They had laid their eggs watching them waiting for them to hatch. But a drone scared them and they abandoned the eggs
They used to return to the island of Bolsa Chica to nest. So they did this year too, when at the beginning of June, they took refuge in this precious wetland. They had laid their eggs watching them waiting for them to hatch. But a drone scared them to the point of forcing the birds to abandon their young.
We are in the Huntington Beach Ecological Reserve, in the US where 2.000 elegant tern eggs were recently abandoned after a drone, banned in the area, crashed and scared the birds.
At the beginning of June each year, Huntington Beach's largest nesting island in the Bolsa Chica wetlands transforms into a white expanse with elegant terns overseeing their eggs. This year, on May 13, two drones flew over the area, which is absolutely forbidden. One, however, crashed to the ground, perhaps due to a breakdown. Convinced that it was the attack of a predator, the terns fled frightened, abandoning thousands of eggs, never returning.
Peter Knapp, who has been monitoring endangered and threatened birds on the reserve for more than 20 years, had never seen such large-scale abandonment, according to reserve manager Melissa Loebel.
Nick Molsberry, director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, explained that drones have become an ongoing problem in wetlands - a problem not seen on other state lands in Orange County because they lack such visible nesting areas. .
Is absurd. Drone owners are drawn to the nesting colonies of birds, and then their actions destroy it.
But it is an illegal activity that disturbs the birds. With the pandemic that has led to more and more numbers towards isolated outdoor spaces, last year the Reserve was visited by about 100.000 visitors, almost double compared to about 60.000 the previous year. This has contributed not only to increased drone activity, but also to more dogs and bicycles on the trails, all of which are illegal.
The May 13 drone that crashed on Tern Island has not been claimed, although Molsberry said he plans to examine the memory card to try to determine who the owner is.
Sources of reference: OCR
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