Lovely day today so I decided to get the dust off my ElectraFlight park flyer (was going to take the Trainer but decided electic would be more relaxing.) Well I after about 5 minutes of relaxed flying at the local oval/reserve out of knowhere a bloody Magpie came flying in and started trying to attack my poor defenceless plane, a few seconds of zigzagging shook the bird off but another one came flying in, missed the plane by a inch, in a panic it dived, hit the ground a flipped, wasn't a huge impact but it cracked the wing. Dam bird, I wasn't after its eggs.

Anyone familiar with the South Australian species of Magpie knows these things are real badasses, even cats run from them


Anyone else had a similair incident?

when I was teaching myself to fly (not recommended btw), I was flying a cox ez bee and I was flying around and this big assed hawk came out of nowhere and grabbed it and tried to cart it off. carried it up high and just let it go. glided it back to my feet. hahaha had to fix the talon holes in the styrofoam.

is a magpie a blackbird?..we have (dont see them often) redwing blackbirds..just a plane blackbird with about a 1 inch square area of red on the wing...I guess they're born angry and will attack at will or defend at will depending on how you look at it..never had a plane attacked by them..but I have chased a buzzard (buteo?, alright I got a D in ornithology!) or 2 with them...Rog

See the thread at http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_16...tm.htm#1609172

Back in the days of youth and stupidity while living in Florida, we used to chase the buzzards and hawks - get close enough and they would break from thermaling and actually flap their wings. On a couple of occasions they would turn and chase us. In a full power dive with a Sig Kavalier they would still catch the plane and the only way to evade them was to pull a tight loop when they got on the tail.

On the other hand, with gliders we could share the same thermals and it didn't phase them. Go figure.....

Hogflyer

Magpies rarely "swoop" at the front of your face. Normally they attack from behind. A lot of people wear sunglasses on the back of their head to avoid the swooping magpies. You might want to try something that looks like eyes on the wings

When I spent some time in Perth, Australia it was quite interesting to see warning signs for magpie swooping. Some of the most dangerous snakes, crocodiles, jellyfish and even birds down there. No wonder you guys love beer so much.

Glider pilots who thermal with various birds may sometime have their planes "attacked". But the few times I've used birds to indicate a thermal, they let me join their flock no problem! [sm=shades_smile.gif]

well...depending on where your flying field is...either get a plane that rly goes fast that scares the crap outta the bird so they dont mess with you again...i can guarantee that once they hit your prop on your engine they wont mess with your plane again. or if you wanna have some kicks have someone else fly your plane...and you have a gun and shoot the thing down thats what id do personally becuz i rather see a dead bird than my crashed plane. id even go to the extent of removing there nest from the area if at all possible....it sounds harsh but i rather have my plane flying than being shotdown by a bird haha and losing $400 + in a plane ive glided with hawks before and they enjoy flying around my electric sailplane, its kinda like a flying buddy haha, but a bird chasing my plane would bug me :P

david

We had a rattle snake go after one. He was out on the runway sunning himself and you now how "we" all are! Couldn't resist flying low and slow and this thing would jump up and try and take a piece of it.

Here's one on my front lawn. Big beaks and huge claws. The second photo shows it taking a piece of bread from my fingers . I feed them on a kind of regular basis and they'll tap on my window or the front door to let me know they're there.