Angry Birds!  Really…. – Watts Up With That?

News Brief by Kip Hansen —July 16 2024

Briefly …  the birds are ANGRY!  They are attacking.  They are mobbing.  They are swooping.  There have been “swarming incidents”.

This is not The Onion.   This is serious.  Here’s the latest from your ever-dependable New York Times:  Angry Birds Take on Drones at New York City Beach.   If you need verification, you can check-in with the Associated Press:  On NYC beaches, angry birds fight drones patrolling for sharks and struggling swimmers.

The scoop: 

”One is a distinctive shorebird, slightly smaller than an average sea gull, with a bright orange bill that pries open clams, oysters and other shellfish. The other is a remote-controlled gadget with rotating blades.

In the skies above Rockaway Beach in Queens, bird and drone are not, it seems, coexisting in harmony.

Just as New Yorkers flock to the beach to escape the sweltering summer heat, American Oystercatchers have taken to attacking a fleet of drones deployed by city officials to scan for sharks and swimmers in distress.

The aerial conflict between animal and machine is raising concerns about the safety of the shorebirds, as they aggressively pursue the buzzing drones in defense of their nests, city officials and bird experts said.”  [NY Times]

The AP confirms the aerial battles: 

”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.

“They will fly at it, they’ll swoop at it, they’ll be vocalizing,” Welsh said. “They think they’re defending their chicks from a predator.”

It’s the oystercatchers, you see.  They nest on the shores of Long Island Sound and up around the coast to the north and east on the sandy shores of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including Cape Cod.  They do not like to disturbed.  We are told they are “very annoyed by the drones”. [A fact, I believe, credited by Veronica Welsh to “personal communication”.]

“When an Oystercatcher spots a drone, it will typically fly alongside the machine and emit a loud, shrill call or try to strike the drone with its feet, said Shiloh Schulte, an ornithologist and coordinator of the American Oystercatcher Recovery Program at Manomet, a bird conservation organization.” [NY Times]

Now, you don’t suppose that those oystercatchers are actually nesting on the crowded beaches of NY City, do you?  Of course not, that would be stupid.   But, nonetheless,  they are nesting right out in the open on beaches that are frequented by another common species:  humans. 

There we see a happy oystercatcher sitting on its nest on Hempstead Beach, there is a lifeguard lookout just 50 feet away.

“City officials said the “swarming incidents” have been primarily carried out by American oystercatchers. The shorebird, known for its striking orange bill, lays its eggs this time of year in the sand on Rockaway Beach. While its population has improved in recent decades, federal authorities consider the species a “high conservation concern.” [AP]

The federal authority considering oystercatchers of “high conservation concern” is the National Park Service, based on the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan.  

The sign in the photo above says “Endangered Birds” but oystercatchers are not pictured on it:  oystercatchers may choose stupid nesting sites, but they are not Endangered, they are not Threatened, they are not even Near Threatened, even if the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is concerned.   They are, according to the IUCN Red List Least Concern.  The more protective Partners in Flight lists the American Oystercatcher on their Yellow Watch List based on Restricted Breed Range.

All the hullabaloo is based on the fears of bird conservation groups and city/state conservation officials:

“…Katrina Toal, deputy director of the wildlife unit at the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. “The danger is to the birds, of course. They could strike the drone, injuring themselves.”

Thankfully….”No birds have been harmed, but officials say there have been several close calls.”

Apparently, none of the fabulously expensive life-saving drones carrying life rafts to be dropped to people drowning and live video cameras watching for sharks so that lifeguards can to alert swimmers and get them out of the water have “been harmed” either. 

And that’s the latest news from  ♫♬ Rockaway Beach….♬♫.

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Author’s Comment:

The news stories are interesting in regards to drones capable of carrying life rafts that can be dropped to struggling swimmers and live video that can alerts lifeguards to the presence of sharks in the water.

The worries about “What if a bird harms itself?” are, in my never-humble opinion, just plain silly.   The drone operators have already moved their drone-ports (launch and landing sites) away from known nesting sites, almost entirely eliminating the possible conflicts.  Still, birds will be birds, and birds will mob any threats flying near their nests [3 minute YouTube]. 

I recently witnessed small birds mobbing a snake in my yard. The snake involved was a corn snake which are know to eat nestling birds.

Overall, vastly misplaced priorities which are often seen today in environmental and conservations circles.

Thanks for reading.

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