birds

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=32112
Yet another PPG harrassing wildlife

Paraglider Collapse - 2014/11/28 18:56:04 UTC

Powered paragliders harassing elephants, frighteningly reminiscent of Dell Schanze.
Time to boycott Red Bull.
http://www.redbull.com/en/adventure/stories/1331692240529/the-search-project-world-paragliding
Six minutes of incredible paragliding

JJ Coté - 2014/11/28 19:18:18 UTC

Theorem: 2 = all.

(Also, I didn't hear any screaming, it looked to me like the elephants were already moving before he got there, and it wasn't obvious that they sped up. But the clip was too short to really be able to tell.

Total idiot bullshit. Botswana - 1:50. Three adults and two kids were buzzed low and spooked. Puts his shadow right on top of them. That was harrassment and worthy of a fine of a couple hundred bucks. Not that big a fucking deal as a one-off but if there are lotsa dickheads doing that...

The elk one looked a lot more egregious.)

Yes.

Paul Hurless - 2014/11/28 19:31:08 UTC

No one is defending wildlife harassment, we're just tired of your stupid PG crap. In case you forgot, this is a HANG GLIDING site.

Name the people who authorized you to speak on their behalf.

Paraglider Collapse - 2014/11/28 19:33:30 UTC

In case you forgot, PG's are now included in the USHPA. I'm sick of them too, but YOUR national organization has foisted them on us. We must live with their actions and suffer the consequences of heinous and illegal acts such as this. When the hand of government comes down on paragliders, it will not exempt hang gliders.

The hang gliding AND paragliding membership needs to unite against this cruelty.

Bullshit. What he did was mildly/moderately obnoxious, worthy of a reprimand or maybe hundred dollar fine. Heinous, cruelty? Bullshit.

Davis Straub - 2014/11/28 21:13:44 UTC

Why exactly are people stupid?

Multiple concussions, genetics, force of habit.

Mike Badley - 2014/11/29 00:14:40 UTC

Well, I don't defend harassing wild-life, but I see little in this video to support a major harassment. Elephants can run or get a little excited at time, certainly they weren't being herded or shot at and having their tusks removed... (that being said, I don't know how many fly-by's were done to get that little bit of footage.

One.

Maybe there's more to it...)

Yeah, let's go after the guy based upon the stuff we DIDN'T see him doing.

Anyway - I actually LOVED that video. Those are some beautiful shots and some hairy-assed flying. Do I think those guys are gonna muck it up some day and end up in the ICU?? Well, yeah. But, wow... that was just great stuff!!

Can other 'lesser pilots' act responsibly and NOT DO that on their own wings? Sure, just because guys can loop and spin their gliders and wang it down to the deck doesn't mean I intend to follow that example.... If you've got no kids, and don't mind your wife looking for somebody new when you're gone... well, by all means - GO FOR IT and get it on VIDEO. We could all use an Icarus reminder now and then.

Especially hook-in check skippers, easy reachers, pro toads, Rooney Linkers, spot landers, flare timing perfectionists... But we tend to give them free passes all the time.

Mark G. Forbes - 2014/11/29 20:05:59 UTC

Paraglider Collapse - 2014/11/28 19:33:30 UTC

In case you forgot, PG's are now included in the USHPA. I'm sick of them too, but YOUR national organization has foisted them on us.

Yeah...over twenty years ago. After a couple of decades, don't you think it might be time to drop the lance and sword, and let the poor windmills alone?

You can't make people want to fly the way you do, using your chosen equipment and technique.

Well, you could become a tug driver...

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30971
Zach Marzec

Jim Rooney - 2013/02/16 05:05:41 UTC

Ok, keyboard in hand.
I've got a bit of time, but I'm not going to write a dissertation... so either choose to try to understand what I'm saying, or (as is most often the case) don't.
I don't care.

Here's a little bit of bitter reality that ya'll get to understand straight off. I won't be sugar coating it, sorry.
You see, I'm on the other end of that rope.
I want neither a dead pilot on my hands or one trying to kill me.
And yes. It is my call. PERIOD.
On tow, I am the PIC.

