19 ms·

3,000 eggs abandoned after drone scares birds in California

324 points by erentz 5y ago

chmod775 5y ago
On one hand that sucks. On the other hand, given their alleged response to disturbances, how aren't these birds extinct yet? This makes me somewhat skeptical of this story.
- opencl 5y ago
  Many bird species have low survival rates for their young but the species survives because each adult lays a large number of eggs in its lifetime.
- tolbish 5y ago
  > Michael H. Horn, a professor emeritus of biology at California State University, Fullerton, said that although the loss of 1,500 eggs might not threaten the long-term health of the elegant tern, which has a worldwide population of about 100,000 to 150,000, the drone crash was still troubling. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/us/elegant-tern-eggs-drone-crash-california.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/us/elegant-tern-eggs-dron...
- scandox 5y ago
  With that attitude eventually there will just be cockroaches, rats and humans.
  - hugoromano 5y ago
    not even humans. what humans don't understand is that when you protect ecosystems, i.e. the planet you protect your own species. We are part of a biological "balance" a change creates risks for us.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- ramphastidae 5y ago
  Really? You are “skeptical”? Did you even read the article? It’s a nesting island on a dedicated ecological reserve. This has likely been happening there for decades or centuries.
  - chmod775 5y ago
    Thank you. Your well-written and thoughtful response helped me greatly in broadening my understanding and from now on I will take every news article at face value. I really appreciated how you specifically addressed the question I posed. Edit: How is a snarky comment that serves no purpose besides being self-serving and demeaning higher rated than the constructive comments in this tree? That's an insult to the people in this community who are still trying. Bonus points for downvoting the other person who asked an honest question in the thread. My disappointment with this place increases by the day.
  - dang 5y ago
    Could you please not be a jerk in HN comments or otherwise break the site guidelines? It's not the first time you've done this, unfortunately, and we're really trying for something different here. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
    - ramphastidae 5y ago
      Sure, sorry about that.
      - dang 5y ago
        Appreciated!
- javajosh 5y ago
  Does anyone know how these birds react to thunderstorms?
  - greenburger 5y ago
    Thunderstorms are likely rare in this location. Most of coastal California only experiences such storms less than once a year, depending on when they begin nesting any rain at all may not be common, as typically they is little rain from April to October.
  - chewyfruitloop 5y ago
    Probably better than a huge lump of vibrating plastic plummeting out of the sky at them
    - prawn 5y ago
      It's most likely that the drone that crashed was similar in size to the type of bird that was spooked (Mavic Mini to Mavic Pro range; maybe a Phantom at most). Anyone flying a larger drone (Inspire and up) would have a serious license and familiarity with permits, therefore unlikely to be called "illegal". I'm guessing it either fell after colliding with a bird or was flying low enough with sensors off and clipped the ground.
  - Ralfp 5y ago
    Wild animals either shelter from thunderstorm, or they learn from each other differet behaviours (like making herd close-knit) to pull through.
  - cratermoon 5y ago
    Thunderstorms have been happening with some predictability since before birds even evolved. A buzzing, hovering, and erratically moving clanking mechanical thing is extremely novel. Which of those two would the birds have a genetically and socially built-in way to cope and survive through?
pvaldes 5y ago
I wouldn't discard a deliberated action it somebody wants to develop the area. They are not extinct because they live from Chile to US, so they have more than one nest area. Tern are serious migratory birds.
- KineticLensman 5y ago
  Elegant Terns are considered 'Near Threatened' - so they are not at imminent risk of extinction. However, the wetland - Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve - where they live is home to other species that may not be so secure. > I wouldn't discard a deliberated action it somebody wants to develop the area. If we gradually lose all of the migration endpoints the species will eventually suffer.
  - anonAndOn 5y ago
    >If we gradually lose all of the migration endpoints the species will eventually suffer. Indeed. We may see the extinction of the monarch butterfly within the decade for this very reason.
    - KineticLensman 5y ago
      Yes. I work at the Hawk Conservation Trust in the UK. We have a few White-headed vultures and this year two of them have successfully raised a chick (currently two months old and about to start flapping its little wings). A visitor asked me if it would be returned to the wild. I said 'no - it is part of the insurance policy for this species' and the conversation moved on. What I didn't say was that returning it to the wild would be like throwing it into a shredder. These African birds are superbly good at spotting carrion. When poachers kill elephants and rhinos, the vultures start circling and unwittingly act as a signal to the wildlife rangers that poachers might be in the vicinity. So, after they have chain-sawed the horns / tusks off, the poachers poison the carcasses to kill the vultures so they won't give the game away at the next kill. The record is 500 vultures of various species killed as a result of one poaching event. The wild populations will not survive this relentless slaughter. So, I'm afraid I have very little sympathy for people who are worried about their drone-flying rights. Sorry.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
