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.
Now we are going to need some green pigs to counter the angry birds.
Nobody tell Cody JohnsTon
Drone on drone warfare! Makes you wonder what sort of cold war is playing out.
#BirdsArentReal
Based gulls
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.
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.
