A fleet of drones patrolling New York City’s beaches for signs of sharks and struggling swimmers is drawing backlash from an aggressive group of seaside residents: local shorebirds.
Since the drones began flying in May, flocks of birds have repeatedly swarmed the devices, forcing the police department and other city agencies to adjust their flight plans. While the attacks have slowed, they have not stopped completely, fueling concern from wildlife experts about the impact on threatened species nesting along the coast.
Veronica Welsh, a wildlife coordinator at the Parks Department, said the birds were “very annoyed by the drones” from the moment they arrived on the beach.
Y’all are making a joke out of this headline but it really sucks
But he was quick to raise a far more dire possibility: that the drones could prompt a stress response in some birds that causes them to flee the beach and abandon their eggs, as several thousand elegant terns did following a recent drone crash in San Diego.
It’s honestly so horrible that this was approved. Drones are banned in National Parks for a reason. Birds have very few beach areas left where they can nest.
Up voting because this kind of thing needs coverage.
Fucking drones. I don’t care what they’re being used for, every time one is being flown at the beach I frequent it’s a nuisance.
BECOME UNGOVERNABLE
Drone on drone warfare! Makes you wonder what sort of cold war is playing out.
#BirdsArentReal
I fly drones for work and seagulls in particular are always checking it out and being all aggressive around it. Fuckers can’t fly upwards nearly as fast as the drone though so it’s easy enough to leave them in the dust. They never actually make contact though but it’s still annoying.
wow you suck. drones are really terrible for birds. least you could do is have empathy, but nah.
Fuck birds. They had their chance 65 million years ago.
Plus they keep pooping on my car.
One stole my chips once
Us humans stole pretty much all their habitat.
I wanted that chip bad enough that I stomped on the bird.
Oh wow so cool and edgy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extinct_bird_species_since_1500
About 129 species of birds have become extinct since 1500,[1] and the rate of extinction seems to be increasing.
It’s tragic. People get up in arms about tomato soup on famous paintings … this is even worse because every species taken out of the ecosystem is a lost node in a complex web that sustains us, lost species represent a loss of learning about the world we live in. There are so many interesting behaviors, chemical pathways, beautiful animals, who are going to be gone forever.
About 129 species of birds have become extinct since 1500,[1] and the rate of extinction seems to be increasing.
I don’t think he stomped on all of them…
Nah but this kind of dismissive attitude definitely leads to extinctions.
They should have thought about that before my chips
Just to be clear, while I’m joking around here to make a funny, you’re 100% right and I do everything in my power to be as little intrusive as I can especially in actual natural areas. The birds I’m talking about here are city-rat-style seagulls, they’re not in any danger, in fact if you read the subtext of my original comment, you’ll notice I fly away from them immediately which is the correct thing to do for both them and the drone. Also I’m currently taking steps to move into new niches in my work so I don’t need to fly so often, because while I do love it I recognise it bothers people and wildlife and don’t really want to do it more than I absolutely need to.
hype
Well now you need to make drones to fight off the seagulls. Those things are fucking vile anyway so, have fun lol
“the drones could prompt a stress response in some birds that causes them to flee the beach and abandon their eggs”
Solution is self evident:
Use the drones to hatch the eggs and raise the chicks. :) Very, very, confused chicks…
I wonder what semi-autonomous aircraft have the least impact on birds. Fixed-wing (planes) are much more efficient and, not coincidentally, often a lot quieter. For patrolling and looking for sharks/swimmers, seems like they might work as well or better.
Also I wonder if drones offer any demonstrated benefit over lifeguards.
Balloons, probably. Like a WWI reconnaissance blimp. With modern optics that thing could survey the entire beach without moving.
Now we are going to need some green pigs to counter the angry birds.
Nobody tell Cody JohnsTon
Based gulls
