flying with birds

[doronlev]

Movie taken with DJI phantom4 over the Jordan river at the upper Galilee - Israel, and with DJI mavic pro over the Sea of Galilee

 

[dirkclod]

Nice, welcome to the forum.

 

[doronlev]

Thank. I am here for long time. First time to post something

 

[Andy9]

I think it is not allowed to disturb birds in their environment. It can happened unintentionally but you were chasing them and make a lot of panic among them. You were lucky that the birds had no nests there otherwise your craft wouldn't survive a minute.
Hope that a flight like this was an exception and not a habit when you fly around there.

 

[With The Birds]

When David Attenborough wants to get a shot this close to birds he uses domesticated ones. You clearly had no idea what you were doing but please don’t make a habit of this- it makes for good footage but it’s not cool......

 

[BigAl07]

I gotta admit I'm more than a little jealous of your shots there. BEAUTIFUL!!

That wouldn't be "acceptable" in the US of A but over there... BEAUTIFUL!!

Safe flights
Allen

 

[With The Birds]

I gotta admit I'm more than a little jealous of your shots there. BEAUTIFUL!!

That wouldn't be "acceptable" in the US of A but over there... BEAUTIFUL!!

Safe flights
Allen

I need to ask- why might it be acceptable anywhere on our planet to cause unnecessary stress to wildlife?

 

[BigAl07]

I need to ask- why might it be acceptable anywhere on our planet to cause unnecessary stress to wildlife?

Not everywhere has such strict regulations and anti-sUAS thoughts. Don't we get me wrong, I'm one of the strongest "Widlife Supporters" around that doesn't mean can't appreciate some great video.

 

[Andy9]

Try to imagine that every drone flyer would do that!? Very bad for the birds.
It is not a law that prevent such actions. It should be our attitude.

 

[Ansia]

I thought @With The Birds was from Australia, not Israel.

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Protecting the WILD LIFE is one thing, but protecting the birds from STRESS is way out of line.

I sometimes take my boat out of the dock and into the bay and back again 4 or 5 times during the day boating thru a massive about of seaguls, duck, pigeons, geese taking off like a bat out of **** as I make my path out to the bay, and if this is causing them stress than we are all in trouble.

It makes no difference if its a drone, or boat, or ship, or jet ski or tanker, plane, birds fly, that is what they do and shaming anyone that has a Boat that causes flocks to flight is NUTs let alone a Drone pilot taking some video of birds causing them to flight.

"Now try to imagine every boater does that to the birds and guess what we do."

At some point common sense has to REIGN KING. . . of the jungle.

 

[Andy9]

This video could had been taken as well from a bit further away. Birds would fly anyway as you said, but it makes a big difference if you are chasing them just behind a tail.

 

[With The Birds]

I thought @With The Birds was from Australia, not Israel.

And?

 

[With The Birds]

Protecting the WILD LIFE is one thing, but protecting the birds from STRESS is way out of line.

I sometimes take my boat out of the dock and into the bay and back again 4 or 5 times during the day boating thru a massive about of seaguls, duck, pigeons, geese taking off like a bat out of hell as I make my path out to the bay, and if this is causing them stress than we are all in trouble.

It makes no difference if its a drone, or boat, or ship, or jet ski or tanker, plane, birds fly, that is what they do and shaming anyone that has a Boat that causes flocks to flight is NUTs let alone a Drone pilot taking some video of birds causing them to flight.

"Now try to imagine every boater does that to the birds and guess what we do."

At some point common sense has to REIGN KING. . . of the jungle.

Common sense? Shaming? C’mon- get the context right. I politely asked the OP to consider not harrassing the wildlife.

In the example you give the bird life would be well accustomed to the movement of boats in the area. To a bird in the water or on the ground a drone might seem to be a lot more of a threat, especially if they aren’t familiar with their presence. Chasing them with a drone could easily be mistaken as predatory behaviour. How often do birds attack water craft? A lot less often than sUAS. That might give you a clue as to which might present the greatest perceived threat.

