A fleet of drones patrolling New York City’s beaches for signs of sharks and struggling swimmers is drawing a reaction from an aggressive group of coastal residents: local shorebirds.
Since the drone began flying in May, dozens of birds have repeatedly attacked the device, forcing the police department and other city agencies to adjust their flight plans. While the attacks have slowed, they have not stopped completely, raising concerns among wildlife experts about the impact on endangered species nesting on the coast.
Veronica Welsh, wildlife co-ordinator at the Parks Department, said the birds had been “very disturbed by the drone” since they arrived on the beach.
“He’ll fly there, he’ll run, he’ll be vocal,” Welsh said. “They think they are defending their children from predators.”
Seth Wenig / AP
No birds were harmed, but officials said there were several close calls. The drone, which is equipped with an inflatable life raft that can be lowered onto a swimmer in distress, has yet to perform a rescue. They encountered the first shark on Thursday, which caused most of the beach to be closed.
City officials said the “swarming incident” was primarily caused by American oystercatchers. The shorebird, known for its striking orange bill, lays its eggs this year in the sand at Rockaway Beach. While the population has improved in recent decades, federal authorities consider the species to be of “high conservation concern.”
The birds eventually grow into the devices, which can be more than 3 feet long and emit a loud hum when they fly, said David Bird, a professor of wildlife biology at McGill University.
But he was quick to raise a more dire possibility: that drones may trigger a stress response in some birds that cause them to flee to the beach and leave their eggs, as several thousand elegant terns did after the recent drone crash in San Diego.
Seth Wenig / AP
“We don’t know much about what distance is needed to protect these birds,” he said. “But we know there are birds on this beach that are very endangered. If they leave their nests because of drones, it will be a disaster.”
In Rockaway Beach, a popular summer destination for New Yorkers, American oystercatchers share their habitat with various species of water bird terns, as well as piping plovers, a small, sand-colored bird that is only in the city that is federally designated as an endangered species. Local officials keep a close watch every summer, banning beachgoers — and drones — from the sands where they usually nest.
After the city’s Department of Emergency Management alerted it to coastal conflicts last month, drone operators, mostly drawn from police and fire departments, agreed to fly the devices further away from oystercatcher nesting areas.
“We pointed out that there is a nest here and there are two angry parents who don’t want you anywhere near the eggs or the babies,” said Natalie Grybauskas, the agency’s assistant commissioner.
Since then, the agency has held briefings on the issue, departing from its usual work on disasters like fires and building collapses.
“It’s rare that you get to learn about the life cycle of a baby bird,” Grybauskas said.
But even as the city adjusts flight distances, beachgoers say they’ve seen groups of birds fly by drones.
New York City isn’t the only one using drones to patrol the water. After several shark bites last summer, a similar effort was launched by officials on Long Island. The device is smaller and quieter and does not have a flotation device. In recent years, lifeguards in Australia have also used drones to monitor sharks and conduct rescue operations.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a drone enthusiast, hailed the new drone program as “a great addition to saving the lives of those who are lost during the summer,” especially as the city struggles to hire lifeguards to staff its beaches.
Four people have drowned at the city’s beaches this summer, matching the number of swimming deaths since last year.
After two teenagers went missing while swimming at a beach near Rockaway, the NYPD flew a drone as part of a search mission. Both bodies eventually washed ashore.
Fire department drones have also captured footage of lifeguards helping swimmers at Rockaway Beach struggle through the tide.
Christopher Allieri, founder of the NYC Plover Project, a bird protection group, praised the city for taking an innovative approach to water safety. But he stressed that additional precautions are needed to ensure that drones do not harm shorebird populations.
“Wildlife in New York is often an afterthought,” he said. “We have to ask ourselves how we can use this technology in a way that works for all New Yorkers, and that includes those with fur.”