“ That’s contributed not only to increased drone activity, but also to more dogs and bicycles on the trails – all of which are prohibited. “We’ve seen a significant increase in dogs, particularly off-leash,” Loebl said. “That’s devastating for wildlife and this is prime nesting season. The dogs chase the birds and the birds abandon their nests.” Another problem is the development of multimillion-dollar homes on the hillside at the north end of the reserve overlooking the wetlands, said Fish and Wildlife warden Nick Molsberry. While most residents respect the sensitive nature of the estuary, there are a few scofflaws, he said. “It’s residents that sometimes feel entitled, that feel they should be able to use the land as they like,” Molsberry said. Authorities are ramping up enforcement and citing people who break the rules. “ It’s sad to see people taking ignorant actions that harm future generations from experiencing nature.
- fnord77 5y ago
  people with dogs off-leash are extremely inconsiderate. they're also the type to get hostile and even violent if you say anything
  - diggan 5y ago
    I frequently walk my dogs without leash. They follow my command, don't disturb other people or dogs unless both parties engage and generally I don't do anything that someone who has a leash wouldn't be doing. They also walk side-by-side with me when off-leash. This is very common in the city I live and surrounding area (Barcelona, Spain and Catalunya). Both me and others without leashes are indistinctive from people who are using leashes. How is inconsiderate if the dogs themselves are behaving? Maybe there is something I'm missing, and I'd like to understand your point of view. I could understand you think it's inconsiderate if people don't have control on their dogs and they annoy others while the owners do nothing, then I agree with you. But just because of being off-leash? Not sure I understand that line of reasoning. Edit: Just to clarify further, if I did meet someone who asks me to leash my dog I would obviously do so without hostility or violence. In my ~6 years of having dogs in Barcelona, that has yet to happen even once.
Causality1 5y ago
Interesting. I wonder why the drone caused such a disproportionate response. The article doesn't address it but I doubt that if, say, an eagle had landed or started killing birds they would have abandoned so many eggs.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  The article mentions other disturbances from dogs, bikers and walkers. Perhaps the drones were the last drop in the bucket to convince the birds "this area is unsafe for nesting".
  - slver 5y ago
    It's a pretty devastating evolutionary loss to have to abandon your offspring due to a disturbance. This is why mammals carry their "eggs". Birds couldn't evolve this way as they're very sensitive to weight due to flight.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- prawn 5y ago
  I fly drones including with commercial filming permits at conservation parks/islands with large bird populations. Different types of birds react in various ways to a drone though I've never noticed similar birds to these act in an overly panicked way. Some types of birds will take flight and then resettle, some will circle closely and try to intimidate the drone (galahs), some charge or consider attacking it (osprey, whistling kite), some ignore it (wedge tailed eagles - at least in my experience so far^), etc. The permit in a case like this would require that I land safely if the presence of the drone alters the behaviour of the birds (even if they're staying on the ground, but bobbing their head). Here's a video below from a tiny, low island with a bird population in the tens of thousands, where a group of hikers have possibly spooked birds that are then flying towards the drone from the other side of the island. Most passed under the drone, suggesting they weren't concerned; I was keeping the drone still or moving slowly and predictably towards where I could land on the beach. This flock was going through for some time. I don't think these are terns, but there were crested terns on that island. Troubridge Island birds: https://bit.ly/3z49lwm https://bit.ly/3z49lwm I don't mean to discount the impact of drones, but I suspect that a repeated close drone presence is more likely to cause birds to abandon a nest than a crash. That is generally the concern with raptor nests where I live. My thought when reading the article was that off-leash dogs might've had the main impact in abandonment of eggs, but that drones are more likely to make a headline for the story. Couldn't find an original press release, but every news headline is about drones. ^ Here's one encounter with a wedge-tailed eagle. It beat its wings perhaps to make sure it was clear but didn't seem to move its head at all. In other cases, they've not beaten their wings or moved their heads so weren't visibly bothered. https://bit.ly/3uVIvn5 https://bit.ly/3uVIvn5 And here's a whistling kite coming in to attack but then changing its mind at the last moment: https://bit.ly/3vTJ0za https://bit.ly/3vTJ0za
Gene5ive 5y ago
I decided to read the comments on the linked article and got depressed. It's a similar feeling to what Ethan Hawke portrayed in First Reformed. Caring about nature is a lonely and foreboding state of being.
cjensen 5y ago
I'm a birder, so some extra info... On dogs, training and leashes only matter a little. The problem is birds immediately identify a dog as a dangerous predator. They are far less bothered by humans. Birds pay more attention that we might realize. They identify potential threats from much farther away that we do. This leads to them being disturbed even when the casual rule-breaking dog walker thinks "I'm not doing anything wrong." I'm extremely surprised so many birds abandoned their nests permanently. I would have expected only the closest nests to be abandoned. Some people rely on their drones to tell them when they are in a no-fly zone. Terrible idea. Once at Hayward Regional Shoreline, I had to tell a guy that he was potentially creating a problem. I told him the two locations where endangered species can be found and that he should avoid -- and also that he was definitely within the limits of Hayward Regional Airport. He was both contrite and horrified that his drone didn't tell him. They other issue is boundary-pushing. Literally. Give people a space, and many people will act like selfish toddlers and push the boundaries. Sunnyvale Baylands allows drones and it's a great space for them. There is a clearly marked fence they must not go beyond. So of course people constantly violate the fence. The fence is to a marshland with endangered species. Drones can fail, and a drone that falls into the marsh is not retrievable and then what happens to the toxins in the battery?
