Hello,
I really like flying my mini 3 pro. Recently I have been thinking about flying it by the parks near by Lake Ontario. But there are a lot of birds around it, I just wonder how I can fly by the shore of the lake without getting attacked any birds ? Would be grateful if anyone can give me some tips

at some point you'll need to stop worrying about the attacks because there is nothing you can do to stop it.  many of the birds push back out of instinct and are only trying to intimidate but have no intention to engage.  as mentioned, you'll likely never see a collision.  i wouldn't penetrate a entire flock and i would avoid if you could but ive gone back to review footage to look at scenary and have seen all kinds of "attacks" and near misses that i didn't see vlos.  in the end, dji care refresh is your friend.  you'll prob hear about bright colored skins and low-pitch quiet blades but none of that works for me.  good luck!

If you know there are birds there, and they are swooping at your drone, it is likely their attempt to scare you off to protect a nest.  Why not just fly somewhere else?

There is one sure way to prevent bird strikes. Sell your drone.

Hi there. Thank you for reaching out. Hope that you could get the best recommendation from our fellow DJI Pilots here. Just a friendly reminder, we strongly recommend flying the unit in an open space as much as possible away from these animals to ensure the safety of your flight. Thank you for your valued support.

I am with TonyPHX on this, don't fly near nesting colonies etc. and be wary around seabirds in general. Oyster Catchers and geese have been known to go for drones. Gulls overfly my house en route between two places, the odd one has changed course to investigate a Mini.The drone is never very high there and once it is below tree top level (literally) they are never 'curious', I don't know if they would remain curious if the drone was low and out in the open. At some point I may try a black and yellow striped 'skin' i.e. a wasp like colour scheme, but I don't know if seabirds encounter many wasps.

I once had an attack by a group of curious seagulls on my Mavic Air over water. I immediately started flying back to the shore and once the drone reached land, they stopped. Probably also depends on the kind of birds...

I've found that most birds are either just inquisitive about the drone or trying to protect their nesting area.  At one time I did have an aggressive falcon try to attack my drone.  I almost lost it trying to descend and get away from it.  After a moment of panic I switched into Sports mode and ascended as fast as it could.  The lesson I learned here was that birds can descend faster than they can ascend.  So since that encounter I will always switch to Sports mode and ascend quickly and then leave that ara.  The different skins seem to not have any effect on keeping the birds away.  

TonyPHX Posted at 11-9 18:54
If you know there are birds there, and they are swooping at your drone, it is likely their attempt to scare you off to protect a nest.  Why not just fly somewhere else?

The birds are pretty much just flying and doing their own thing but I'm worried if they suddenly attack me or something. So if they fly around the drone, I should bug out ?

fansebfd0e0b Posted at 11-10 05:41
The birds are pretty much just flying and doing their own thing but I'm worried if they suddenly attack me or something. So if they fly around the drone, I should bug out ?

this has been my experience is if you leave whenever a bird takes notice or gets inquisitive, you wont get any decent flying in.  since you have vlos, monitor the situation and if the situation escalates, the birds start getting more aggressive, starts calling over more friends...then leave.  you can literally see birds traveling across the sky heading towards your ao on an intercept course and you just know they are going to take pause and take notice so you wait for it and they poke around then leave. i wouldn't worry too much about a sudden violent attack unless you are surrounds and you hear a lot of screaming and see birds that are upside down or inverted in a tight circle.

Shooting can be where there are many birds...

This bird did try to attack, there were several that started circling. I landed and then later tried again, and they all appeared again. I just gave up and called it a day. They may have had some nests nearby,

Has anyone tried this?

mluidjdi Posted at 10-21 06:08
Has anyone tried this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP8eZasOFs&t=76s

It would be interesting to see more opinions from anyone who tried it, whether it actually works.

I have yet to encounter any bird problems, but it's something I have thought about. It's not unusual to see bird on bird aerial attacks aroung here, like crows Vs buzzard.
On the whole I think common sense would suggest to keep a respectful distance from any wildlife and avoid anywhere that is thick with birds. I know you can't always account for curious or aggressive behaviour, but nesting places in the season is asking for trouble.

mluidjdi Posted at 10-21 06:08
Has anyone tried this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP8eZasOFs&t=76s

This could really have an effect with reflective foils

But I will prefer to avoid birds if possible

Bring a 12 gauge

I have had some bird issues, but in So Florida the bees drive me crazy. I had a swarm around my Mini 3 Pro while climbing out, and the rotors sliced-n-diced them. I had bee parts stuck all over the drone.

