Morning all. Anyone have any problems with birds getting a little to close for comfort? Yesterday I was up around 390ft when about 10 vultures came out of nowhere and seemed way to curious in my spark. They just circled me both above and below. Had me nervous as I was descending back to the ground. I’ve heard that some people add eye decals to their drones and that keeps most birds away. Any truth to them working?

"They just circled me both above and below."
How would you know that? You have captured some on video?
In 390ft, there is not even to tell, if they are close or still 50-100 ft on top, methinks
Eagles are doing the same, sometimes.
Seems to me, that white "birds' are attracting more curiosity, as green, yellow or red ones!

Also: Eagles get less interested, if I switch to sport and do a couple of hard turns, direction changes with speed.
They mostly get a bit further away and turning towards other "interesting things"

Everything happened directly above me in an open field. No pictures or videos, was more worried about coming down to land. Could see them below my camera and easily see from the ground they were higher then my drone.

I am worried about that, but I am more worried about injuring a bird's feet than my spark. Spark can be replaced. I try to go far away from them but if I would see a bird getting near my spark I will get lower fast and bring it back. and go fly somewhere else if I see the bird getting closer.  Vultures at not a problem because they are not birds of prey, they eat dead animals on the ground. They can collide with the drone though.

I have had a vulture check out my Spark while I was filming the neighbor mowing a hay field.  I was watching the picture framing and didn't notice the bird until he flew right over the drone.  He glided one to two feet over the hovering drone while I could see his head craning to look down at it.  He left the area once he figured it wasn't food.

The way vultures are, he was likely trying to see if the Spark had spotted something tasty to hover over like a bird would.  Dead rabbit?

Gunship9 Posted at 12-30 07:41
I have had a vulture check out my Spark while I was filming the neighbor mowing a hay field.  I was watching the picture framing and didn't notice the bird until he flew right over the drone.  He glided one to two feet over the hovering drone while I could see his head craning to look down at it.  He left the area once he figured it wasn't food.

The way vultures are, he was likely trying to see if the Spark had spotted something tasty to hover over like a bird would.  Dead rabbit?

Haha probably. I knew they weren’t going to try and attack/ eat little sparky. Just has me thinking, if it were say a eagle, hawk or osprey would it have been the same. That was a first time for me with birds being that close. Just was wanting to know if the decal faces people are putting on their drones actually works at keeping predictors from thinking the spark as a snack or are they just for looks. I’m not trying to disrupt birds doing bird things just don’t want one trying to chase my spark. Spark is fast but not that fast. I think I’ll throw some eyes on mine and just hope I never need to worry about it.  

google birds attack drones ;-)

Seagulls are the most dengerous enemy of the drones. Beware of seagulls!

Hello there. I suggest you fly your drone in an open area and avoid to fly it with birds around to avoid any issue. Please fly with caution. Thank you.

DJI Natalia Posted at 12-30 10:38
Hello there. I suggest you fly your drone in an open area and avoid to fly it with birds around to avoid any issue. Please fly with caution. Thank you.

Thank you for reminding these vitally important rules.

Lysak2003 Posted at 12-30 11:10
Thank you for reminding these vitally important rules.

You're most welcome. Please don't hesitate to reach us if you have other concerns. Thank you.

Barn swallows have checked out my flying toys, but never bothered them.

I sometimes have chimangos get pretty close to my spark seem to be inspecting it (or angry that its in their airspace).. They force me to down it just incase, well in the end of the day they really own the skies.

They seem to come out of nowhere though.

Good look to all of us.   

J_street86 Posted at 12-30 08:01
Haha probably. I knew they weren’t going to try and attack/ eat little sparky. Just has me thinking, if it were say a eagle, hawk or osprey would it have been the same. That was a first time for me with birds being that close. Just was wanting to know if the decal faces people are putting on their drones actually works at keeping predictors from thinking the spark as a snack or are they just for looks. I’m not trying to disrupt birds doing bird things just don’t want one trying to chase my spark. Spark is fast but not that fast. I think I’ll throw some eyes on mine and just hope I never need to worry about it.

Osprey only eat fish, nothing else so they are no threat to your drone unless you would get near it's nest maybe? and still, I am not sure if they would attack a drone.