Oystercatchers are waging war on NYC's beach drones

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-drones-shorebirds-beach-safety-c2cbfb6ca03f771082ff57a28701f915

by mikece • 2 years ago

62 63 2 years ago

apnews.com

h2odragon• 2 years ago

don't think I have ever met a calm, rational, reasonable seagull.

klyrs• 2 years ago

Next time, use your towel.

rkagerer• 2 years ago

But they aren't seagulls, they're endangered American oystercatchers.

bwestergard2• 2 years ago

Right, not gulls at all. Also, "seagull" is not an ornithologically useful term.

peanut_worm4• 2 years ago

Yeah I have heard lots of birders say that but its just a synonym for “gull”, I don’t see why its bad. They mostly live by the sea, seems fitting to me.

dang2• 2 years ago

Ok. we've replaced seagulls with oystercatchers in the title above. Thanks!

averageRoyalty2• 2 years ago

I'm glad it's more accurate, but now I'm disappointed. The title has me picturing people in wetsuits with harpoons rising from the water and spearing drones out of the sky!

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

Now the title reads like angry fisherman are fighting them. Why even editorialize the source headline?

peanut_worm4• 2 years ago

Oystercatchers aren’t endangered, they are pretty common. You can find them on any beach on the east coast pretty much.

AnimalMuppet• 2 years ago

Updated: They're not actually seagulls. They're oystercatchers.

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.

kirubakaran• 2 years ago

are not, in fact, seagulls

Journalists are known to be gullible

taneq2• 2 years ago

Boys or gulls, them's smashing pidgeons.

nicwolff• 2 years ago

Link to actual AP article instead of Gizmodo ad-bait:

https://apnews.com/article/new-york-drones-shorebirds-beach-...

and, nominative determinism fans, don't miss "said David Bird, a professor of wildlife biology at McGill University"

dang2• 2 years ago

Thanks! Url changed from https://gizmodo.com/very-annoyed-seagulls-are-waging-war-on-....

ilamont• 2 years ago

Seagulls are underrated IMHO:

* Very good at soaring, expending little energy compared to ducks and other waterbirds.

* Can take off near vertically from water or land, without requiring a long runway like cormorants.

* Highly intelligent including tool use (https://susancunninghambooks.com/blog/2018/8/23/the-secret-l...)

* They will eat almost anything and will employ different techniques from hunting for live prey to opportunistic filching of dead fish and other animals' food.

* They have an enourmous range and are very adaptable. One South American species nests in a waterless desert and brings water and food from the ocean to its young, a distance of up to 100km. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331083/)

* Lifespan of many decades

JohnMakin• 2 years ago

Anecdotally, I'm pretty sure they keep a long memory and can recognize people like corvids are known to do - I used to work near the beach, and a particular seagull would fly up to me, and only me, for a period of about 2 years because I would give him food scraps. Never did it for any of my other coworkers. Was always amazed by that.

Dunati• 2 years ago

One of my co-workers gave a seagull a tortilla one day (out the 5th floor window), and it ended up being our unofficial office mascot for years.

nashashmi• 2 years ago

they are not seagulls. Link has an update at the end. AP news says they are American oystercatchers

peanut_worm4• 2 years ago

Most people seem surprised to learn they live for 30+ years

I saw a Kittiwake gull in Florida once and then the same year visited their nesting grounds in Iceland. I can’t believe such a tiny little bird can fly that far and survive. That being said the one in Florida was probably lost lol

taneq2• 2 years ago

If only we could convince them to drop inflatable life rafts on drowning swimmers... ;)

kwhitefoot• 2 years ago

I hope the birds win.

banish-m42• 2 years ago

While tech advances are cool, I secretly do too. Like Mother Nature's vengeance and reminder that technology isn't invulnerable. Now if critters could just disable Russian tanks, the circle would be complete.

jimnotgym• 2 years ago

Could one train birds to be an anti drone defence, perhaps?

inasio• 2 years ago

See Neal Stephenson's latest, Termination Shock. Eagles trained for drone hunting, with 3D-printed claw protections

nozzlegear• 2 years ago

An excellent book, and exactly what I was thinking of as well.

i_am_jl• 2 years ago

Some police forces in the Netherlands were working with anti-drone eagles years ago, though with modern drones I'd be concerned about the eagles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00szWWrTNnE

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

Maybe hire a falcon will be a service before long

banish-m42• 2 years ago

Birds of prey would probably be better at it and more trainable. I've see way more videos of hawks taking out drones than shore birds.

averageRoyalty2• 2 years ago

the city struggles to hire lifeguards to staff its beaches

They don't go into detail, but surely a fleet of drones with life raft deployment capability is a lot more expensive than just hiring more lifeguards?

I suspect if they put the drone budget into lifeguard pay, they'd find quickly they no longer have a problem recruiting.

throwup238• 2 years ago

Where are they going to find them? Ocean lifeguarding isn't an easy certification that any kid can do out of high school like the Red Cross pool lifeguard stuff.