Now, that cuts hard against every fiber of every HG pilot on the planet and I get that.
Absolutely no HG pilot likes hearing it. Not me, not no one. BUT... sorry, that's the way it is.
Accept it and move on.
Not only can you not change it, it's the law... in the very literal sense.

So, you're quite right in your thinking in your example. The person you have to convince is me (or whoever your tuggie is).
I've had this conversation with many people.
We've had various outcomes.
I can tell you what my general ideas and rules are, but you do not need to agree with them nor do you get to dictate anything to me... if I'm not happy, you ain't getting towed by me. Why I'm not happy doesn't matter. It's my call, and if I'm having so much as a bad hair day, then tough. You can go get someone else. I won't be offended. Each tuggie is different, and I've had someone ask me to tow them with some stuff that I wasn't happy with and I told him point blank... go ask the other guy, maybe he'll do it.

I can tell you that for me, you're going to have a hell of a time convincing me to tow you with *anything* home-made.
"But I love my mouth release! It's super-delux-safe"... that's great, but guess what?

I've towed at places that use different weak links than greenspot. They're usually some other form of fishing line. Up in Nelson (New Zealand), they don't have greenspot, so they found a similar weight fishing line. They replace their link every single tow btw... every one, without question or exception... that's just what the owner wants and demands. Fine by me. If it wasn't, then I wouldn't tow for them and I wouldn't be towed by them. That's his place and he gets to make that call. Pretty simple.

Up at Morningside, they're using that new orange weaklink. It's a bit stronger and it has to be sewn or glued so it doesn't slip when unloaded.

If you're within the FAA specs and you're using something manufactured, then you're going to have a far better time convincing me to tow you.
My general rule is "no funky shit". I don't like people reinventing the wheel and I don't like test pilots. Have I towed a few test pilots? Yup. Have I towed them in anything but very controlled conditions? Nope. It's a damn high bar. I've told more to piss off than I've told yes. I'll give you an example... I towed a guy with the early version of the new Lookout release. But the Tad-o-link? Nope.

So I hope that sheds some light on the situation.
But again, every tuggie's different and every situation is different.
What doesn't change however is that it's my call, not yours.
And it's my job to be the "bad guy" sometimes.
Sorry. It's just the way it is.

...or a meet head...

http://ozreport.com/12.081
Weaklinks - the HGFA rules

Davis Straub - 2008/04/22 14:47:00 UTC

Here is the requirement from the 2007 Worlds local rules (which I wrote) for weaklinks:

Appropriate aerotow bridles

Competitors must use appropriate aerotow bridles as determined by the Meet Director and Safety Director and their designated officials. Bridles must include secondary releases (as determined by the Safety Director). Bridles must be able to be connected to the tow line within two seconds. The only appropriate bridles can be found here: http://www.ozreport.com/9.039#0 and http://ozreport.com/9.041#2.

Pilots who have not already had their bridles inspected during the practice days must bring their bridles to the mandatory pilot safety briefing and have them reviewed. Pilots with inappropriate bridles may purchase appropriate bridles from the meet organizer.

Weaklinks

Pilots must use weaklinks provided by the meet organizers and in a manner approved by the meet organizers. All weaklinks will be checked and use of inappropriate weaklinks will require the pilot to go to the end of the launch line to change the weaklink.

Weaklinks will consist of a single loop of Cortland 130 lb Greenspot braided Dacron Tolling line http://www.cortlandline.com/catalog/braid.html and should be placed at one end of a shoulder bridle. The tow forces on the weaklink will be roughly divided in half by this placement. Pilots will be shown how to tie the weaklink so that it more likely breaks at its rating breaking strength.

...and fuck everyone over any way you feel like.

You won't attract them with a constant stream of complaints and condemnation. It's attitudes like yours that are a major impediment to bringing more PG pilots into HG, because they take one look at the garbage you spew and want nothing to do with "people like that".

You got data to support that claim or is that something you're just pulling out of your ass?

If you truly want to help promote HG, and not just troll as you have in the past, then tone down the PG abuse and promote inclusion and cohesiveness among all facets of our sport, and air sports in general.