I’ve only had one bird attack, they were crows. But in South Florida, I have been chased by swarms of bees. The rotors sliced and diced them and left the body parts all over the drone.

I had 'sea gulls' get very interested in my Mini 2 one time last year. The straight up ascent trick worked for me (but I actually forgot to switch to sport mode).

I'd seen it recommended on a YouTube video and I remembered it because it seemed like a sensible option and it got me out of trouble.

(I posted about it not long after and Ingot utterly shot down by the infinitely wise Labroids, but from the posts here it seems like I'm not the only one it has worked for.)

Obviously the type and number of birds will be a factor, but fact is that birds circle to climb - drones don't need to do that so can just shoot straight up.

If a bird is determined them it will catch you, but if it's trying to scare you off then an ascent will hopefully look like a retreat.

An alternative suggestion.

Now, I haven't tried this myself but I have no reason to think it would not work.

First, find a newly hatched Kestrel chick and take it to hand rear yourself.

Keep the Kestrel chick in a box with your drone, and whenever you take the Kestrel out to train it, take your drone along as well.

Feed the chick well and eventually let it fly free, flying with your drone so that it is not only familiar but the Kestrel sees it as family.

When the Kestrel is an adult it will then be able to defend your drone from other birds! 0r9blwm solved

(This may work better if you train the Kestrel in a gritty Yorkshire (north of England) village. Just don't let your brother anywhere near the Kestrel.)

No Original Thought Posted at 10-21 14:19
I had 'sea gulls' get very interested in my Mini 2 one time last year. The straight up ascent trick worked for me (but I actually forgot to switch to sport mode).

I'd seen it recommended on a YouTube video and I remembered it because it seemed like a sensible option and it got me out of trouble.

(I posted about it not long after and I got utterly shot down by the infinitely wise Labroids, but from the posts here it seems like I'm not the only one it has worked for.)
That's because your tactic only works with birds that aren't seriously out to attack your drone.
But in your characteristic ignorance, you refused to accept what I said on the matter.
Just listen to what the video guy above has to say from 25 seconds in the video.
I've recently had to deal with crows that wouldn't drop the chase and were still attacking after a kilometre of evasive flying.

Labroides Posted at 10-21 17:40
(I posted about it not long after and I got utterly shot down by the infinitely wise Labroids, but from the posts here it seems like I'm not the only one it has worked for.)
That's because your tactic only works with birds that aren't seriously out to attack your drone.
But in your characteristic ignorance, you refused to accept what I said on the matter.

At no point have I ever said it would work with all birds.

But in your charismatic arrogance you wouldn't ever accept that and instead just dismiss what others say out of hand.

If you are caught in that situation you cannot out run or out manoeuvre a bird other than directly up.

I am not aware of any bird that can fly vertically upwards. If there are any then I would love to know what they are. I'm always happy to learn

Your disposal was based simply on "that's nonsense because it wouldn't work with Australian birds". Well, it's worked for a number of people here.

No Original Thought Posted at 10-22 02:09
At no point have I ever said it would work with all birds.

But in your charismatic arrogance you wouldn't ever accept that and instead just dismiss what others say out of hand.

You can't remember (or want to rewrite) what was said in that thread.

If you are caught in that situation you cannot out run or out manoeuvre a bird other than directly up.
I am not aware of any bird that can fly vertically upwards. If there are any then I would love to know what they are. I'm always happy to learn.
I pointed out that your suggestion won't help with birds that are seriouslt determined to attack, and that climbing only leaves you exposed for even longer.

But you just wanted to troll because you couldn't accept that birds outside your limited experience could be more aggressive than the things that flit around your back garden.

Dirty Bird Posted at 2022-11-9 17:26
In all my years of flying I have often been buzzed by birds, but only once has a bird actually collided with my drone.  Brought a Vision+ to the pavement in a spectacular crash.  It's always a risk, but the risk of an actual impact seems low.  If attacked climb straight up at max throttle & bug out.  If a bird is really intent on tracking you down a camera drone can't outmaneuver it, so just be sure you are recording to tell the story later.  Pictures or it didn't happen!

"If a bird is really intent on tracking you down a camera drone can't outmaneuver it,"

I don't know about that, birds can't stop like a drone midair and hover or go up and down.

I've had a couple of Crows harass and chase me and I easily shook them off, I've also had Buzzards come and have a look but they kept their distance.

Saying that my friend lost his drone to a birdstrike and he never even saw it..