Most of the people who have it live on the West coast or down south in Florida, where most of the training programs are. Why would they move up to NYC where the weather sucks, they can only work half the year, and the cost of living is through the roof?

throwway1203852• 2 years ago

Because the city would presumably be paying them a living wage for a full year's work.

blululu• 2 years ago

New York City has no trouble staffing a great number of niche specialists. Somehow the parks department can find FAA licensed drone operators, but they are unable to find some lifeguards? And the issue is not just ocean lifeguard certification. The city also has a shortage of lifeguards for their pools which now need to operate at ~30% capacity during the summer.

The issues fall with the lifeguard union combined with absurd legal/safety requirements combined with rampant mismanagement. Frankly it is pretty upsetting to go to the beach in Far Rockaway, where you must be corralled into the one jetty that has all the lifeguards (spaced about 50 feet apart). The parks department of course has resources to deploys people with whistles to walk up the beach and yell at anyone getting too close to the water.

Lariscus• 2 years ago

But that sounds boring and reasonable. Who cares that the whole project costs a lot, is apparently wildlife endangering, and has dubious benefits. Drones go brrrr, look like fancy future tech and I can put it in my CV to impress my next employer.

fragmede• 2 years ago

That "brrr" sound is from the rotors which allow a drone to fly around like a goddamn magic wizard floating eyeball spell. I don't know about you, but I can't levitate over the water and fly over the beach at 25+ mph. If you could do that, you'd have one helluva CV with which to impress an employer and wouldn't need be all jealous about it.

crazygringo7• 2 years ago

Is it more expensive?

Hiring lots more lifeguards for an entire summer is seriously expensive.

I'm having a hard time imagining how a couple of drone operators plus the drones is more expensive than, say, 20 more lifeguards.

Not to mention the drones do things that lifeguards can't do, like search operations and shark detection.

righthand2• 2 years ago

Because the program is run by the NYPD, so already high cost. Who purchase the drones from some contractor at most likely elevated cost. This doesn’t account for all the training costs on specialized equipment.

Hiring life guards for a few months is a drop in the bucket that has proven more results than drones dropping a raft operated by an organization that doesn’t even teach CPR.

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

I would think a drone operator and service contracts are a lot more expensive than a lifeguards hourly

kimixa2• 2 years ago

Effective life guards often need to be well trained and physically selective, and observant and not distracted over a pretty long time. Hiring untrained, minimum wage teenagers may tick the box of "Has life guard", but not necessarily "/Effective/ life guard"

So, is it really cheaper to "just get more effective life guards?"

RecycledEle• 2 years ago

I suspect if they put the drone budget into lifeguard pay, they'd find quickly they no longer have a problem recruiting.

The problem may be Management-Class people who think it is unethical to pay above the bottom quartile in pay or to accept less than the top quartile in talent.

I believe the Management-Class is the cause of most of our problems.

I define Management-Class as people who yell at and fire people whose jobs they could never do.

freitzkriesler2• 2 years ago

I hate quadcopter drones like you wouldn't believe. They're so annoying and invasive. I'm glad the birds are pushing back at least.

peanut_worm4• 2 years ago

Drones are one of the worst things to happen to birdwatching

blackeyeblitzar• 2 years ago

I cannot stand it when people bring drones to what are supposed to be quiet, natural spaces. I see people flying them in parks all the time now. That buzz is very annoying on its own. But I also just do not like the idea that someone may be spying on me or members of my family. It just feels extra predatory when there are children under their cameras.

I also don’t get why there is no enforcement, although I am guessing it comes down to mundane things like the politics of funding. I recently saw someone flying a drone at a ferry terminal. There are several signs saying that flying drones in the area is illegal per federal law (which was news to me). But it doesn’t matter when there is no one to enforce these laws - they might as well not exist. And as a private citizen, I always find it awkward to call people out on anything - whether it is a drone, or an off-leash dog, or whatever. Forget the awkwardness, some people can be aggressive. I want to be able to rely on public officers to enforce the law.

crazygringo7• 2 years ago

These are public beaches for recreation.

And the drones aren't being flown by beachgoers, but by the city for public safety -- looking for sharks and swimmers that are too far out.

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

The entire article is about the potentially deleterious effect they are having on local birds. Right now its understudied and evidently not been used for rescues which puts the entire program into question.

JohnFen• 2 years ago

Yes, the sound of drones is very hard to tolerate.

On the plus side, maybe the drones at the beach increase safety by discouraging people from going there.

karaterobot• 2 years ago

If they don't have enough lifeguards on duty, how are the drones supposed to work? They find a person drowning, then communicate that to a life guard who is so far away they can't do anything about it? I get how they could spot sharks in the area and send a signal that can be followed up on, but a person drowning is a pretty time-sensitive situation, so if you don't have someone on hand, what do you do about it?

crazygringo7• 2 years ago

It explains in the article, it drops an inflatable raft.

And then lifeguards have vehicles to get there as well. They're not limited to running on foot.

kjkjadksj5• 2 years ago

How does a raft administer cpr?

elzbardico• 2 years ago

My hearth is with the seagulls here. Hope they develop a hatred towards blueetooth speakers too.

Oystercatchers are waging war on NYC's beach drones

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