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.

  • whoreticulture@lemmy.world
    42·
    27 days ago

    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.