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=12443
AT regs

Mark G. Forbes - 2009/06/13 04:27:43 UTC

I just read the proposed changes that Tad posted. First I've heard of them. I know he was threatening to send a letter to the FAA, and I heard about *that*, but before that time I'd heard nothing. I wasn't in the aerotow committee meeting at the last BOD, because I was busy doing another committee at that time.

I have an assortment of concerns, starting with the use of the word "infallible" and continuing on from there. Partly what bothers me is that the proposed language doesn't reflect the current state of the art, particularly with regard to towing by light sport aircraft, which almost all of our tugs are. It's fairly rare to have a true Part 103 legal tug, and I don't know of one that could provide 250 pounds of towing force. Even Ray's little 447-powered Mustang trike is too heavy for Part 103, and my big honkin' Venus with a 582 is WAAAAY too massive. I'm sure that Ray's little trike doesn't pull anywhere near 250 pounds.

Tad, you need to get some face time in the next committee meeting, in addition to sending out emails and posting PDFs. You won't get anywhere with this if you don't get people working WITH you, and the attitude so far hasn't given folks much reason to climb onto your bandwagon. Things don't happen immediately, but good ideas do eventually get implemented if you keep after it and persevere. I think you may have SOME good ideas here, and SOME of them may be worth incorporating into our SOPs.

The next BOD meeting is probably going to be mid-November (we're still working out the dates) and it'll be in Austin, Texas. You should plan to be there, in addition to working with the members of the aerotow committee by email in the interim.

Action comes more swiftly when there's a clear threat to safety. I'm not seeing evidence (in the form of accidents or fatalities) that demonstrate that there's a major problem. There may be room for improvement, and that's certainly worth considering as we review and update our procedures, but I don't see the urgency of adopting these changes without careful consideration and the input of lots of other people involved in aerotowing. I'd want to hear what Steve Wendt, Jim Rooney, Malcolm Jones, Bobby Bailey, Steve Kroop, Dave Glover, John Kemmeries, Hungary Joe and others have to say as well. As your proposed language stands today, I would vote against it based on my concerns. That's not to say that you're wrong, but I haven't bought into your proposal yet myself, and I haven't heard other viewpoints sufficient to form an opinion that's favorable.

MGF

Heard enough of what Steve Wendt, Jim Rooney, Malcolm Jones, Bobby Bailey, Steve Kroop, Dave Glover, John Kemmeries, Hungary Joe, and others have had to say yet?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://www.hanggliding.org/viewtopic.php?t=32112
Yet another PPG harrassing wildlife

samarth2004 - 2014/11/30 16:47:42 UTC
India

Hi,

Well said MGF...

Yeah, let's hear it for cohesiveness. People who fly hang and para gliders and tugs are all good, reasonable, honest, trustworthy folk who place the collective good above all else. Can't we all just get along?

Recently I had two visiting foreign PPG pilots they got over a herd of Gazelles at my local site and started chasing them while flying low...I was pissed and had to tell them to cut down their flight.

What? They were out of shotgun range?

I always try not to come close to the wildlife, their act was disgusting even the villagers were angry over them...the issue was settled after they had to apologize to the village people...

gluesniffer - 2014/12/02 03:16:26 UTC

Kind of a big difference between insects with a life cycle of days and weeks and elephants which are emotionally intelligent creatures that mourn the deaths of their own. Ten thousand plus elephants are slaughtered a year feeding Asia's appetite for ivory. It's appalling. We should as pilots give a wide berth to the amazing creatures on this planet. Being in nature is one of the best parts of this sport. Go buzz a fat worthless human. There's more than enough of those around.

And if you see a Tom Galvin about to run off a cliff with his carabiner dangling behind his knees be careful not to say anything that would cause him to do anything that would give him a false sense of security at that critical moment.

2014/12/02 04:11:44 UTC - 3 thumbs up - Heli1

Tormod Helgesen - 2014/12/02 05:40:03 UTC

Insects and other bugs are fantastic creatures but not even the smartest among them is capable of feeling fear, or even having other kinds of emotions.

And you know this how? Sure doesn't seem to sync with anything I've observed.

JJ Coté - 2014/12/02 05:44:37 UTC

From a pragmatic perspective, nobody cares if you squish bugs, but if you hassle charismatic megafauna, it gives us a bad reputation and we get kicked out of places and can't fly.

