Do Oystercatchers hate drones? A comparison of flight initiation distances of four wader species in response to drone intrusion

Knowledge of the size of breeding populations is fundamental for assessing the status of bird species, which allows population trends, a prerequisite for any conservation initiative, to be measured. Recently, the use of drones has been shown to reduce disturbance to breeding birds in comparison to ground-based methods in many species of waterbirds during census activities. However, Eurasian Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus have been reported to be adversely affected by drones. The present study compared drone-derived disturbance to Oystercatchers to that from ground researchers, describing a greater reaction to drones for this species than three other breeding wader species.