 

[doronlev]

Thank you all for your educated remarks and discussions.
As a farmer and a person that lives very close to nature, I had no intention to disturb wild lives around me.
On the contrary, I just wanted to document the wonderful views I meet almost daily.
The pictures on the lake: birds behave the same way every time that someone goes to swim there or even when I row my canoe and quietly get close to their flock. the birds take off and lend again after few meters. I took so many pictures of birds from my regular camera.You don't have to believe me but I tried to get to the birds slowly and as quiet as possible even though it looks in one of the seeneries as if I was "chasing" them. I was not! I flew my drone after them for short few meters and got further fade away by taking off.
Storks pictures: the storks are migrating birds in our region. twice a year storks flows are flying above the Jordan rift (The area were I live), to /from Europe/Africa. They are using air thermic to lift up and than they glide to the next thermic. this is the way they advance by using minimum energy. After learning their patern of taking off, I just joined them flying in order to document it and fly with them for short few minutes. I did not(!!!) disturb their afternoon rest....
And for the general discussion: I consider my drone as a camera platform to take pictures from different perspective. I fly my camera very careful with lots of consideration. I am looking after privacy of people and animals as well. I see NO DIFFERENCE between a drone photographer and a "ground photographer". For some reason people (including drones operators) consider drones cameras as a bigger threat than a regular camera and when they see a drone picture vs regular picture, it creates a resentment. And it should not!!!.....
Sorry for my long response

 

[PhantomWetSuits]

Thank you all for your educated remarks and discussions.
As a farmer and a person that lives very close to nature, I had no intention to disturb wild lives around me.
On the contrary, I just wanted to document the wonderful views I meet almost daily.
The pictures on the lake: birds behave the same way every time that someone goes to swim there or even when I row my canoe and quietly get close to their flock. the birds take off and lend again after few meters. I took so many pictures of birds from my regular camera.You don't have to believe me but I tried to get to the birds slowly and as quiet as possible even though it looks in one of the seeneries as if I was "chasing" them. I was not! I flew my drone after them for short few meters and got further fade away by taking off.
Storks pictures: the storks are migrating birds in our region. twice a year storks flows are flying above the Jordan rift (The area were I live), to /from Europe/Africa. They are using air thermic to lift up and than they glide to the next thermic. this is the way they advance by using minimum energy. After learning their patern of taking off, I just joined them flying in order to document it and fly with them for short few minutes. I did not(!!!) disturb their afternoon rest....
And for the general discussion: I consider my drone as a camera platform to take pictures from different perspective. I fly my camera very careful with lots of consideration. I am looking after privacy of people and animals as well. I see NO DIFFERENCE between a drone photographer and a "ground photographer". For some reason people (including drones operators) consider drones cameras as a bigger threat than a regular camera and when they see a drone picture vs regular picture, it creates a resentment. And it should not!!!.....
Sorry for my long response

I want to thank you for standing up , and not running away from those who challenged you. Many new posters will simply never post anything again once being thrashed , so standing up is not easy but I am glad you did it.

 

[doronlev]

Thanks, I am proud of my work and have nothing to hide. Knowing how much I love nature and how to integrate with nature creating minimum disturbance (sometimes there might be disturbances but I doing everything possible to minimise it).

 

[Andy9]

I like your explanation, this is the right attitude.
I like your statement "quietly get close..." too, although I don't know how can you manage this with a drone. They are as loud as they are, you can not switch the loudness on or off. LOL
About Storks - they are magnificent birds. It is nice watching them how they come back each year in spring to the same nest they had left in autumn, how they repair their nests and how they raised the youngsters.
As they always have nests high on chimneys or pillars of all kind it is a big temptation for a drone operator to look into from above, but I'll never go to do that. They are very sensible birds and if you disturb them around the nest they will go and might never come back.

 

[doronlev]

Thanks for your remark,

Storks are not nesting here in Israel. As I wrote above, they are just passing here.
Regarding the drone noise, I have the mavic pro with the platinum props (the quite ones) . It is much quieter than the Phantom 4 and one of the reasons I sold My Phantom 4.

 

[doronlev]

Buy the way, Our area is world wide known for international birds watchers. We have literaly minions of migrating birds flying over twice a year. We have here local feeding station for the birds (financed also by us - farmers!). We are NOT flying our drones nearby the feeding station and are doing a lot for the birds wellfare.
I promise anyone who is interested, a nice hosting and (safely!!) drone flying