Bird strike?

Daniel Rodriguez · Feb 13, 2016

has anyone had a bird strike or even a bird attack their drone? I fly in the country and near rivers pretty frequently and there are always bug birds around. It seems like most animals are afraid of th drone but turkey vultures or Hawks don't seem to care and will circle the drone at times. Sure makes me nervous! Lol

I know there was a video at one point floating around with a bird attacking a drone (wild, not police trained) anyone else have this happen?

Marich · Feb 13, 2016

Not on a drone, but I've had bird open a can of whoop-ass on my RC planes before. One of my earliest video planes was brought down by a bald eagle!

Faulkner · Feb 13, 2016

I had a red-tailed hawk come out of a tree as I was flying next to a pond and check out the drone. It made a couple of circling passes, the closest around 20 feet or so, and then flew off.

Dash Hewes · Feb 13, 2016

ditto, over the years I've had dozens of birds in camera view but noticed it's just a case of the birds are curious. In all my cases the sound of the motors indicates they need to back off and they always have.

Chuck · Feb 13, 2016

They can be aggressive if you happen to be close to a nest you can't even see. Most are just curious, but watch out for the mad mama.

Soul Patch Films · Feb 13, 2016

There are quite a few videos of birds attacking drones, this is my favorite, 2 eagles don't just attack, they steal this phantom.

Adimuzio513 · Feb 13, 2016

My god yes and mostly solo, my other quads don't seem to attract em bad, but most times I fly solo birds flock to it. I'll have to see if I still have the video, but I got a little guy almost smiling for my GoPro at about 6 inches a few months back. I'm not sure if it's a sound it makes, its color or it being such a nice looking quad that brings em in, but it does unfortunately. I've had Hawks come after me too but no vid on that one really.

Adimuzio513 · Feb 13, 2016

Marich said:
Not on a drone, but I've had bird open a can of whoop-ass on my RC planes before. One of my earliest video planes was brought down by a bald eagle!

Kinda scary there good thing it brought the plane down and not the plane took it down or that may be a criminal case. Mostly curious for sure but I've had a couple chase me out of the air who weren't to happy with solo.

Daniel Rodriguez · Feb 13, 2016

Oh man I was kind of hoping y'all would say I was just being paranoid lol. I wonder how that guy got his drone back I'm that video

Stewart Macdonald · Feb 13, 2016

I've had a few black kites and wedge-tailed eagles check out my Solo, along with some smaller birds mobbing it. I always land the drone immediately whenever any of these larger birds take an interest in it. I wonder if painting the drone bright orange would make the drone less interesting to birds.

Daniel Rodriguez · Feb 13, 2016

I'm sure that was scary, but those are some cool shots man!

Stewart Macdonald · Feb 13, 2016

I was less concerned about the non-avian archosaur attacking my drone.

SurfnSkate81 · Feb 14, 2016

Stewart Macdonald said:
I've had a few black kites and wedge-tailed eagles check out my Solo, along with some smaller birds mobbing it. I always land the drone immediately whenever any of these larger birds take an interest in it. I wonder if painting the drone bright orange would make the drone less interesting to birds.

Great pics!

SurfnSkate81 · Feb 14, 2016

Stewart Macdonald said:
I was less concerned about the non-avian archosaur attacking my drone.

Good one Stewart, thats one big ass salty!

Adimuzio513 · Feb 14, 2016

Stewart Macdonald said:
I've had a few black kites and wedge-tailed eagles check out my Solo, along with some smaller birds mobbing it. I always land the drone immediately whenever any of these larger birds take an interest in it. I wonder if painting the drone bright orange would make the drone less interesting to birds.

If ya try the paint and it works keep me posted, I got some plasti dip in that color I've been debating on using on one of these quads anyway. That would definitely sway me toward dipping solo if it keeps the birds at bay. I like the black, but I'd rather have it stay in the air than make a fashion statement.

czrlaker · Feb 14, 2016

Flew mine at the 400ft suggested cap for the first time and a bird was making aggressive strikes (lunges). Never hit the drone but scared the crap out of me. Couldn't land that sucker fast enough. Seemed like an eternity to get under 100. All I kept thinking was $1200.....

Daniel Rodriguez · Feb 23, 2016

I've thought about plastic-dipping mine as well just to give it some variety, but would be cool if it helped keep the birds at bay lol

J R · Feb 24, 2016

Daniel Rodriguez said:
has anyone had a bird strike or even a bird attack their drone?

Daniel,

I've had them come after me on more than one occasion. I usually don't capture them on film because I'm too busy running away! Here's a few gang videos.

Jerry

pete · Feb 24, 2016

Stewart Macdonald said:
I've had a few black kites and wedge-tailed eagles check out my Solo, along with some smaller birds mobbing it. I always land the drone immediately whenever any of these larger birds take an interest in it. I wonder if painting the drone bright orange would make the drone less interesting to birds.

really great shots, where was the 2nd picture taken ? reminds me of Painted Desert (near Oodnadatta)

jimloss · Jun 21, 2017

Last week I had a large Hawk looking bird attack my Solo while near a local flying field. After only seconds, I saw the white belly of a bird flash in front of my screen and seconds later I lost my video feed - I thought that I lost my drone. After looking at the telemetry I noticed it was still flying, but had just dropped below the treetops out of my view - I was able to fly it back to the airfield. The strike had knocked the video connector loose.

After getting home I was able to research and learn that it was an Osprey. Watching the full video I was able to see the Osprey fly by my drone again after the attack. I've been back to the flying field and have seen the bird again - both the Osprey and my Solo survived.