Drone scared off more than 60 protected birds from wintertime roost at SLO park
A hushed group of bird watchers adjusted their binoculars against the setting sun as a flock of white-tailed kites swooped around their communal roost in a San Luis Obispo park last month.
The Morro Coast Audubon Society counted about 64 birds roosting in sycamore trees at the edge of Meadow Park this fall — many more than the 30 to 40 who roosted in the park last year, Morro Coast Audubon Society member Brian O’Kelly said.
“It was pretty amazing,” he said, but the spectacle was short-lived.
Normally, the kites stay in their wintertime roost until the middle of November or even December. But on Oct. 24, a drone burst through the flock at dusk — sending the birds into a frenzied flight away from their roost.
“The birds just scattered,” he said. “In a matter of minutes, all 60 birds were gone.”
Members of the birding society scoured the park for white-tailed kites minutes after the incident, but the birds were gone.
White-tailed kites are small, deft birds of prey that appear to hover in the air when they glide on the wind with their wings open like a kite. They are migratory, social birds known for roosting in groups during the winter.
They are mostly white with gray feathers on their wings and distinctive black coloring around their eyes.
The kites had been building their roost in Meadow Park for about two and a half weeks, O’Kelly said.
“Every day their numbers were building,” he said. “One minute of drone activity chased them off and they had to go find another safe place.”
White-tailed kites are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so O’Kelly reported the incident to the city of San Luis Obispo, he said.
“I’m disappointed that it happened,” he said. “What we do really does affect the wildlife in ways we don’t expect it to.”
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the incident but declined to comment.
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Baby white-tailed kites die of injuries
The drone wasn’t the end of the plight of San Luis Obispo’s white-tailed kites.
Pacific Wildlife Care rescued two injured fledgling white-tailed kites near Meadow Park last month, one on Oct. 28 and the other on Oct. 29, agency executive director Kristin Howland said.
One baby bird suffered puncture wounds, and the other had a wound on the right side of its neck, she said.
Pacific Wildlife Care gave the birds medication and cleaned their wounds, but they died of their injuries within 24 hours of rescue, Howland said.
Pacific Wildlife Care did not know whether the birds’ injuries were related to the drone incident — but Howland cautioned against using drones near wildlife.
“Drone activity can be incredibly dangerous to all wildlife. It can displace them. It can force potentially abandonment of a nest,” Howland said. “We just need to learn how to respect and live with wildlife.”