Cheers

Labroides Posted at 10-23 03:25
You can't remember (or want to rewrite) what was said in that thread.

If you are caught in that situation you cannot out run or out manoeuvre a bird other than directly up.

Go back and read that old thread again numb nuts.

You dismissed the suggestion outright.

And it wasn't my suggestion... I was quite clear that it was someone else's suggestion that I had used and worked for me.

As you can see it has also worked for other people in this thread.

If people didn't know about it then they wouldn't have tried it and succeeded.

As the saying goes better to try and fail than not to try at all.

If a bird is determined it will follow in its attack. If it is trying to frighten you away it MAY believe it has succeeded when you disappear upwards.

If it works then drone saved. If it doesn't work then you've lost nothing in trying as that determined bird wasn't going to be out-manoeuvred anyway.

You used a single species to dismiss the whole idea because that is your M.O.

No Original Thought Posted at 10-23 05:08
Go back and read that old thread again numb nuts.

You dismissed the suggestion outright.

Go back and read that old thread again numb nuts.
I did.
You ignored everything I wrote back then just as you have in this thread.

You are just an unpleasant troll with no interest in intelligent discussion.
It doesn't matter to you that everything I've written was from actual experience I've had on multiple flights.

Labroides Posted at 10-23 12:35
Go back and read that old thread again numb nuts.
I did.
You ignored everything I wrote back then just as you have in this thread.

You said that the suggestion would not work outright because a certain species of Australian bird would not give up.

The gulls that were flying at my mini 2 didn't look like giving up until I remembered the you tube video I'd seen and I flew straight up (when I checked the flight log I had forgotten to engage sport mode, but the normal mode speed seemed enough).

I got to height, flew about a hundred metres horizontally and the gulls did not pursue any more. They had succeeded in 'frightening me off'.

You really are an arrogant fool if you cannot accept that it worked for me and may, therefore, work for someone else in a similar situation.

Obviously your superbad Australian birds are much tougher than our British birds. If they are anything like you I suspect they'd never give up coz they would know best and they would know that the drone is a predator!

You are simply incapable of accepting the views of others when they differ from your view, even when a number of people agree.

No Original Thought Posted at 10-23 23:55
You said that the suggestion would not work outright because a certain species of Australian bird would not give up.

The gulls that were flying at my mini 2 didn't look like giving up until I remembered the you tube video I'd seen and I flew straight up (when I checked the flight log I had forgotten to engage sport mode, but the normal mode speed seemed enough).

The only arrogant and ignorant fool is you.
I fully realise that many birds are going to give up easily.
And I also have experienced birds that continue to attack for a whole battery's worth of flight, and continue following the drone even after flying a kilometre from the start point.
No amount of evasive action or climbing will shake them off.

There are something like 9000 species of birds in the world, and they have an immense diversity of behaviour.
As an ecologist, this is something that I'm well aware of.

I've pointed out you you several times that climbing is only going to help if you are dealing with casual attacking birds.
What's so hard to understand about that?
And even if the concept is to complicated for your tiny brain, why is there any need to continue the vitriolic trolling?

Get lost moron.

Labroides Posted at 10-23 03:25
You can't remember (or want to rewrite) what was said in that thread.

If you are caught in that situation you cannot out run or out manoeuvre a bird other than directly up.

Hmmm, except that quote is from THIS thread, not the original thread.

You are up to your old tricks again - the tricks that many in this forum are familiar with from you.

Labroides Posted at 10-24 01:11
The only arrogant and ignorant fool is you.
I fully realise that many birds are going to give up easily.
And I also have experienced birds that continue to attack for a whole battery's worth of flight, and continue following the drone even after flying a kilometre from the start point.

"I've pointed out you you several times that climbing is only going to help if you are dealing with casual attacking birds.
What's so hard to understand about that?"

Except that that is not what you actually wrote in that original thread is it? I haven't been able to track down the original thread (to point other people to in order to let them see what you are trying to do here), but I know that if that is what you wrote then you would have had no argument from me as I have said the same thing myself.

Flying directly up is an option that MAY get you out of trouble with birds. You dismissed it outright in the original thread. Better to have optoins that simply say "Oooh, a bird.. Labroids says there's nothing I can do so why try" and lose your drone.

If what are now saying is that you accept it may work with some birds in some scenarios then we are in total agreement. (But I stand by the fact that that is not what you originally said in the other thread).

"Get lost moron."
Oh, yeah. I'm gonna do that just 'coz you said I should! You sure got me there. Hah!