American Oystercatchers have been attacking lifesaving drones in New York. Photo: Joshua J. Cotten // Unsplash
Many cities along the East Coast have begun to deploy drones to protect the safety of beachgoers. The whirring devices patrol the skies, monitoring for sharks and distressed swimmers. Some of them even come equipped with life vests they can drop into the water below. However, at Rockaway Beach, the contraptions have drawn the ire of a very vocal subset of New Yorkers: nesting shorebirds that have taken to attacking the drones in the sky.
The primary culprit is a species of bird known as the American Oystercatcher. The orange-billed shorebirds lay their eggs in the sands of Rockaway beach and are considered a species of “high conservation concern.” Veronica Welsh, a wildlife coordinator at the Parks Department, described the birds’ behavior to the Associated Press, saying, “They will fly at it, they’ll swoop at it, they’ll be vocalizing.” To explain a possible reason for the behavior, Welsh added that “They think they’re defending their chicks from a predator.”
While the “attacks” certainly make monitoring the beach for sharks more difficult, officials and wildlife experts are also concerned for the safety of the birds themselves. For one thing, the drone’s rapidly rotating propellors could cause injury to the creatures, though this has not happened yet. In addition, McGill University wildlife biology professor David Bird told the Associated Press that the drones could also provoke a stress response in some birds that would cause them to flee the beach and abandon their eggs.
“We don’t know a lot about what sort of distance is required to protect the birds,” explained Bird. “But we do know there are birds on this beach that are highly endangered. If they abandon their nests because of the drones, that would be a disaster.”
In response, drone operators in the police and fire departments have agreed to launch the machines farther from Oystercatcher nesting areas. However, even after the change, there have still been reports of skirmishes between birds and drones.
While conservation experts have not gone so far as to recommend grounding the drones, experts do warn that we need to take wildlife into consideration when deploying such devices. “Wildlife in New York is often an afterthought,” said Chris Allieri, founder of the NYC Plover Project, “We should be asking ourselves how we can use this technology in a way that works for all New Yorkers, and that includes those with feathers.”
