my drone LOS or I know that it will be taken out of the sky.

Honestly I'm really surprised at how territorial birds are. The mavic is extremely loud so you'd think that they wouldn't attack it.

This is easily my biggest fear whenever I fly my bird especially if I am on vacation and don't know what birds are local.

Had the same issue of birds attacking my Mavic, until I put a bright yellow skin on it. Have not had that problem since .Hawks and other predators now ignore it totally

DagDerniT · Apr 21, 2018

black_magic100 said:
If anybody has any advice when dealing with birds in the area please let me know. I live in Ohio and I see hawks everywhere, which means I never ever take my drone LOS or I know that it will be taken out of the sky.

Honestly I'm really surprised at how territorial birds are. The mavic is extremely loud so you'd think that they wouldn't attack it.

This is easily my biggest fear whenever I fly my bird especially if I am on vacation and don't know what birds are local.

I installed a holographic skin and haven't had a single problem since and it also looks pretty cool

Smecky · Apr 21, 2018

As being a hunting man for many years. Birds can only see in uv.

black_magic100 · Apr 21, 2018

jeffk said:
Had the same issue of birds attacking my Mavic, until I put a bright yellow skin on it. Have not had that problem since .Hawks and other predators now ignore it totally

Interesting... I really like the design of the mavic and I feel like adding a skin just makes it look cheap. Do you have a link to the one you use?

black_magic100 · Apr 21, 2018

Smecky said:
As being a hunting man for many years. Birds can only see in uv.

So what are you implying

Smecky · Apr 21, 2018

They can’t see colour.

Cakeissweet · Apr 21, 2018

black_magic100 said:
If anybody has any advice when dealing with birds in the area please let me know. I live in Ohio and I see hawks everywhere, which means I never ever take my drone LOS or I know that it will be taken out of the sky.

Honestly I'm really surprised at how territorial birds are. The mavic is extremely loud so you'd think that they wouldn't attack it.

This is easily my biggest fear whenever I fly my bird especially if I am on vacation and don't know what birds are local.

Here in NZ I seem to have a problem with seagulls . I’ll pop my mavic up and almost right away they are on the seen in attack mode. I generally pull back close to where I’m standing and hover for a few mins. 90% of the time they will then back off and I’ll get 15mins of flight time in hindered by the birds.

dewster · Apr 21, 2018

I’ve had big birds circle my craft out of curiosity. And they come out of nowhere. The small birds are hyper aggressive. Go vertical (aggressive climb out) if caught by surprise. Most birds can outfly the Mavic’s top speed.