I care if you squish bugs - or harm anything for no reason other than your amusement.

Dustin George - 2014/12/02 06:31:04 UTC

So to me that is what I find kind of funny, that doesn't seem consistent or fair, if you truly want to be an advocate. In other words, it is selective for particular non-human existing creature that are more important, more intelligent, more emotional? What fits the criteria exactly? I agree there are certain animals that are more intelligent, is that the only reason why it is more horrendous to fly over an elephant verse stepping on a spider about to enter my house?

A spider with the INTENT to enter your house? By all means - smash him before he gets the chance to execute that assault. And then hose down with Raid all the cockroaches and terminates that he was on his way to take care of. And make sure you get any of the spiders that had managed to breach your security perimeter.

If members are just worried about image and do not want to risk the loss of a place to fly, that makes sense but seems kind of political. Like you are exploiting animals, just to make an appearance for the sake of saving a site to fly.

Why would we be risking the loss of a flying site by harassing Elephants, Elk, Bighorn, Barn Owls, Condors, smashing spiders, chopping up rattlers? Don't all clear thinking, rational, reasonable people share your mindset?

[Tad Eareckson]

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40894
Flying in winter

Davis Straub - 2015/01/27 13:24:14 UTC

Ryan Voight <<airthug84>> sends:

http://airthug.com/the-man-on-the-silver-mountain/
The Man on the Silver Mountain | Ryan Voight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW0h628FbRA

Rodger Hoyt - 2015/01/28 02:36:06 UTC

Chasing and harassing a bald eagle at 1:40. Super Dell has nothing on you Ryan. No doubt the eagle was terrified by this noisy and aggressive intruder.
Man, I've had it with this immature and thoughtless shit. I will personally report him to the NY Dept of Fish and Wildlife.

Chasing and harassing a bald eagle at 1:40.

Bullshit.

Super Dell has nothing on you Ryan.

Bullshit.

No doubt the eagle was terrified by this noisy and aggressive intruder.

Yeah. Absolutely TERRIFIED. You can tell by the way it takes a glide and maintains its course.

Man, I've had it with this immature and thoughtless shit. I will personally report him to the NY Dept of Fish and Wildlife.

Wanna do something USEFUL? Go after Sam Kellner. The hang gliding "community" gave him as much of a free pass for trying to do to that Sharp-Shinned Hawk what he inadvertantly did to Terry Mason.

Fuckin' ABSURD to equate what Ryan did to that atrocity Dell and his unidentified wingman did to that Barn Owl.

I don't see any evidence that the Eagle gave the slightest flying fuck about that drone.

I did the Annapolis Christmas Bird Count a month ago tomorrow on my old territory on the west side of the head of the South River where there's been a breeding pair since the beginning of time. I was slowly working my way through the trees behind the old abandonned farmhouse to the river to ID the Eagles I could hear calling and inadvertantly flushed an immature bird I hadn't seen from a tree right over me. Felt bad about disturbing him/her but he certainly was minimally concerned about my presence and not the least bit bent out of shape.

Joined two other birds right across the river. Then I found seven more all parked together in a tree or two upstream on my side. Ten total at once - two adults, the rest of "varying ages". They were taking off, soaring, mildly scrapping with each other, landing as they felt like it. But if you wanna go after one of us for disturbing/harrassing Eagles then go after me.

Brian Scharp - 2015/01/28 18:04:01 UTC

I try not to interfere with birds of prey.

Don't interfere with them if/when they're defending nesting territory.

For example if I see them parked in ridge lift, it's my understanding that they're hunting by looking for movement below.

They're probably doing exactly what you're doing and for the same reason. You're undoubtedly seeing mostly Redtails and my guess would be that they're doing most of their hunting parked in trees at the edges of fields.

I try not to distract them.

Trust me. They won't be the LEAST distracted by a big slow clumsy hang glider parked on the ridge if they're interested in something else. I was shovelling the driveway one day when a Redtail took a shot at my parrot in her cage in front of the bay window of the living room twenty-five yards away. The Redtail pulled up, both birds realized that nothing was gonna happen with the glass where it was, the Redtail parked on a branch out in front of the window and basked in the sun while I continued shovelling.

