Birds of a feather flock together and… attack together?
Though several black-feathered birds appeared to be calmly soaring in the sunshine in this video, their suspicions were actually mounting toward an impostor. Out of the blue, they dive-bombed and attacked this radio-controlled phantom drone quadcopter (similar to a toy helicopter that can take video), causing it to lose connection and tumble to the ground. Talk about angry birds!
Fortunately, the birds appear to be unharmed, the drone's owner thinks he can hot-glue it back together and we saw some beautiful footage from a birds-eye view.
If this were a real unmanned aerial vehicle, these birds could do some real damage. Since 1990, the FAA has recorded 121,000 instances of bird-aircraft collisions, though most are accidental. But the difference with drones, Slate says, is that birds -- especially predatory raptors like hawks and eagles -- will specifically target and attack them since they look like a threat to their territory. So if and when Amazon starts delivering our Christmas orders via drone, it may just be a feathery fellow -- not UPS or FedEx -- that's behind your delayed package.
Though several black-feathered birds appeared to be calmly soaring in the sunshine in this video, their suspicions were actually mounting toward an impostor. Out of the blue, they dive-bombed and attacked this radio-controlled phantom drone quadcopter (similar to a toy helicopter that can take video), causing it to lose connection and tumble to the ground. Talk about angry birds!
Fortunately, the birds appear to be unharmed, the drone's owner thinks he can hot-glue it back together and we saw some beautiful footage from a birds-eye view.
If this were a real unmanned aerial vehicle, these birds could do some real damage. Since 1990, the FAA has recorded 121,000 instances of bird-aircraft collisions, though most are accidental. But the difference with drones, Slate says, is that birds -- especially predatory raptors like hawks and eagles -- will specifically target and attack them since they look like a threat to their territory. So if and when Amazon starts delivering our Christmas orders via drone, it may just be a feathery fellow -- not UPS or FedEx -- that's behind your delayed package.