Wing delivery drone attacked by a raven in midair

A raven attacks a Wing delivery drone, causing it to halt certain deliveries in Australia. Drone deliveries in a section of Canberra, Australia, have been halted due to frequent bird assaults. Google's sister company, Wing, the service provider, said that it will wait for researchers to evaluate the birds' behavior.

Wing delivery drone attacked by a raven in midair

A person who recorded one of the attacks claimed it's “only a matter of time” until a drone gets taken down.

In Canberra, Australia, a drone delivery business has had to deal with ravens defending their nests attacking their equipment.

Since 2019, Wing has delivered everything from coffee to medication to office supplies to Canberra residents.

However, following numerous complaints of ravens swooping down on its drones, it announced on Tuesday that it will halt deliveries to a portion of the city, according to The Canberra Times.

This comes at a time when demand for drone deliveries is increasing owing to Canberra's prolonged Coronavirus lockdown.

Raven things Wing delivery drone is Terminator

Ben Roberts, a local resident who uses the service to get coffee every morning, caught the latest assault on camera and uploaded it online.

According to him, he told The Canberra Times: “It's just a matter of time before they bring one down. They think it's Terminator or something.”

Drones have also been attacked by magpies and other birds such as hawks and wedge-tailed eagles.

According to ABC News Australia, Wing stated in a message to customers in the region, “We've identified some birds in the area demonstrating territorial behaviour and swooping at moving items.”

According to a Wing spokesman, the drone in the video finished its delivery and returned to its home facility after the assault.

Wing drones, according to the spokesman, have “multiple redundancies to help ensure safe operations in the event that something like this occurs.”

Wing said that it has halted delivery to a “limited number” of clients, but did not specify how many. The remainder of Canberra's activities remained unaffected.

According to ornithologist Neil Hermes, although ravens are extremely territorial, they have never attacked drones previously.

“They will swoop dogs and activity around their nests, but attacking drones is new,” Hermes said.

UAV Training Australia's principal pilot and instructor, Wayne Condon, warned the network that drone users should avoid known nesting sites.

“At the end of the day, it's their sky, and we are the visitor. Fingers crossed, if you act fast enough, you'll be able to save your aircraft and not injure the bird!” Condon explained to The Canberra Times.

In the United States, Wing delivery drones have been operating in Christiansburg, Virginia.

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Photo credit: Ben Roberts