How to deal with bird attacks?

[TiHsMaD]

i think dji must consider bird behavior in choosing what color to put in their phantoms,

"One color, in particular, should be avoided as much as possible – white signals alarm, danger and aggression to many birds"

Colors That Attract Birds

 

[vgt]

i think dji must consider bird behavior in choosing what color to put in their phantoms,

"One color, in particular, should be avoided as much as possible – white signals alarm, danger and aggression to many birds"

Colors That Attract Birds

You know what's an even bigger signal of alarm to birds? A big, loud, flying thing in their proximity. Maybe DJI should work on that, too.

 

[Meta4]

A lot of birds will always attack from behind.
Perhaps a sticker that looks like a big pair of eyes on the phantom might have some effect.
It's been used to prevent Australian magpies diving on people.

 

[zezrum]

I'm not sure there is much you can do to protect yourself against predator birds. Check out this thread: My Phantom 3 Pro vs Hawk | DJI Phantom Forum

I was there, I saw it happen. One minute he was flying fine, the next moment off in the distance you could see a large bird jet out of the tops of the trees below, fly up high and swoop down on the P3. Next thing I heard was a familiar voice say "ATTI Mode". The rest is history.

 

[LordEvil]

I've had less attacks since painting mine. Less aggressive moves when close to big birds circling 200-400 feet.

 

[Garrie]

I feel there isn't much you can do. When you fly in parks or near the harbour, there will bound to be some large birds in the area. What I do to test out the situation is to fly my drone near me and not too high up in the air. Just fly in your vicinity for a short while but instead of looking at your drone, look at the sky, see if any birds are circling. If you see big birds approaching you can quickly take evasive manoeuvres. Usually the first attack by the bird would be harmless as they would testing waters. But once that happens, just get out of there because the 2nd or 3rd time they might not be that lenient anymore.

 

[mjrii87]

Hey guys I am new here... I have been flying smaller aircraft since I was a kid but got into quads about a year ago (big ones) with a v303 and now using a Phantom 3. I usually fly in the cities here in South Korea and Japan but went for a bit of an outdoorsy adventure this past week. A large rescue helicopter was flying and a lot of birds (crows?) started to fly but never attacked it. After the helicopter left I took off to get my shots. Well 3-6 birds started to chase/follow my drone. (Yes I call it a drone it can fly itself and land itself I don't want to argue it, in Korea and Japan they are legally called drones) I was really nervous never having had anything this close but i just stayed the course and at mark 12:30 you can see that one of them really just came up along side me and was kind of chilling out. No attacks at all. I feel lucky but was extremely nervous. Is this pretty normal behavior are the birds just curious what it is? Why did they not do the same for the rescue helicopter? I am not a bird expert so figure I would ask.

 

[kenjancef]

That's kinda funny, and kinda scary at the same time. I wonder what the birds see in our quads (drones... lol..). What attracts them to it? Maybe it's because they aren't used to seeing anything as small as them flying around?

Inquiring minds want to know....

 

[sharper4]

I went up just yesterday morning at sunrise in downtown. Not a bird in sight. 15 mins later, the area was inundated with them. I brought it to about 200 ft and then ran into the parking lot to shoo as many away as I could. Came down safe but I still don't know where they all came from so suddenly.

 

[B- Scene Films]

Every Saturday morning I go out to a parking lot at dawn and practice with my mini-quad. The hummingbirds start to dive bomb it and then every time, they just start fighting amongst themselves and forget the quad. Always amusing though.

 

[BillyRay]

I've had less attacks since painting mine. Less aggressive moves when close to big birds circling 200-400 feet.

I just got a Phantom and was wanting to use it to scout for hunting and such. Your post caught my eye since you changed the color and have since noticed less frequent attacks. I was curious if something like blaze orange would deter birds since it's such an unnatural color to them??
Plus if something happened the color would make the Phantom alot easier to find with such a bright color in the wild. lol

Something like this maybe? I just googled to find an image to put up.

 

[Mako79]

Hey guys I am new here... I have been flying smaller aircraft since I was a kid but got into quads about a year ago (big ones) with a v303 and now using a Phantom 3. I usually fly in the cities here in South Korea and Japan but went for a bit of an outdoorsy adventure this past week. A large rescue helicopter was flying and a lot of birds (crows?) started to fly but never attacked it. After the helicopter left I took off to get my shots. Well 3-6 birds started to chase/follow my drone. (Yes I call it a drone it can fly itself and land itself I don't want to argue it, in Korea and Japan they are legally called drones) I was really nervous never having had anything this close but i just stayed the course and at mark 12:30 you can see that one of them really just came up along side me and was kind of chilling out. No attacks at all. I feel lucky but was extremely nervous. Is this pretty normal behavior are the birds just curious what it is? Why did they not do the same for the rescue helicopter? I am not a bird expert so figure I would ask.

Most birds chill when they see the phantom and are just curious. They however become less chilled if you fly near their nest, especially during spring season when they have younglings.

 

[bradrun]

I live in florida and out by the water in the wet lands and have osprey that pretty much live in my front yard literally the eat fish on the power pole in my front yard and eagles that are around as well i am very careful when flying but when i do see them i go straight up cause birds of pray tend to attack from above so stay above them.

 

[Dirby]

i flew my p3p today and a hawk was flying around screeching at it.

 

[PeakXV]

I'm a new user of A Phantom 3, having only flown up to 29 times. Yesterday was flying in Scotland and when about 1.2km away could see a swarm of seagulls in the distance in general direction of the drone. I panicked and did a RTH and drown flew home with seagulls chasing. When lowering down to ground a couple of gulls tried to attack drone, luckily none of them actually making contact with it. For about an hour afterwards about 29-39 gulls circling overhead sounding very angry. Any advice? What to do in such scenario?

Yes. Know the nesting seasons/locations in your region and, accordingly, be respectful.
I fly amongst large flocks of gulls all the time and no mishaps to date. They slowly come to
accept you into their world and they have incredible sense, sensibility, & looming cue skills when it comes to airspace. However, they will, like any member of the animal kingdom, defend their nesting homeland if threatened. Usually from May to August in the Northern Hemisphere is out of bounds. Of course, accidents can happen and there is always a certain degree of risk taken.

 

[drm]

Last weekend I visited an Ohio state park with a lake. In the evening, there were many 'turkey vultures' circling the area, and I was reluctant to fly. The next day, at mid-afternoon, I flew from a remote spot, and cruised around over the lake. I think I did not go much higher than about 150 ft. There were several of the birds flying, but they seemed to be totally uninterested in my P3. Nonetheless, I took evasive measures if they appeared to approach too close. These birds do not normally attack other birds in flight, but rather are carrion-eating birds, in search of dead things on the ground.

 

[PeakXV]

I've flown amongst turkey vultures on several occasions and have not had an issue to date. Crows are my biggest worry and although have not had any trouble so far, I have seen them engage with too many bird and animal species to ever feel comfortable and gawdhelp if you ever accidentally buzz one of their nests with eggs/chicks/fledglings present.