Seagulls

[bhartwell]

I have read a number of posts on this, but I didn’t really believed it until I saw it. I was flying over a rock formation in the middle of a shallow bay in Northern California. It was cold and windy, and I was going for a stormy effect, so timing, weather and location were perfect.

As I am flying over this big rock, I see a seagull swoop by. This happens all the time when I am doing ocean work, so I didn’t think much of it. Then, the thing turns and dives at my drone. It missed and came back around for a second shot. I immediately pointed toward shore and pushed it as fast as it would go. The gull, now joined by a second bird, followed just behind. As I hit the shoreline, I dove for the ground and the birds went right after it. I skimmed along the ground until I could bring it home. Being stubborn, I waited for the birds to lose interest and tried again. Same result, as soon as the gulls noticed my Phantom, they went right for it.

Maybe I had disturbed a nest or something, I have never seen gulls act this way. I’ve had a few curious birds fly by now and again, this was the first time I have seen a gull directly attack the drone. I finally gave up and moved to a better spot. Nerve wracking to say the least.

 

[Alan Russel]

Yeah you have to watch those gulls if you fly along the coast, hit one of those and its all over rover. Only yesterday I was flying my P3s along the coast going about 3/4 throttle and a bird starting chasing it, it looked like a chicken hawk anyway did a slight bank and gunned it quick smart and left the bird in my wake.

 

[jpbroomfield]

I had a similar experience here in the UK [emoji636]. Had a near perfect day, filming cruise ships leaving the port. Then boom, crazy arse seagulls risking their lives and the P4P. I headed back to shore straight away being chased by what felt like the bullies. I think it is a familiar problem. I thought about decals....

 

[Deleted member 62848]

Yip same here,I fly coast heaps and the seagulls a right pain,one comes ,then tells the family and then seagulls everywhere,total pest over here,nearly got me a few times,I'm not shy to fly with them and have friendly dog fights,and yes not ashamed to say because they are a pest,probly lucky I don't have firearms license,,hate them,,,,but never purposely chase one,to much to lose to a seagull with no insurance

 

[WV. Rootman]

Definitely if you are near a nest, it will provoke them. On the beaches of Florida I have not had any problems.
On a bay, I had them start swooping my drone. There were about 10 of them with my P4 50 ft. in front of me. I hovered to see if they were really after my P4. Yep they were. I shot strait up with my quad so they would miss it. Don’t know what got into me, but I started to dog fight them. I was having a good time. Trying to figure out their ability to maneuver. I was doing my best to hit one of them. I couldn’t get close. I was trying, but not really going to hit one. After a while they left. I’m the top dog here. That has always been my attitude with animals. Lol

 

[Brockrock]

Seagulls are aggressive birds if you stray near their nesting area, and they are also very curious while out hunting. As WV. Rootman mentions above, I have found that a straight up or straight down (if you're high enough) maneuver works well to confuse most birds. It's something they cannot do, and they're not sure what they're seeing. This is a good way to buy some time in order to fly away from them.

I also recall reading a post somewhere where a guy postulated that the all-white coloration of the P4 was a seabird magnet, and he put two wraps of black electrical tape around each arm. He then claimed that seabirds left him alone.

 

[enigmalarue]

I have read a number of posts on this, but I didn’t really believed it until I saw it. I was flying over a rock formation in the middle of a shallow bay in Northern California. It was cold and windy, and I was going for a stormy effect, so timing, weather and location were perfect.

As I am flying over this big rock, I see a seagull swoop by. This happens all the time when I am doing ocean work, so I didn’t think much of it. Then, the thing turns and dives at my drone. It missed and came back around for a second shot. I immediately pointed toward shore and pushed it as fast as it would go. The gull, now joined by a second bird, followed just behind. As I hit the shoreline, I dove for the ground and the birds went right after it. I skimmed along the ground until I could bring it home. Being stubborn, I waited for the birds to lose interest and tried again. Same result, as soon as the gulls noticed my Phantom, they went right for it.