It's out of respect for the bird.

I respect the birds more than anything. Don't worry about that kind of interaction. Watch what happens when they stray into Crow or Raven turf if you wanna see disturbance and harassment.

Graeme Henderson - 2015/01/30 21:29:58 UTC

Sure, that Eagle is under threat;
from Mountain Top Mining,
from oil and gas drilling,
from forestry,
from pesticides, herbicides and other farming practices,
from F18s, B2s and other high velocity aircraft,
from climate change,
from morons with guns,
from power lines,
from nuclear power stations,
from cars and trucks when they are attracted to other road kill,
and certainly a reaper drone would make short work of one.
If you really want to save that eagle you will have to do much more than whip up an artificial but nasty storm in a tea cup like this. Is what you are doing helping the eagle? Is it helping the sport?
Now, get out there and save that eagle from those miners, farmers, pilots, scientists, motorists and hunters who are all threatening its life this very day. But walk, because driving your car is a bigger threat to that eagle than the drone used for this video ever was.
The fact is that the biggest threat to that eagle is your life style, what are you going to do about that if you really care about this eagle?
I wonder if savetheeaglefromyou.com is still available.
Cheers,
Graeme

I'm pretty much on that same page.

Brian Sharp - 2015/01/31 18:17:16 UTC

If they do get injured it'll be their own damn fault, right? I mean we shouldn't have to weigh the mere possibility of a bird being annoyed or getting hurt against the real tangible reward of that great shot.

I'd be worried about somebody getting a toe cut attacking one of these things. But it doesn't seem to be happening. And if it DOES start happening it sure won't take long before we hear about it.

Steve Davy - 2015/02/03 06:42:48 UTC

Don't mess with Tx. chickens viewer discretion advised

http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1172
Don't mess with Tx. chickens viewer discretion advised

http://ozreport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30120
Don't mess with Tx. chickens viewer discretion advised

Any comment about that moron with a gun, Graeme?

Graeme Henderson - 2015/02/03 10:29:15 UTC

Probably a member of the NRA. Shooting at the hawk probably wounded it...

It probably didn't - but that's irrelevant.

I have seen ducks fly a long way before they fall out of the sky, one pellet leads to a slow death. Although I shun such things these days I was raised to hunt. As a farmer I saw Black Back Seagulls taking eyes from sheep, my father used a rifle and rabbit traps to kill them. When I took over I never had a problem, with a different management system I was able to remove the problem.
And that is the thing, the moron with the gun is shooting hawks because he can not manage his chickens.

They're not his chickens. They're feral.

The irony is that the moron with the gun is under as many threats as the eagle is, probably he is at even greater risk of being shot by some other moron, or a three year old, with a gun. It is a sad world.

How would an asshole like Sam getting shot be a BAD thing?

The question here though is, was the eagle in the video endangered, even threatened by the drone video clips in the video at the beginning of this thread?
I can't see that it was.

Cheers,
Graeme

How 'bout?:

http://www.kitestrings.org/post3597.html#p3597

[<BS>]

Trust me. They won't be the LEAST distracted by a big slow clumsy hang glider parked on the ridge if they're interested in something else.

That is not what I've personally witnessed. I've watched them hunt from a parked position in ridge lift. If they are approached they will be forced to monitor your movements. Get close enough and they'll move away. You can quantify, qualify and justify all you want, but trust me they can be distracted.

Don't worry about that kind of interaction.

I don't because I make an effort to not interfere.
Here's a video where the producer gives the same advice I would, but for different reasons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHe3dOgmkHM


And another.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHGs1Q04WH0

[Tad Eareckson]

That is not what I've personally witnessed.

So who ya gonna trust? Me or reality?

You can quantify, qualify and justify all you want, but trust me they can be distracted.

Soaring in ridge lift - as the birds and we well know - is a pretty much zero energy cost proposition. I think if somebody has got a good shot at something he's gonna take it. The meal is down and we're up.

I have a lot of time - for the East anyway - in ridge lift and I don't think I've ever had the slightest negative effect on a bird in the air.

And, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've never seen a raptor take a shot at something edible while soaring in ridge - or thermal - lift. Each other fer sure though. And me at least once.

Flushed a few hawks, vultures, ravens off of their roosts but, hell, they're being flushed into ridge lift.

Blew some Turkey Vultures off a telephone pole one time while I was landing but - seeing as how I was on a glider - I didn't have the option of going back up and landing someplace else.

I don't because I make an effort to not interfere.

Me too. But the best effort one can make to not interfere is to stay home (like I do now). But not all interferences have negative results. I'm sure they use us as thermal markers the same way we use them.

Here's a video where the producer gives the same advice I would, but for different reasons.

Nah, I think he's worried about the bird more than the expensive toy it just shot down. For that I give the guy due points.

And another.

I am REALLY worried about these birds getting injured. If they are I have no doubt that a watcher, photographer, bander, rehabber, falconer, webcam junkie will soon have the evidence and there will be a major international news story in the not too distant future.

Ryan's an asshole and no one can accuse me of having taken less than my fair share of shots at him but I don't think he nudged that bird a foot off course or caused it to take an extra wingbeat. And if he did he maybe the bird's better off for getting acclimated to these things - the way Ospreys have gotten acclimated to huge noisy boats passing back and forth all breeding season long a few yards from the channel markers they use for nesting platforms.

[<BS>]

I am REALLY worried about these birds getting injured.

So do you think it's OK to follow these birds with drones?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXeUi7sAc34

[Tad Eareckson]

Two issues:
- harassment
- blades

Ryan... Negligible harassment at worst but probably nothing.

In the three contact videos you've posted here... Nobody was following the birds.

The first guy basically never saw what hit him, the second guy barely saw what hit him and probably couldn't have done anything to prevent the attack, the third guy could've bailed on the situation faster but it might not have made any difference.

So whether or not birds are being followed there are gonna be contact incidents.

There's all kinds of stuff we do that are gonna kill birds and other stuff. Drive cars, fly planes, burn coal, put up wind turbines, build solar power generation plants, string powerlines, build houses with windows, let the goddam cats out the back doors, fish with long lines and gill nets, hunt with lead shot, clear thousands of square miles of habitat for agriculture and spew pesticides with crop dusters so we have even more millions of tons of food to throw in the garbage and rot in the landfill. I myself killed a fledgling Carolina Wren with my car several years ago, drove over a Raccoon a couple Octobers ago, had a Junco kill itself on the sliding glass door a week or so ago.

It bothers me to see these drone contact incidents but there's no doubt whatsoever that they're getting disproportionate attention 'cause they're spectacular and everyone on the planet sees every single incident - none of which has so far appeared to have resulted in injury, as far as I know anyway.

This one fucking house cat:

http://www.shga.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=4436
busted

Phill Bloom - 2014/06/09 15:05:50 UTC

So here is Buster a perfectly good non flying, mouse killing cat. He has no less than 75 kills, rats, mice, birds, lizards, and 1 stupid squire who thought he could eat busters food.
We are moving and are in a temporary situation, I was hoping to loan him out for a little while until we get housing under control. Anyone interested, anyone, anyone, Bueler, anyone?

has probably done more damage to wildlife than all the drones on the planet. Also killed a stupid squire who thought he could eat his food.

If we do start seeing real problems then what are we gonna do about it? Where are we gonna draw lines? We already have laws that are not and need not be drone specific covering the kind of quite obvious and deliberate harassment we've seen on several videos from several assholes but beyond that... Good luck unless you're gonna outlaw all drones. And if you do that a few people are gonna go up in human carrying choppers to do the jobs they could've done with the drones. And when eagles attack those they always lose bigtime.

[<BS>]

Is that a yes?

So do you think it's OK to follow these birds with drones?

My answer is no - with the possible exception of scientific research.

[Tad Eareckson]

That's a "I'm not happy with ANYTHING that negatively affects these things." But there's a lot of gray on this issue and I don't wanna make black and white all encompassing statements.

I thought that what Ryan did was a bit iffy but not that big a fuckin' deal. He reported that the bird approached and passed the drone below without concern. And he was following at a respectful distance where he was able to gauge the reactions and would've been able to back off and reverse course if he'd observed a problem starting to crop up.

