It appears that the beach bird population of New York City is thoroughly fed up with a recently deployed armada of police drones that are encroaching on their territory. A report from the Associated Press describes repeated “swarming” incidents in which the angry shorebirds have dive-bombed the flying robots in an attempt to expel them from their home.
Earlier this year, the NYPD made the questionable decision to start deploying drones at the city’s beaches. The point was to allow them to search for sharks (so as to warn beachgoers and avoid a Jaws-type situation) and also to help swimmers who might be struggling, and who were out of reach of the local lifeguard. The plan, apparently, was to have the robots fly over drowning swimmers and drop flotation devices on their heads.
While the drones have so far saved zero human lives, they have managed to seriously agitate the local bird population, which has been repeatedly seen “swarming” and dive-bombing the flying robots. The AP quotes several wildlife academics and professionals, most of whom seem to think that the drones are having some kind of adverse effect on the beach birds. Experts say the birds may see the robots as an invasive species, one that is a threat to their offspring.
Veronica Welsh, a wildlife professional at the city’s Parks Department, told the outlet that the birds are “very annoyed by the drones” and “will fly at it, they’ll swoop at it, they’ll be vocalizing…They think they’re defending their chicks from a predator.”
The article also quotes a wildlife biology professor from McGill University who, quite amazingly, is named David Bird. Bird, the bird professor, tells us that the birds in question, known technically as American oystercatchers, may also be triggered by the flying robots into having a “stress response,” which, he said, could cause them to “flee the beach and abandon their eggs, as several thousand elegant terns did following a recent drone crash in San Diego.”
Oystercatchers, the local populations of which primarily nest on Rockaway beach, “are highly endangered” said Bird, whole also added that if “they abandon their nests because of the drones, that would be a disaster.”
Gizmodo reached out to the NYPD for more information on its drone program but did not receive an immediate response.
Update, July 12, 3:46 p.m. ET: We have updated this post to reflect the fact that the birds in this story are not, in fact, seagulls. We regret the error, but also I am not an ornithologist, people.
