Hi,

I'm a beguinner with drones, and i have a question: What about birds (all kinds) attacks?

I was looking for places to fly the drone, and in fermes we can see big birds (dont know the names for my dirty english lol) and i was thinking if they frecuently attaques drones coz some ones are territorial so i don'i know... and drones will resist to those attacks? What can we do in case of an attack? emergency landing or go more hight?

Thank you

They seem more interested than a threat - though keep as clear as you can.

Whatever you do don’t be attacking birds, Lol

Yes birds can sometimes be a problem, usually just raising the altitude of your aircraft will get rid of them, most birds shouldn’t attack, but be frightened away by your drone, but generally just keep a watch out for them try to not interfere with them, they were after all in the sky a lot longer than man made creations.

Keep clear of birds! You can injure them and destroy your drone all at the same time. I haven't had any birds act aggressively towards my drone however I have heard stories of it happening. I have had an interesting experience with bees though. I was in an area doing some testing and there was a bee flying around me. After take off I was hovering for a few minutes adjusting some settings and the bee kept flying all around my Mavic Air. I moved it a few feet away and he followed it, he eventually got hit by the propellers and died but I found it interesting that he was so attracted to it. Must have been the buzzing of the propellers.

I had more problems mit insects this year - flying all around  the camera all the time ruining lots of videos ;)

EMBE Posted at 2018-7-9 05:27
I had more problems mit insects this year - flying all around  the camera all the time ruining lots of videos ;)

That's a new one.  Where are you flying...yikes!  

Rule of thumb...avoid the birds.  Yes, they will sometimes attack your drone.  I specifically got a RED Mavic Air hoping to cut down on this problem.  I had more birds come at my SPARK (which is WHITE)...fewer issues with the Mavic Air (which is red).  My recommendation is land the drone and move to another location if you feel its an issue.  

Birds attack and swarm mine fairly often.  If it happens, sport mode and CLIMB.  Dont run and don't descend as they'll chase.

Yup, can happen a lot, depending on the species and the place you’re flying at.
For territorial species, there’s usually an altitude band where they’ll attack/swarm/mob your drone.

They usually only start after you go above some threshold altitude into their ”airspace”.

But like others have said, don’t drop when it happens, as that just invites chase.

Size of the bird doesn’t matter, by the way.
I got quite a bit of trouble from swallows, for example. They gang up on a drone and come from all sides.
They even successifully ”hijacked” my Parrot AR.drone once, long time ago, by flying close under it, confusing the optical flow sensor.

several times my Mavik miraculously avoided collision with birds. They were crazy pigeons, curious seagulls and jealous eagles. Slightly speculated and ... my Mavik covered my self-adhesive tape from the building store. So that its coloring resembles the color of the rsa or bee.
After that it's almost a year since I have no problems with birds. They do not even come close.

Alexei Merinov Posted at 2018-7-9 08:17
several times my Mavik miraculously avoided collision with birds. They were crazy pigeons, curious seagulls and jealous eagles. Slightly speculated and ... my Mavik covered my self-adhesive tape from the building store. So that its coloring resembles the color of the rsa or bee.
After that it's almost a year since I have no problems with birds. They do not even come close.

Interesting... i’ll have to try that on swallows.

0rcinus Posted at 2018-7-9 08:29
Interesting... i’ll have to try that on swallows.

I will be glad to know your impressions.

Don't know where you are located, but here in the U.S., there are laws  protecting birds of prey that tell you to stay away from their nesting areas because flying your drone near them could be wildlife harassment. Where I live, we have numerous osprey/eagle nests, so I have to be really careful where I launch. My neighborhood has six or seven osprey nests, and at least one bald eagle site, so I have to constantly be on the lookout. When I see ospreys heading towards my Mavic, I'll bring it back to me and land until they fly off.  The only real safe window for me is from early September to mid-February.

I've primarily had issues with two types of birds and my MA...

Swifts

They are very playful birds that often fly DANGEROUSLY close to my MA in groups, just for fun, as they do this with many objects it seems, but have so far never struck it. Usually if I see a bunch of them close by, I'll either try to gently land if it's permissible, or have the MA hover perfectly still; they'll just get close but never too close and eventually lose interest it seems.

Eagles

Now THIS is the dangerous one! Most Eagles, especially Bald Eagles, seem to take great offence to the MA, and have attempted to dive bomb it! These days, if I see any in the air, I won't take off at all, or quickly land in Sport mode if I spot one in the air!

Fly safe!

I had a confrontation with a flock (or should I say squadron) of pigeons. First I thought "Oh, nice to have some birds in the shot" but then I realized that they were actually not just flying through the shot but reacting to the Mavic Air and occasionally got awfully close. I heard that you are supposed to go up, because in bird psychology, above means bird of prey... Anyway, made a video clip out of it:

Akuma Posted at 2018-7-9 14:42
I had a confrontation with a flock (or should I say squadron) of pigeons. First I thought "Oh, nice to have some birds in the shot" but then I realized that they were actually not just flying through the shot but reacting to the Mavic Air and occasionally got awfully close. I heard that you are supposed to go up, because in bird psychology, above means bird of prey... Anyway, made a video clip out of it:

https://youtu.be/kxRVZO1Ze14

They were only pigeons, taking a few of them out might have been good to keep the poop off the streets

Some birds that are very territorial, will dive bomb a drone just as likely as they are to dive bomb a pet, or even a person walking in the area.  Now, most times the bird is just trying to scare away the intruder and they don't actually make contact, intentionally, but you have to be very careful.  As mentioned below, fly up asap, or land.  There are a few cases of verified attacks on drones caught on camera, and the drone doesn't fair well.