- thatguy0900 5y ago
  How do these birds exist in the wild if a single predator sighting causes them to abandon their eggs? Edit: I'm downvoted, so this is a legitimate question. How could it be that these birds have lasted when one predator causes the abandonment of 3000 eggs? Has no predator ever appeared on these islands?
  - fallinghawks 5y ago
    It was more than just "a single predator sighting." The article says it was two drones and one of them crashed, which is a lot more dramatic. They didn't say how close the crash was to the nesting birds. And they didn't say how long the drones were flying around and how they were flying around before the birds decided to abandon. We don't know, perhaps they were buzzing the terns at a low altitude, or hovering for a long time in a way that looked like a falcon. There's a big difference between a dangerous looking person passing you by on a busy street, and one that's standing on the sidewalk in front of your house, staring at your window for an hour. Some birds are very neophobic. And some types of birds have less commitment to eggs than chicks -- a new nest and new eggs can be laid, but actual hatched chicks are much harder to abandon. Terns are very social, so a few abandoning their nests might easily lead to a mass exodus.
yuvalr1 5y ago
Did the birds completely abandon the eggs, or there's still a chance they're going to come back? I didn't find it in the article.
rossdavidh 5y ago
Because "3,000 eggs abandoned after dogs scare birds in California", would be a headline that gets much less attention.
- psychlops 5y ago
  Some evidence of the drone would be a nice addition. Or the construction of the nearby multimillion dollar homes they mention. I'm curious how they narrowed it down to two drone flights.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
lifeisstillgood 5y ago
I am guessing that drones are to birds what a Martian invasion would be to us - suddenly a new species has arrived and is persistent - it can go everywhere birds can go, it has spare energy enough to make aggressive noises constantly and it completely ignores any aggressive actions and attacks made to drive the drone off. It has arrived and taken over the territory completely - so abandon the area. My problem is if my conjecture is true, we basically have to ban drones ... everywhere.
- lumberingjack 5y ago
  Domesticated cats have completely eradicated several United States bird species nobody called for eradication of cats
  - Rovanion 5y ago
    Perhaps they should have?
  - mola 5y ago
    Cats are living things which we have a special relationship with, drones are not. Some culture value life more than things, so unsurprisingly it'll be easier to propose a ban things than the eradication of cats.
  - zbentley 5y ago
    > nobody called for eradication of cats While "eradication" evokes killing and hostility, many small island communities all over the world which cohabitate with rare and vulnerable bird species do ban or severely restrict the ownership of cats.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
GekkePrutser 5y ago
Poor birds :'( Sad that this happened.
aaron695 5y ago
I guess if a bunch of human believe a 'drone crash' can scare off a huge sanctuary of birds, it's possible a bunch of birds might believe a drone crash is a something something. Originally it was 1,500 eggs, then 2,000 then 3,000. The photo looks under 1000 - https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/heraldextra.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/91/c913ac6a-1f94-587b-b7af-129ca77dd301/60ba7c04b85fb.image.jpg?resize=1662%2C1247 https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/heraldextra.com... 800 eggs abandoned is still a story, but if they told the truth of what they know, perhaps the real cause might be easier to see. I'd guess to was 3,000 birds original now it's 3000 eggs. The Gizmodo photo was take in the Bahrain - [1] -https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/06/frightened-terns-abandon-1500-eggs-after-a-rogue-drone-crash-landed-on-nesting-island/ https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/06/frightened-terns-abandon-... [2] https://www.gettyimages.com.au/search/2/image?phrase=Fasht+al+Jarim+Island+tern https://www.gettyimages.com.au/search/2/image?phrase=Fasht+a...
- ebalvashHNvrot 5y ago
  Your downvoters either can't tell a synthetic story from real or are actively working on supporting the ordered narrative.
sizzle 5y ago
Why not put cameras on perimeter and figure out some unhackable protocol for drones to identify themselves once entering these protected geofences. The drone should autopilot away from the geofence via the protocol and it should be some encrypted method that no one can spoof and signed by various agencies protecting wildlife, etc. Thoughts?
- swiley 5y ago
  My understanding is that larger drones (like any other aircraft) must carry transponders that report a registered call sign. Sure it's "hackable" by lying but that's a crime.
ebalvashHNvrot 5y ago
Ah, the good old narrative about private "drones" posing all kinds of treats to planes, birds, children, privacy of stolen wealth and govporate monopoly on spying and data hoarding!
a94d5dc743 5y ago
I'm baffled how people on HN, ostensibly programmers and other left-hemispherists alike, still believe mainstream media. The conclusion is as follows: there are no genuine commenters left here. Only the agenda implanters, their censoring Sancho Panzas and mindless parrots of their narratives. But I am satisfied to know that truth hurts and downvoters are still stung with it, however high a horse be dragging them.