And we've seen the flip side in which no bird is being followed and the first indication that there's somebody around is having your drone shot down.

If we put drones - or anything else in the air including hang gliders and string kites - we're pretty much guaranteed to have negative interactions of various levels of severity. At Jockey's Ridge I once rescued a Boat-Tailed Grackle with a toe hopelessly caught on a kite string that was about to be knocked off by a couple of crows. And we all saw what happened here:

04-003019
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7336/14084948922_0d0d8664d0_o.png

07-004211
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7379/13901468389_f3f11843d5_o.png

12-015110
http://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7196/13901486208_bd09c3fdee_o.png


with a guy just minding his own business flying his paraglider around. That one could've easily ended up real badly for two of the three involved parties.

Ryan followed an Eagle without harming it and without disturbing it to any significant degree and posted a pretty cool video. I think it's a good bet that PBS and National Geographic are using drones in similar manners and using the footage to increase public appreciations of these birds and awareness of their problems (which could even include drones themselves) which could result in better protections for them.

And what's scientific research?

On 2015/01/04 I was just a volunteer walking around noting species and numbers of everything that flew so I could submit a list at a tally so that the world could get a rough idea of what's out there, how trends are going, what we need to worry about and what we don't - in the near future anyway. Forty-five years ago when I was doing it there were typically only two Eagles for the count circle (in my territory) and Kestrels all over the place. Now we're up to our armpits in Eagles and have ZERO Kestrels. And, as I said, I flushed an Eagle from of a tree right over me to across the river where (I'm guessing) she (looked big) joined two others (which she'd have done anyway in a little while).

That contributed to scientific research. And so can just having drone videos of wildlife. We can identify birds and locations and often have the day recorded. People can use that to help get a feel for stuff that's going on.

And I'd have sure liked to have some drone footage of Snowy Owls "striking planes" at La Guardia last winter and Port Authority assholes blasting them with shotguns to prevent them from striking more planes. (Speaking of raptor/aircraft interactions.)

[<BS>]

http://www.popsci.com/can-birds-be-trained-attack-drones
Talking about training birds to attack drones.

Other falconers agreed. Roger Chastain, president of the Indiana Falconers Association, said:

I most certainly wouldn't advocate anything that could result in the injury of a bird, and there's that possibility. My guess is that they'd probably be fine, from what little I know of quadcopters they have tiny little propellers that seem clumsy and flexible, so my guess is that the bird would be okay, but again that's my very limited understanding of quadcopters and I emphasize very limited, and it's probably not something that's worth the risk anyway.

Kirk Sellinger, co-owner of Sky Falconry, replied:

You could train a bird to attack a quadcopter, absolutely. But training them to go close to a quad is, I think, very dangerous, with the spinning propellers and whatnot. I've trained some of my birds to fly with me in my paraglider, but I will not fly them with me when I fly it powered with a propeller. I think with spinning propellers, it's not a good idea, because they could get hurt or even killed.

Chris Davis, master falconer at New England Falconry, described an attempt to train his birds with a friend's quad- and octocopter. Ultimately, things didn't go very well:

I have a friend who just got a quadcopter and an octocopter, and we tried his quad with my Harris's Hawks. (Even though I'm a falconer, falconry applies to training, flying and owning a hawk, falcon, or eagle.) We didn't give the birds much time to habituate or get used to it, and even at 100 feet or 150 feet, they were quite uncomfortable with it.
Consider the short amount of time that quads have been available and in use. I know that my birds react very negatively to hot air balloons and mylar balloons, and it's the movement quality of those two item. It's very different, very unnatural, and one can only assume that a quad- or octocopter can elicit that same kind of response, and that's pretty much what I observed with my birds the one time I tried it.

One of your points.

The risk of injury to a bird from a drone encounter certainly seems very real, however, and it could increase as more and more people use drones. But the dangers haven't yet borne out by arrivals in animal hospitals. I spoke to representatives of both the Lake Milton Raptor Rescue Center and the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota's College of Veterinary medicine, and neither could recall any birds brought in specifically as the result of a bad encounter with a drone.