We are excited to share the new publication in Journal of Applied Ecology: “Drone-induced flight initiation distances for shorebirds in mixed-species flocks”.

In this study led by Joshua Wilson, a PhD student suvervised by Prof Richard Fuller and Dr Tatsuya Amano, we showed that Eastern Curlew is highly sensitive to drone approach, while other waterbirds are unlikely disturbed if approached at > 60m in height. We also found that flight initiation of mixed-species flocks is largely dictated by the most sensitive species present (Eastern Curlew in our case), and that disturbance generally increases with approach velocity, drone noise/size, decreasing distance, and if the drone is obscured by trees.

Read the paper here and The Conversation piece with some video.