Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to tell my experiences about bird attacks while flying,


1) Before flight always control the sky if there is any threat for your aircraft (most of the attacks are done by seagulls and eagles).


2) Birds became aggresive with instinct of protect while they are in breeding period. Especially do not fly near bird nests when dangerous birds are in breeding period. You can learn details about your bird types in you location and breeding period about them (it is not only for your drone also you should not disturb animals in their natural area).


But what if you felt that you are in a bird attack ?

1)  Start ascending very quickly. You may ask "Why am I ascending ? I need to land ASAP". Here is why: Getting a higher altitude than other birds around you, makes you look stronger and brave. So there will be less attack risk rather than descending option.


2) Leave the area as fast as you can while ascending the drone.



Hope you will not experience something like this. These tips may save you from an attack but they are not guaranteed. Before every flight searching information about your flight location will always be a better option.


Have a nice flight !

Seagulls are the worst and so common in our skies.

DAFlys Posted at 5-5 06:21
Seagulls are the worst and so common in our skies.

Yeah man you are right, I have the same problem in my place. I hope DJI will invent "Bird Repellent" for drones

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-5 06:31
Yeah man you are right, I have the same problem in my place. I hope DJI will invent "Bird Repellent" for drones

I was flying in the Canary Islands,  and had a seagull attack the drone,  so I waited a bit and he came back and tried again,  I then landed and walked 1/2 a mile down the coast and the seagull followed.  We wondered if they were mating or something.

DAFlys Posted at 5-5 06:41
I was flying in the Canary Islands,  and had a seagull attack the drone,  so I waited a bit and he came back and tried again,  I then landed and walked 1/2 a mile down the coast and the seagull followed.  We wondered if they were mating or something.

I hope you'll never experience it again bro. Landing your drone mile away must be very scary.

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-5 06:49
I hope you'll never experience it again bro. Landing your drone mile away must be very scary.

Even after lading he was swooping at us,  I managed to grab a little video of it - https://www.instagram.com/p/B9UBwPqnKM0/

DAFlys Posted at 5-5 06:58
Even after lading he was swooping at us,  I managed to grab a little video of it - https://www.instagram.com/p/B9UBwPqnKM0/

Maybe as you said seagull thought it's a friend

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-5 07:06
Maybe as you said seagull thought it's a friend

Maybe,  but I didnt want to find out.

Seagulls and Kites have been troublesome for me.

Vlas Posted at 5-5 17:25
Seagulls and Kites have been troublesome for me.

They are nightmares of every drone owner

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-6 00:40
They are nightmares of every drone owner

Also forgot to mention crows.

Vlas Posted at 5-6 00:49
Also forgot to mention crows.

Have you seen attacking crows ? I haven't heard of them. I'm really surprised

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-6 00:55
Have you seen attacking crows ? I haven't heard of them. I'm really surprised

In Japan they are incredible irritating. They constantly buzz my drone.

Vlas Posted at 5-6 01:05
In Japan they are incredible irritating. They constantly buzz my drone.

Wow it's weird. I am changing the text now

I had a lot of swallow 'interest' during my flight.
No attacks, but they did seem to want to photobomb my captures.....

Montfrooij Posted at 5-6 01:54
I had a lot of swallow 'interest' during my flight.
No attacks, but they did seem to want to photobomb my captures.....

It's very scary to see birds in sight

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-6 02:00
It's very scary to see birds in sight

True.
Good thing it did not happen too often with me.

Montfrooij Posted at 5-6 02:13
True.
Good thing it did not happen too often with me.

In my place there are a lot of seagulls and crows. I became paranoid because of them

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-6 02:23
In my place there are a lot of seagulls and crows. I became paranoid because of them

Yes   I can understand.
Hard to enjoy your flight when they are around.

Montfrooij Posted at 5-6 02:27
Yes   I can understand.
Hard to enjoy your flight when they are around.