324 points by erentz 5y ago

On one hand that sucks. On the other hand, given their alleged response to disturbances, how aren't these birds extinct yet? This makes me somewhat skeptical of this story.

opencl 5y ago
Many bird species have low survival rates for their young but the species survives because each adult lays a large number of eggs in its lifetime.
tolbish 5y ago
> Michael H. Horn, a professor emeritus of biology at California State University, Fullerton, said that although the loss of 1,500 eggs might not threaten the long-term health of the elegant tern, which has a worldwide population of about 100,000 to 150,000, the drone crash was still troubling. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/us/elegant-tern-eggs-drone-crash-california.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/us/elegant-tern-eggs-dron...
scandox 5y ago
With that attitude eventually there will just be cockroaches, rats and humans.
- hugoromano 5y ago
  not even humans. what humans don't understand is that when you protect ecosystems, i.e. the planet you protect your own species. We are part of a biological "balance" a change creates risks for us.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
ramphastidae 5y ago
Really? You are “skeptical”? Did you even read the article? It’s a nesting island on a dedicated ecological reserve. This has likely been happening there for decades or centuries.
- chmod775 5y ago
  Thank you. Your well-written and thoughtful response helped me greatly in broadening my understanding and from now on I will take every news article at face value. I really appreciated how you specifically addressed the question I posed. Edit: How is a snarky comment that serves no purpose besides being self-serving and demeaning higher rated than the constructive comments in this tree? That's an insult to the people in this community who are still trying. Bonus points for downvoting the other person who asked an honest question in the thread. My disappointment with this place increases by the day.
- dang 5y ago
  Could you please not be a jerk in HN comments or otherwise break the site guidelines? It's not the first time you've done this, unfortunately, and we're really trying for something different here. If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.
  - ramphastidae 5y ago
    Sure, sorry about that.
    - dang 5y ago
      Appreciated!
javajosh 5y ago
Does anyone know how these birds react to thunderstorms?
- greenburger 5y ago
  Thunderstorms are likely rare in this location. Most of coastal California only experiences such storms less than once a year, depending on when they begin nesting any rain at all may not be common, as typically they is little rain from April to October.
- chewyfruitloop 5y ago
  Probably better than a huge lump of vibrating plastic plummeting out of the sky at them
  - prawn 5y ago
    It's most likely that the drone that crashed was similar in size to the type of bird that was spooked (Mavic Mini to Mavic Pro range; maybe a Phantom at most). Anyone flying a larger drone (Inspire and up) would have a serious license and familiarity with permits, therefore unlikely to be called "illegal". I'm guessing it either fell after colliding with a bird or was flying low enough with sensors off and clipped the ground.
- Ralfp 5y ago
  Wild animals either shelter from thunderstorm, or they learn from each other differet behaviours (like making herd close-knit) to pull through.
- cratermoon 5y ago
  Thunderstorms have been happening with some predictability since before birds even evolved. A buzzing, hovering, and erratically moving clanking mechanical thing is extremely novel. Which of those two would the birds have a genetically and socially built-in way to cope and survive through?