I’ve had a few close calls with seagulls. I make a point to stay away from areas with birds. We have a ton of bald eagles and I know to avoid them.

Although, I see seagulls harassing them all the time.

birds are more curious, less threatened or bothered but i suggest avoiding larger birds like hawks and eagles, even though hawks tend to be more timid more likely to fly away, they can get aggressive around food or mating and nesting areas.  eagles on the other hand are a wild card they seem to not fear the drones.. so just straight up avoid them because they may just attack because they can.

i have survived one bird strike with my mavic pro, i believe it was a relatively small bird though like a swallow or something that dived at the wrong time.  i didn't see much of it happen, i noticed on my live view i was free falling i looked up to sky and saw my mavic tumbling and a little bird falling below it (poor thing)  then my mavic pro recover itself.. about 2-3 seconds into the free fall it barely self recovered in time before hitting a roof.. i was up around my 275 foot cruising alt when the strike happened and i recovered only 55 feet off the ground or thereabouts...

with drones like the mavic air and the spark, too much tilt (90 degrees) will stall the props out  meaning if you hit a bird or something you may be dealing with mavic air or spark free falling to its death.   whereas with drone like mavic pro and phantom 4 pro and inspire series it will fight to right itself  even if the drone is upside down. so keep that in mind, less likely to self recover after such a strike..

In my opinion, there are two things that are dangerous for any drones. One is the extremely windy conditions while the other is the birds. I agree with all the comments shared.  I personally look around to find a nice area free of birds. By the way, I am really curious to know about the stickers which are said to be a useful tool to avoid bird attacks.  What colour of adhesive tapes should I use? My MA is white one, which I think attracts the birds more than the others -black and red.

Great captions and music on that bird video.

A yellow and black scrip version MA should keep the birds off. It also sounds like a crazy giant wasp. DJI should make this for bird repulse around airport.

gnirtS Posted at 2018-7-9 07:00
Birds attack and swarm mine fairly often.  If it happens, sport mode and CLIMB.  Dont run and don't descend as they'll chase.

Look very practical advice. Thank You

Alexei Merinov Posted at 2018-7-9 08:17
several times my Mavik miraculously avoided collision with birds. They were crazy pigeons, curious seagulls and jealous eagles. Slightly speculated and ... my Mavik covered my self-adhesive tape from the building store. So that its coloring resembles the color of the rsa or bee.
After that it's almost a year since I have no problems with birds. They do not even come close.

That's a fat bee you got there

Most birds are afraid of the noise, here in upstate New York we have a bird called the “ Barn swallow” these birds are not afraid of the noise and will attack and bring your quad crashing to the ground.....

Bokepacha Posted at 2018-7-10 01:16
That's a fat bee you got there

thick, angry and scary. The birds are puzzled and do not fly close. Even the eagles

The result of the coloring - pigeons in panic run to the side

EdisonW1979 Posted at 2018-7-9 11:44
I've primarily had issues with two types of birds and my MA...

Swifts

Very interesting about the bald eagles attitude. I’m going to Alaska next month and bald eagles are common on the river I will be fishing and filming on.  Ospreys, gulls and ravens too.

Were they racing pigeons, who fly in a couple of circles after release, to check their bearings. Then they head off back to their home? You just happened to be in the way of their orientation?

Alexei Merinov Posted at 2018-7-10 07:50
The result of the coloring - pigeons in panic run to the side
https://youtu.be/fG-LEceyY60

And the first bird says to the second bird - Вот дерьмо!!

0rcinus Posted at 2018-7-9 07:55
Yup, can happen a lot, depending on the species and the place you’re flying at.
For territorial species, there’s usually an altitude band where they’ll attack/swarm/mob your drone.

i've had a few encounters with birds with the mavic pro. they didn't bother the phantom but they seem curious about mp..i gave up and moved after a flock made the second pass at it..with the o.a. sensors on they stopped me  dead in my tracks twice..

Thank you all for your messages.

So, let's Fly out of birds when possible and have good reflex when they comes!

Nancy SEO Posted at 2018-7-9 09:04
Don't know where you are located, but here in the U.S., there are laws  protecting birds of prey that tell you to stay away from their nesting areas because flying your drone near them could be wildlife harassment. Where I live, we have numerous osprey/eagle nests, so I have to be really careful where I launch. My neighborhood has six or seven osprey nests, and at least one bald eagle site, so I have to constantly be on the lookout. When I see ospreys heading towards my Mavic, I'll bring it back to me and land until they fly off.  The only real safe window for me is from early September to mid-February.

Sometimes I think it's more regulations to protect animals then humans. But we must be careful about the animals. Common sense is in place for both human and animal when flying.

Alexei Merinov Posted at 2018-7-9 08:17
several times my Mavik miraculously avoided collision with birds. They were crazy pigeons, curious seagulls and jealous eagles. Slightly speculated and ... my Mavik covered my self-adhesive tape from the building store. So that its coloring resembles the color of the rsa or bee.
After that it's almost a year since I have no problems with birds. They do not even come close.

Wow interesting Mavic