Exactly

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-6 00:55
Have you seen attacking crows ? I haven't heard of them. I'm really surprised

There's a clip on youtube of crows or ravens scaring a woman from the air around Dunluce Castle (can't find the clip sorry)and a hooded crow had a look at my P3 a couple of days ago, I wouldn't be surprised to see magpies having a look as well.

Seagull's are to be avoided or given lots of distance lol. I actually had a buzzard being cooperative and ignoring my P3 whilst hunting. It let me know when it had been tolerant enough, I left lol.

Geese?

Sean-newbie Posted at 5-6 04:45
There's a clip on youtube of crows or ravens scaring a woman from the air around Dunluce Castle (can't find the clip sorry)and a hooded crow had a look at my P3 a couple of days ago, I wouldn't be surprised to see magpies having a look as well.

Seagull's are to be avoided or given lots of distance lol. I actually had a buzzard being cooperative and ignoring my P3 whilst hunting. It let me know when it had been tolerant enough, I left lol.

I'll watch it bro

Crows are the worst! They sit two or three yards down just out of sight of my drone as I fly early in morning's to catch the sun rise. It must really upset them bad the attack my car all the time, its a black 2019 Mercedes and I've had to replace  windshield wiper blades now three times, both blades from them tearing peices out of them. They cost $40 a piece which i could buy cheaper but I like to see in the rain. Im ready to see how they hold up to a Mavic 2 pro propeller,  haha! Not to mention. The bird mess they expell on my car and scratches to the clear coat. Very frustrating.  There is two other cars parked beside mine and I guess they know the drone owner, "jokingly" but if you see Crows try to not give them any attention,  seams like the more you try to run them off the more they come back. Good luck & happy Droning.

djiuser_vaQew9WmKp24 Posted at 5-7 01:16
Crows are the worst! They sit two or three yards down just out of sight of my drone as I fly early in morning's to catch the sun rise. It must really upset them bad the attack my car all the time, its a black 2019 Mercedes and I've had to replace  windshield wiper blades now three times, both blades from them tearing peices out of them. They cost $40 a piece which i could buy cheaper but I like to see in the rain. Im ready to see how they hold up to a Mavic 2 pro propeller,  haha! Not to mention. The bird mess they expell on my car and scratches to the clear coat. Very frustrating.  There is two other cars parked beside mine and I guess they know the drone owner, "jokingly" but if you see Crows try to not give them any attention,  seams like the more you try to run them off the more they come back. Good luck & happy Droning.

Thank you for your experiences ! I am sad to hear that I wish it didn't cost mush

Crows are very territorial they mostly nest in ever greens and as soon as you identify a nesting area fly clear. Sparrows I believe are the worst I've seen them take on hawks around here in groups of course. parent hood you tend to throw caution to the wind. I have two returning pairs of Red tail hawks in the woods around me. They usually soar at a higher altitude but if I see them before I take off I stick to flying low in my field. Waiting for the New norm to begin and I can explore new territory in my new pleasure of drone flying and the Action.

Bats! I wanted to land near dusk and a cloud of bats were doing their daily move to where they spend their nights. I wasn't sure they would part so I could come down or not. I hovered for some time until the battery was down to 20% and went for it. Thankfully, the bats had thinned out a tad by that time. Very scary.

Has anyone tried attaching zip ties like bike riders do on their helmets? Or, could the RPA output a frequency to deter birds?

Shootermac Posted at 5-20 16:35
Bats! I wanted to land near dusk and a cloud of bats were doing their daily move to where they spend their nights. I wasn't sure they would part so I could come down or not. I hovered for some time until the battery was down to 20% and went for it. Thankfully, the bats had thinned out a tad by that time. Very scary.

Has anyone tried attaching zip ties like bike riders do on their helmets? Or, could the RPA output a frequency to deter birds?

Wow I have heard it first time. It must be very frightening.