pvaldes 5y ago

I wouldn't discard a deliberated action it somebody wants to develop the area. They are not extinct because they live from Chile to US, so they have more than one nest area. Tern are serious migratory birds.

KineticLensman 5y ago
Elegant Terns are considered 'Near Threatened' - so they are not at imminent risk of extinction. However, the wetland - Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve - where they live is home to other species that may not be so secure. > I wouldn't discard a deliberated action it somebody wants to develop the area. If we gradually lose all of the migration endpoints the species will eventually suffer.
- anonAndOn 5y ago
  >If we gradually lose all of the migration endpoints the species will eventually suffer. Indeed. We may see the extinction of the monarch butterfly within the decade for this very reason.
  - KineticLensman 5y ago
    Yes. I work at the Hawk Conservation Trust in the UK. We have a few White-headed vultures and this year two of them have successfully raised a chick (currently two months old and about to start flapping its little wings). A visitor asked me if it would be returned to the wild. I said 'no - it is part of the insurance policy for this species' and the conversation moved on. What I didn't say was that returning it to the wild would be like throwing it into a shredder. These African birds are superbly good at spotting carrion. When poachers kill elephants and rhinos, the vultures start circling and unwittingly act as a signal to the wildlife rangers that poachers might be in the vicinity. So, after they have chain-sawed the horns / tusks off, the poachers poison the carcasses to kill the vultures so they won't give the game away at the next kill. The record is 500 vultures of various species killed as a result of one poaching event. The wild populations will not survive this relentless slaughter. So, I'm afraid I have very little sympathy for people who are worried about their drone-flying rights. Sorry.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

“ That’s contributed not only to increased drone activity, but also to more dogs and bicycles on the trails – all of which are prohibited. “We’ve seen a significant increase in dogs, particularly off-leash,” Loebl said. “That’s devastating for wildlife and this is prime nesting season. The dogs chase the birds and the birds abandon their nests.” Another problem is the development of multimillion-dollar homes on the hillside at the north end of the reserve overlooking the wetlands, said Fish and Wildlife warden Nick Molsberry. While most residents respect the sensitive nature of the estuary, there are a few scofflaws, he said. “It’s residents that sometimes feel entitled, that feel they should be able to use the land as they like,” Molsberry said. Authorities are ramping up enforcement and citing people who break the rules. “ It’s sad to see people taking ignorant actions that harm future generations from experiencing nature.

fnord77 5y ago
people with dogs off-leash are extremely inconsiderate. they're also the type to get hostile and even violent if you say anything
- diggan 5y ago
  I frequently walk my dogs without leash. They follow my command, don't disturb other people or dogs unless both parties engage and generally I don't do anything that someone who has a leash wouldn't be doing. They also walk side-by-side with me when off-leash. This is very common in the city I live and surrounding area (Barcelona, Spain and Catalunya). Both me and others without leashes are indistinctive from people who are using leashes. How is inconsiderate if the dogs themselves are behaving? Maybe there is something I'm missing, and I'd like to understand your point of view. I could understand you think it's inconsiderate if people don't have control on their dogs and they annoy others while the owners do nothing, then I agree with you. But just because of being off-leash? Not sure I understand that line of reasoning. Edit: Just to clarify further, if I did meet someone who asks me to leash my dog I would obviously do so without hostility or violence. In my ~6 years of having dogs in Barcelona, that has yet to happen even once.

