6 ms·

Once drones really take off, I'm concerned about their impact on birds, bats and other aerial animals. Will we see bird hits left, right and centre? Will these

Once drones really take off, I'm concerned about their impact on birds, bats and other aerial animals. Will we see bird hits left, right and centre? Will these corporations petition to "cleanse" their airspace of all birds and bees so that their drones don't take a hit? Nobody seems to have thought of this angle...

bboreham 7y ago
Birds get out of the way of slow-moving aircraft that make a lot of noise.
alkonaut 7y ago
So long as drones are reasonably slow (bird-like speed) birds will get out of the way. Now, animals might be stressed or displaced by this which could be a bad “impact”. But I doubt they’ll be falling out of the sky. You don’t see many birds colliding with bigger/faster birds.
- masonic 7y ago
  birds will get out of the way Windmills are completely stationary, yet birds collide with them all the time.
  - alkonaut 7y ago
    When the windmills are stationary (the blades that is), birds very rarely collide with them. When the blades do move, they are often a lot faster than these drones (120-180mph is not uncommon).
    - masonic 7y ago
      "Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually... Smallwood also estimated that Altamont killed an average of 300 red-tailed hawks, 333 American kestrels and 380 burrowing owls annually – plus even more non-raptors, including 2,526 rock doves and 2,557 western meadowlarks" http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/new/us-windfarms-kill-10-20-times-more-than-previously-thought.html http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/new/us-windfarms-kill-...
      - saberience 7y ago
        "With regard to bird fatalities, it says: "Wind turbines represent an insignificant fraction of the total number of bird deaths caused by man-made objects or activities (eg building structures, transmission lines, and keeping domestic cats)." According to the CSE, for every bird killed by a turbine, 5,820, on average, are killed striking buildings, typically glass windows." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/27/wind-energy-myths-turbines-bats https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/27/wind-ene...
      - kaybe 7y ago
        How big is that farm to cover the territories of that many eagles? On first glance that looks like an amazing claim.
        masonic 7y ago
        Almost 5,000 turbines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_wind_farm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_wind_farm
  - marcusverus 7y ago
    From a bird's perspective, windmills move in novel and unpredictable ways. Birds have not evolved to be concerned with gigantic, sword like objects swinging perpendicular to the plane if flight. Drones move like birds.
the_pwner224 7y ago
I have experience with flying small airplanes, and their windshields got pretty icky with bugs pretty quickly. These days I have a motorcycle, and after 2 hours on the highway or 1 hour in natural undeveloped areas your helmet gets completely covered by bugs. On the other hand, bird strikes are relatively uncommon, and drones are tiny so the risk is even lower for them. So it might not be that big of an issue. But they would be great at exterminating bugs.
mch82 7y ago
https://youtu.be/FX3uOQiZs0A https://youtu.be/FX3uOQiZs0A Birds attack drones, especially large birds of prey

bboreham 7y ago

Birds get out of the way of slow-moving aircraft that make a lot of noise.

alkonaut 7y ago

So long as drones are reasonably slow (bird-like speed) birds will get out of the way. Now, animals might be stressed or displaced by this which could be a bad “impact”. But I doubt they’ll be falling out of the sky. You don’t see many birds colliding with bigger/faster birds.

masonic 7y ago
birds will get out of the way Windmills are completely stationary, yet birds collide with them all the time.
- alkonaut 7y ago
  When the windmills are stationary (the blades that is), birds very rarely collide with them. When the blades do move, they are often a lot faster than these drones (120-180mph is not uncommon).
  - masonic 7y ago
    "Dr. Shawn Smallwood’s 2004 study, spanning four years, estimated that California’s Altamont Pass wind “farm” killed an average of 116 Golden Eagles annually... Smallwood also estimated that Altamont killed an average of 300 red-tailed hawks, 333 American kestrels and 380 burrowing owls annually – plus even more non-raptors, including 2,526 rock doves and 2,557 western meadowlarks" http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/new/us-windfarms-kill-10-20-times-more-than-previously-thought.html http://savetheeaglesinternational.org/new/us-windfarms-kill-...
    - saberience 7y ago
      "With regard to bird fatalities, it says: "Wind turbines represent an insignificant fraction of the total number of bird deaths caused by man-made objects or activities (eg building structures, transmission lines, and keeping domestic cats)." According to the CSE, for every bird killed by a turbine, 5,820, on average, are killed striking buildings, typically glass windows." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/27/wind-energy-myths-turbines-bats https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2012/feb/27/wind-ene...
    - kaybe 7y ago
      How big is that farm to cover the territories of that many eagles? On first glance that looks like an amazing claim.
      - masonic 7y ago
        Almost 5,000 turbines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_wind_farm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altamont_Pass_wind_farm
- marcusverus 7y ago
  From a bird's perspective, windmills move in novel and unpredictable ways. Birds have not evolved to be concerned with gigantic, sword like objects swinging perpendicular to the plane if flight. Drones move like birds.

the_pwner224 7y ago

I have experience with flying small airplanes, and their windshields got pretty icky with bugs pretty quickly. These days I have a motorcycle, and after 2 hours on the highway or 1 hour in natural undeveloped areas your helmet gets completely covered by bugs. On the other hand, bird strikes are relatively uncommon, and drones are tiny so the risk is even lower for them. So it might not be that big of an issue. But they would be great at exterminating bugs.

mch82 7y ago

https://youtu.be/FX3uOQiZs0A https://youtu.be/FX3uOQiZs0A Birds attack drones, especially large birds of prey