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 5-5 06:31
Yeah man you are right, I have the same problem in my place. I hope DJI will invent "Bird Repellent" for drones

small double barrel shotgun with a remote trigger ye man that will be cool

There are lots of large pelicans here but they are not aggressive. I routinely see them swerve out of my way. They seem to understand that my Mini is just a very stupid bird with no avian right-of-way sense ;-)

Several times I saw a video about the collision of drones with birds with sad consequences. And he himself a couple of times observed an unhealthy reaction of birds to my Mavik pro. In our places flocks of pigeons are especially dangerous. They suddenly fly over a seemingly clean place after the take-off of my drone. And they begin to circle, dangerously approaching him.
After several such cases, I pasted my film with a yellow-black film from a hardware store. This color works for birds as a warning - "do not touch me!"
Since then, I have not observed dangerous encounters. I fly in places. where there are pigeons, seagulls and predatory eagles

It is also wise to use propeller protectors when flying in areas where there are birds.
If a bird attacks there is less chance of a bird being hurt and the drone dropping down due to damaged propellers.
It is not fool proof but can increases chances of the drone surviving bird attack and vice versa.

In Canada red-wing blackbirds, when flying low over marshes in Spring, are extremely dangerous.

Mirek

Mirek L Posted at 6-3 09:07
It is also wise to use propeller protectors when flying in areas where there are birds.
If a bird attacks there is less chance of a bird being hurt and the drone dropping down due to damaged propellers.
It is not fool proof but can increases chances of the drone surviving bird attack and vice versa.

Yeah it's a great idea

Alexei Merinov Posted at 6-2 02:44
Several times I saw a video about the collision of drones with birds with sad consequences. And he himself a couple of times observed an unhealthy reaction of birds to my Mavik pro. In our places flocks of pigeons are especially dangerous. They suddenly fly over a seemingly clean place after the take-off of my drone. And they begin to circle, dangerously approaching him.
After several such cases, I pasted my film with a yellow-black film from a hardware store. This color works for birds as a warning - "do not touch me!"
Since then, I have not observed dangerous encounters. I fly in places. where there are pigeons, seagulls and predatory eagles

It's great ! Does that really works on birds ? I had some questions about them so I havent bought a film like that.

Droneflier Posted at 5-21 06:15
small double barrel shotgun with a remote trigger ye man that will be cool

That would be great man

GaryDoug Posted at 5-22 19:28
There are lots of large pelicans here but they are not aggressive. I routinely see them swerve out of my way. They seem to understand that my Mini is just a very stupid bird with no avian right-of-way sense ;-)

Hahahahaha I wish my local birds were like them too

Eralp SAYGIN Posted at 6-10 03:28
It's great ! Does that really works on birds ? I had some questions about them so I havent bought a film like that.

I had several cases confirming the effectiveness of such a coloring - a steppe eagle, a raven and a flock of pigeons left the drone when approaching them.

Seagulls totally ruined my flights today. I wanted to try out the new features on the Mavic Air 2, but the gulls were very aggressive, and attacked in gangs whenever I took off. I was trying to stay away from them, but they were really coming in and attacking it. No actual contact because as soon as they got close I'd fly away as fast as I could and come in and land, thus ruining my day. Couldn't get anything done.  After I got home, I did some research online, and found that gulls usually fly only up to 50 ft, with about 120ft the max altitude. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but if true, then any time I have gull trouble, I'll do all my flying at 200'-400', and that should mitigate the problem, except when coming in to land. I was afraid to go up that high with the gulls attacking today as I thought they'd follow it up there and if they knocked it down it would be totally ruined. But I was over the ocean anyway, so at any altitude a crash would be fatal to the drone...

I'm interested to know if the bright colouring works, and if so, which colour deters them best. I can get fluro orange, fluro green, or fluro yellow from decalgirl, or I think there's a sort of wasp pattern one. I wonder if anyone has done any actual research on this?

I hate seagulls. They gave me problems and prevented me from filming. I was afraid that the drone would fall into the water. Thanks for the advice, btw

Send another one covered with crumbs and grain to distract them