Causality1 5y ago

Interesting. I wonder why the drone caused such a disproportionate response. The article doesn't address it but I doubt that if, say, an eagle had landed or started killing birds they would have abandoned so many eggs.

mschuster91 5y ago
The article mentions other disturbances from dogs, bikers and walkers. Perhaps the drones were the last drop in the bucket to convince the birds "this area is unsafe for nesting".
- slver 5y ago
  It's a pretty devastating evolutionary loss to have to abandon your offspring due to a disturbance. This is why mammals carry their "eggs". Birds couldn't evolve this way as they're very sensitive to weight due to flight.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
prawn 5y ago
I fly drones including with commercial filming permits at conservation parks/islands with large bird populations. Different types of birds react in various ways to a drone though I've never noticed similar birds to these act in an overly panicked way. Some types of birds will take flight and then resettle, some will circle closely and try to intimidate the drone (galahs), some charge or consider attacking it (osprey, whistling kite), some ignore it (wedge tailed eagles - at least in my experience so far^), etc. The permit in a case like this would require that I land safely if the presence of the drone alters the behaviour of the birds (even if they're staying on the ground, but bobbing their head). Here's a video below from a tiny, low island with a bird population in the tens of thousands, where a group of hikers have possibly spooked birds that are then flying towards the drone from the other side of the island. Most passed under the drone, suggesting they weren't concerned; I was keeping the drone still or moving slowly and predictably towards where I could land on the beach. This flock was going through for some time. I don't think these are terns, but there were crested terns on that island. Troubridge Island birds: https://bit.ly/3z49lwm https://bit.ly/3z49lwm I don't mean to discount the impact of drones, but I suspect that a repeated close drone presence is more likely to cause birds to abandon a nest than a crash. That is generally the concern with raptor nests where I live. My thought when reading the article was that off-leash dogs might've had the main impact in abandonment of eggs, but that drones are more likely to make a headline for the story. Couldn't find an original press release, but every news headline is about drones. ^ Here's one encounter with a wedge-tailed eagle. It beat its wings perhaps to make sure it was clear but didn't seem to move its head at all. In other cases, they've not beaten their wings or moved their heads so weren't visibly bothered. https://bit.ly/3uVIvn5 https://bit.ly/3uVIvn5 And here's a whistling kite coming in to attack but then changing its mind at the last moment: https://bit.ly/3vTJ0za https://bit.ly/3vTJ0za

Gene5ive 5y ago

I decided to read the comments on the linked article and got depressed. It's a similar feeling to what Ethan Hawke portrayed in First Reformed. Caring about nature is a lonely and foreboding state of being.

cjensen 5y ago

I'm a birder, so some extra info... On dogs, training and leashes only matter a little. The problem is birds immediately identify a dog as a dangerous predator. They are far less bothered by humans. Birds pay more attention that we might realize. They identify potential threats from much farther away that we do. This leads to them being disturbed even when the casual rule-breaking dog walker thinks "I'm not doing anything wrong." I'm extremely surprised so many birds abandoned their nests permanently. I would have expected only the closest nests to be abandoned. Some people rely on their drones to tell them when they are in a no-fly zone. Terrible idea. Once at Hayward Regional Shoreline, I had to tell a guy that he was potentially creating a problem. I told him the two locations where endangered species can be found and that he should avoid -- and also that he was definitely within the limits of Hayward Regional Airport. He was both contrite and horrified that his drone didn't tell him. They other issue is boundary-pushing. Literally. Give people a space, and many people will act like selfish toddlers and push the boundaries. Sunnyvale Baylands allows drones and it's a great space for them. There is a clearly marked fence they must not go beyond. So of course people constantly violate the fence. The fence is to a marshland with endangered species. Drones can fail, and a drone that falls into the marsh is not retrievable and then what happens to the toxins in the battery?

