Drone crashes into Bald Eagle nest

[dan2112]

Would be very sad if this turns out to be true.

Drone crashes into bald eagles nest in East Bay park tree

Park district and state officials are investigating to determine if an eaglet was harmed in the crash, a park spokesperson said.

www.mercurynews.com

 

[Marcass Carcass]

If its true, just another instance of moron giving peeps bad PR who would NEVER even get close to something like that...WHY????

 

[dirkclod]

Did I miss something here, I didn’t see nothing to prove that story ?‍

 

[DoomMeister]

Parts of a drone does not equate to a crashed drone. The area is in Class G airspace and no wildlife protection zone or sanctuary. There is National Park land north and east of the area, but the story refers to Half Moon Bay.

This is another sensationalist news story that has no basis in fact, as the naturalists have not even confirmed if there is a crashed drone or just pieces, nor confirmation of eggs or eaglets.

I really don’t understand members posting links to half baked news stories that draw more bad attention to us. I have no issue with true factual reporting, but this type of story is ridiculous.

 

[BigAl07]

IF there was a UAS to Eagles Nest incident I HOPE that any parts in the nest contain a Reg# or at least a traceable serial #. IF this has any truth I hope they locate and FULLY prosecute the offender on every level possible and make an example of him/her.

I'm curious how they know of "pieces of the drone in the nest" but don't know of Eaglets etc.

 

[dirkclod]

Had to have flew a drone up there to look ?
Welcome to the forum @dan2112 and sorry we have doubts
about your article but we see so many stories that are like that
with nothing but a clickbait article with no proof.

 

[Marcass Carcass]

The eagle could of, theoretically, picked up some crashed drone pieces to construct nest...?

 

[neggy]

I have exactly ONE flight near a known (famous) Eagles nest, post hurricane in 2017.... nobody knew if the nest survived and I went to take a look and found it did survive the storm.

It is probably my shortest flight on record as nobody was sure where the Eagles were that inhabited the nest and it was the time of year where they would have returned to start "nestorations" in preparation for laying eggs.

Flying near an active nest might get you a nasty-gram from the FAA, disturbing an Eagle gets you involved with another alphabet agency with the power to really make your life miserable.

 

[dan2112]

Had to have flew a drone up there to look ?
Welcome to the forum @dan2112 and sorry we have doubts
about your article but we see so many stories that are like that
with nothing but a clickbait article with no proof.

Yes the article is a little short of "facts" - the local TV news has picked up the story so I was looking for it in print also. There are a lot of ifs - I did say "If found true" since there was no real proof yet other than local pilling on saying drones are all over that area. I think harassing wildlife is illegal regardless of wherever you fly - it's just not worth it.

 

[dan2112]

Parts of a drone does not equate to a crashed drone. The area is in Class G airspace and no wildlife protection zone or sanctuary. There is National Park land north and east of the area, but the story refers to Half Moon Bay.

This is another sensationalist news story that has no basis in fact, as the naturalists have not even confirmed if there is a crashed drone or just pieces, nor confirmation of eggs or eaglets.

I really don’t understand members posting links to half baked news stories that draw more bad attention to us. I have no issue with true factual reporting, but this type of story is ridiculous. View attachment 128304

The park is in Fremont, CA not Half Moon Bay, and yes it is in class G airspace, but harassing/harming federally protected wildlife is sure fire way to get fined, arrested even if you are flying legally in the airspace.

Yes I agree these stories tend to be hyped and there is no proof the drone flew into the nest or if the parents collected it and added them to the nest.

 

[sar104]

Parts of a drone does not equate to a crashed drone. The area is in Class G airspace and no wildlife protection zone or sanctuary. There is National Park land north and east of the area, but the story refers to Half Moon Bay.

This is another sensationalist news story that has no basis in fact, as the naturalists have not even confirmed if there is a crashed drone or just pieces, nor confirmation of eggs or eaglets.

I really don’t understand members posting links to half baked news stories that draw more bad attention to us. I have no issue with true factual reporting, but this type of story is ridiculous. View attachment 128304

Yes - but if the substance of the report, namely that East Bay Regional Park District officials and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating this incident, is true, then it constitutes factual reporting. Just because it's an uncomfortable topic for the sUAS community, or that there may be other explanations for the event, does not make it ridiculous.

 

[DoomMeister]

Yes - but if the substance of the report, namely that East Bay Regional Park District officials and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating this incident, is true, then it constitutes factual reporting. Just because it's an uncomfortable topic for the sUAS community, or that there may be other explanations for the event, does not make it ridiculous.

I agree with the investigation portion, but the speculation on the part of the reporter is still hard to swallow.

Don’t get me wrong, if this turns out to be what is suspected the responsible party should be tried and punished if found guilty. On the other hand, the press uses drones to stir up a lot misinformation which ends up making drone users look like a bunch of idiots.

I wonder how many of these same neighborhood residents ride their quads and dirt bikes through the same area disturbing more than one possible eagle nest. Eagles establish territories and do not necessarily use the same nest site year after year.