Maybe I had disturbed a nest or something, I have never seen gulls act this way. I’ve had a few curious birds fly by now and again, this was the first time I have seen a gull directly attack the drone. I finally gave up and moved to a better spot. Nerve wracking to say the least.

Yes, most definitely, I also fly my drone along SR-1 in NorCal and seagull will attack your drone within minutes. If they attack your drone you can either fly up several hundred feet or RHT.

 

[Erised]

I have had a few gull come close to my craft a few times, they didn't attack but dang they got close. My top bird scare was a few weeks ago, I was flying in a bay about 75 feet up over the ocean following the shore line and my wife said I see a big bird over by the edge over there, she then zoomed in with her camera then her next words where " It's a bald eagle! " I didn't even ask if she was sure and got back home quick quick. The eagle didn't bother with me as he probably though "Yea that's right! fly away you drone chicken!"

 

[PeteSahr]

I use my work P4P to do nest counts for ring-billed gulls and double-crested cormorants. I’m usually 50-100 feet up with the drone and they don’t seem to have a problem. However, we’ve been pecked by gulls on the head several times walking through the nest colonies.

 

[Russ43Phantom]

Definitely a scary situation. At my lake there 2 eagles. Eagles, like other birds attack from above. I would suggest the best evasive maneuver would be to fly straight up until you get above a level where the birds will follow. Then fly far away from the birds and attempt to return unnoticed.

 

[WV. Rootman]

I use my work P4P to do nest counts for ring-billed gulls and double-crested cormorants. I’m usually 50-100 feet up with the drone and they don’t seem to have a problem. However, we’ve been pecked by gulls on the head several times walking through the nest colonies.

They aren't pecking. They are planting seeds, next they fly by and fertilized. Lol

 

[droningandmore]

They are curious birds:

DroningANDmore on Instagram: “The rescue: On an isolated island I decided to go on a hike to get some droning footage (starting point different from the end point). The…”

 

[offroadpyro]

I may have lost a p4 to seagulls I looked down to adjust iso and screen went blank.Looked where it was and nothing except seagulls nearby.

 

[Melvoid]

I have read a number of posts on this, but I didn’t really believed it until I saw it. I was flying over a rock formation in the middle of a shallow bay in Northern California. It was cold and windy, and I was going for a stormy effect, so timing, weather and location were perfect.

As I am flying over this big rock, I see a seagull swoop by. This happens all the time when I am doing ocean work, so I didn’t think much of it. Then, the thing turns and dives at my drone. It missed and came back around for a second shot. I immediately pointed toward shore and pushed it as fast as it would go. The gull, now joined by a second bird, followed just behind. As I hit the shoreline, I dove for the ground and the birds went right after it. I skimmed along the ground until I could bring it home. Being stubborn, I waited for the birds to lose interest and tried again. Same result, as soon as the gulls noticed my Phantom, they went right for it.

Maybe I had disturbed a nest or something, I have never seen gulls act this way. I’ve had a few curious birds fly by now and again, this was the first time I have seen a gull directly attack the drone. I finally gave up and moved to a better spot. Nerve wracking to say the least.

Yeah, quite the opposite of my experiences. I've found that I can do a flyover of a group of gulls, maybe 10-15 feet above and they barely seem to notice. I'll bet you're right about the nest.

 

[Mark J Colbert]

I was taking pictures of a golf course last year with my P4P and had a hawk come after my drone. The hawk hit my drone, and discovered the propellers - which I think gave the hawk a bit of a surprise. Afterwards, we went our separate ways and I stayed well clear of that tree. Here's a video of another close call I had with a hawk.

 

[bhartwell]

I was taking pictures of a golf course last year with my P4P and had a hawk come after my drone. The hawk hit my drone, and discovered the propellers - which I think gave the hawk a bit of a surprise. Afterwards, we went our separate ways and I stayed well clear of that tree. Here's a video of another close call I had with a hawk.

I wonder if the drone could recover from an actual impact. I have seen many of these, but in these cases the bird never actually hits the drone. If it did, would it down the Phantom, or could it recover?

 

[John1960]

Id be more worried about injuring the bird of prey than my drone