A new initiative to monitor swimmers and sharks on New York City beaches with surveillance drones is bringing a backlash from shorebirds.

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.

  • @[email protected]
    6•5 months ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]
      -3•5 months ago

      wow you suck. drones are really terrible for birds. least you could do is have empathy, but nah.

      • @[email protected]
        6•5 months ago

        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.