 

[sar104]

I agree with the investigation portion, but the speculation on the part of the reporter is still hard to swallow.

Don’t get me wrong, if this turns out to be what is suspected the responsible party should be tried and punished if found guilty. On the other hand, the press uses drones to stir up a lot misinformation which ends up making drone users look like a bunch of idiots.

I wonder how many of these same neighborhood residents ride their quads and dirt bikes through the same area disturbing more than one possible eagle nest. Eagles establish territories and do not necessarily use the same nest site year after year.

I don't see any speculation by the reporter at all in that article. What are you referring to?

If there was a drone, or drone parts, in the nest, then I wouldn't be surprised if one of the birds brought it home as a trophy, magpie style, although I don't know if eagles typically exhibit that kind of behavior.

 

[dan2112]

I agree with the investigation portion, but the speculation on the part of the reporter is still hard to swallow.

Don’t get me wrong, if this turns out to be what is suspected the responsible party should be tried and punished if found guilty. On the other hand, the press uses drones to stir up a lot misinformation which ends up making drone users look like a bunch of idiots.

I wonder how many of these same neighborhood residents ride their quads and dirt bikes through the same area disturbing more than one possible eagle nest. Eagles establish territories and do not necessarily use the same nest site year after year.

I did send an email to the author of the article citing many of the issues with the "facts" in the article.

 

[CactusJackSlade]

Parts of a drone does not equate to a crashed drone. The area is in Class G airspace and no wildlife protection zone or sanctuary. There is National Park land north and east of the area, but the story refers to Half Moon Bay.

This is another sensationalist news story that has no basis in fact, as the naturalists have not even confirmed if there is a crashed drone or just pieces, nor confirmation of eggs or eaglets.

I really don’t understand members posting links to half baked news stories that draw more bad attention to us. I have no issue with true factual reporting, but this type of story is ridiculous. View attachment 128304

Just FYI Bald Eagles are a protected species. It does not matter if in a sanctuary, National Park or whatever, location has zero to do with it. If they were nesting on your personal property, they are still protected. If the parts inside the nest are indeed drone parts I would consider that pretty good evidence. I do not consider this sensationalized.... at this point.

 

[neggy]

The only things Eagles bring to the nest are materials to construct it, materials to repair it, materials for the eggs/babies to lay in, and food.

I have spent hundreds of hours over the last 9 years watching an Eagles nest that is covered by really good video cameras and going to the nest area and photographing them from the ground.

When the cameras are up and running there are always people watching them, and never have I seen any mention of extraneous materials being brought to the nest.... the closest to one was a stuffed squirrel toy that was brought home by Dad one afternoon.

 

[sar104]

The only things Eagles bring to the nest are materials to construct it, materials to repair it, materials for the eggs/babies to lay in, and food.

I have spent hundreds of hours over the last 9 years watching an Eagles nest that is covered by really good video cameras and going to the nest area and photographing them from the ground.

When the cameras are up and running there are always people watching them, and never have I seen any mention of extraneous materials being brought to the nest.... the closest to one was a stuffed squirrel toy that was brought home by Dad one afternoon.

View attachment 128315

So you think it's unlikely that they might bring an item like a drone. I wondered if they might have seen it flying and thought it was some kind of prey, or threat to be dealt with. A classic case of anthropomorphism on my part, probably.

 

[dan2112]

So you think it's unlikely that they might bring an item like a drone. I wondered if they might have seen it flying and thought it was some kind of prey, or threat to be dealt with. A classic case of anthropomorphism on my part, probably.

I was wondering the same thing also - the bird attacked the drone and brought it back to the nest. But you would expect it would have hurt the parent too if the hatchling was indeed injured / killed by it. The fact both parents are ok and unhurt and eagles are not known to collect shiny objects tends to lend credence to the story.

I hope they can learn the truth and find out if it did actually crash into the nest and find who did it. With nests like these in urban areas it almost should be monitored with ground based cameras - just to keep the idiots away. They do that with falcon nests in the city and it is big news when eggs hatch.

 

[DoomMeister]

I don't see any speculation by the reporter at all in that article. What are you referring to?

If there was a drone, or drone parts, in the nest, then I wouldn't be surprised if one of the birds brought it home as a trophy, magpie style, although I don't know if eagles typically exhibit that kind of behavior.

Reporting as a drone crashed into the nest, instead of just reporting that drone parts are visible.

 

[DoomMeister]

Just FYI Bald Eagles are a protected species. It does not matter if in a sanctuary, National Park or whatever, location has zero to do with it. If they were nesting on your personal property, they are still protected. If the parts inside the nest are indeed drone parts I would consider that pretty good evidence. I do not consider this sensationalized.... at this point.

I realize that they are protected and do not require a sanctuary, but it is Class G airspace and I don’t know of any law that prevents flying in their territory which is quite large. I do agree that a nesting pair should not be disturbed.

Trust me when I say that they are not the regal birds most equate them to be. I have seen them steal food from other birds instead of doing their own hunting. I witnessed one take a fish from the beak of a Great Blue Heron and another chase off a flock of turkey buzzards from a carcass.