thatguy0900 5y ago
How do these birds exist in the wild if a single predator sighting causes them to abandon their eggs? Edit: I'm downvoted, so this is a legitimate question. How could it be that these birds have lasted when one predator causes the abandonment of 3000 eggs? Has no predator ever appeared on these islands?
- fallinghawks 5y ago
  It was more than just "a single predator sighting." The article says it was two drones and one of them crashed, which is a lot more dramatic. They didn't say how close the crash was to the nesting birds. And they didn't say how long the drones were flying around and how they were flying around before the birds decided to abandon. We don't know, perhaps they were buzzing the terns at a low altitude, or hovering for a long time in a way that looked like a falcon. There's a big difference between a dangerous looking person passing you by on a busy street, and one that's standing on the sidewalk in front of your house, staring at your window for an hour. Some birds are very neophobic. And some types of birds have less commitment to eggs than chicks -- a new nest and new eggs can be laid, but actual hatched chicks are much harder to abandon. Terns are very social, so a few abandoning their nests might easily lead to a mass exodus.

yuvalr1 5y ago

Did the birds completely abandon the eggs, or there's still a chance they're going to come back? I didn't find it in the article.

rossdavidh 5y ago

Because "3,000 eggs abandoned after dogs scare birds in California", would be a headline that gets much less attention.

psychlops 5y ago
Some evidence of the drone would be a nice addition. Or the construction of the nearby multimillion dollar homes they mention. I'm curious how they narrowed it down to two drone flights.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

lifeisstillgood 5y ago

I am guessing that drones are to birds what a Martian invasion would be to us - suddenly a new species has arrived and is persistent - it can go everywhere birds can go, it has spare energy enough to make aggressive noises constantly and it completely ignores any aggressive actions and attacks made to drive the drone off. It has arrived and taken over the territory completely - so abandon the area. My problem is if my conjecture is true, we basically have to ban drones ... everywhere.

lumberingjack 5y ago
Domesticated cats have completely eradicated several United States bird species nobody called for eradication of cats
- Rovanion 5y ago
  Perhaps they should have?
- mola 5y ago
  Cats are living things which we have a special relationship with, drones are not. Some culture value life more than things, so unsurprisingly it'll be easier to propose a ban things than the eradication of cats.
- zbentley 5y ago
  > nobody called for eradication of cats While "eradication" evokes killing and hostility, many small island communities all over the world which cohabitate with rare and vulnerable bird species do ban or severely restrict the ownership of cats.
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GekkePrutser 5y ago

Poor birds :'( Sad that this happened.

aaron695 5y ago

I guess if a bunch of human believe a 'drone crash' can scare off a huge sanctuary of birds, it's possible a bunch of birds might believe a drone crash is a something something. Originally it was 1,500 eggs, then 2,000 then 3,000. The photo looks under 1000 - https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/heraldextra.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/c/91/c913ac6a-1f94-587b-b7af-129ca77dd301/60ba7c04b85fb.image.jpg?resize=1662%2C1247 https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/heraldextra.com... 800 eggs abandoned is still a story, but if they told the truth of what they know, perhaps the real cause might be easier to see. I'd guess to was 3,000 birds original now it's 3000 eggs. The Gizmodo photo was take in the Bahrain - [1] -https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/06/frightened-terns-abandon-1500-eggs-after-a-rogue-drone-crash-landed-on-nesting-island/ https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2021/06/frightened-terns-abandon-... [2] https://www.gettyimages.com.au/search/2/image?phrase=Fasht+al+Jarim+Island+tern https://www.gettyimages.com.au/search/2/image?phrase=Fasht+a...

ebalvashHNvrot 5y ago
Your downvoters either can't tell a synthetic story from real or are actively working on supporting the ordered narrative.

sizzle 5y ago

Why not put cameras on perimeter and figure out some unhackable protocol for drones to identify themselves once entering these protected geofences. The drone should autopilot away from the geofence via the protocol and it should be some encrypted method that no one can spoof and signed by various agencies protecting wildlife, etc. Thoughts?

swiley 5y ago
My understanding is that larger drones (like any other aircraft) must carry transponders that report a registered call sign. Sure it's "hackable" by lying but that's a crime.

ebalvashHNvrot 5y ago

Ah, the good old narrative about private "drones" posing all kinds of treats to planes, birds, children, privacy of stolen wealth and govporate monopoly on spying and data hoarding!

a94d5dc743 5y ago

I'm baffled how people on HN, ostensibly programmers and other left-hemispherists alike, still believe mainstream media. The conclusion is as follows: there are no genuine commenters left here. Only the agenda implanters, their censoring Sancho Panzas and mindless parrots of their narratives. But I am satisfied to know that truth hurts and downvoters are still stung with it, however high a horse be dragging them.