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How do drones affect animals and birds?
Drone pilots have to comply with a number of rules and guidelines to avoid disturbing people and animals. But they still lack effective tools to help them do so.
This summer, Norwegian news outlets have reported multiple stories about residents of Lofoten shooting at drones out of sheer frustration.
But not everyone who is exposed to approaching drones has a gun with which to defend themselves.
“There have been reports of numerous examples of birds of prey that attack drones when they feel threatened. When we are out and capturing data, we often observe that the drones quickly attract a lot of attention from the birdlife in the surrounding area,” says engineer and researcher Ken Hellerud.
It’s also well documented that drones can drive nesting birds away from their nests. There is therefore little doubt that flying drones can be a potential source of wildlife disturbance, the researcher believes.
However, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) reports that drone use allows researchers to survey seabirds in a far less disruptive way than before.
This is possible because NINA’s drone pilots have in-depth knowledge of the wildlife in the areas where they fly and a solid understanding of the behaviour of different species.
“We will be able to create tools with our framework that give drone pilots a lot of this knowledge in real time,” says Hellerud.
Guidelines are too general
Today, drones are routinely used in everything from agriculture and forest management to infrastructure inspections.
About 457,000 Norwegians own one or more drones.
“These drone uses have given us good guidelines for avoiding human and material damage. But how best to ensure ecological safety is still unclear,” Hellerud says.
Flying drones is, admittedly, prohibited in many protected areas. And outside protected areas, the rules state that pilots must 'ensure that drone flying does not cause disturbances to birds or wildlife in the area you are flying.'
But how they are supposed to ensure this in practice is far from clear.
Large differences between species
A lot of vulnerable ecosystems are currently protected from drones through static and somewhat arbitrary safety zones, the researcher explains.
"But the extent to which you disturb the environment as a drone pilot actually depends on everything from what kind of drone you are flying to which species are in the area and how they react to your flight pattern,” says Hellerud.
Research shows, for example, that while common eider ducks do not react significantly to a drone passing at a height of 30 metres, king penguins experience a significant increase in heart rate.
Different species also respond very differently to the way a drone is flown.
“How the drone moves in relation to an animal makes a big difference. Does it approach from below, from above, or at the same height? The capercaillie, which spends a lot of time on the ground, will react very differently to a certain flight pattern than smaller migratory birds and birds of prey,” the researcher explains.
Hellerud also highlights the size of the drone, how much noise it produces, and the frequency range of that noise as relevant factors.
From fragmented research to comprehensive knowledge
“A lot of research has already been done on these topics. The only problem is that the research tends to address the various factors in isolation,” says Hellerud.
In other words, little research is available on the connection between what type of drone you fly, the way you fly, how animals respond at the individual level, and what ecological consequences drone traffic may have in the long term.
And that becomes problematic when your goal is to simulate the potential environmental impacts of drone flying digitally, explains Lizhen Huang.
She is a professor at NTNU’s Department of Manufacturing and Civil Engineering. Huang supervises Hellerud’s research, which is ultimately intended to result in a simulation tool for drone pilots.
“In order to simulate something, you first need to know what to simulate. The framework we’ve developed allows us to synthesise existing knowledge and in many ways answers that question,” says Huang.
In short, the framework makes it possible to translate ecological knowledge into concrete technical data. Engineers can then use these data directly when developing algorithms and simulation technology for drone flying.
Not all drones are the same
One possible application for such simulation tools is to integrate them into an interactive map. This would make it easier for drone pilots to become thoroughly familiar with the areas in which they intend to fly.
“We imagine a dynamic map that is continuously updated according to the likelihood of finding different species in a given area at different times of the year. The map will also be able to tell you about the way you should fly, whether it is nesting time, or other conditions that mean you should exercise special care,” says Hellerud.
With this service, you will also be able to specify which drone you are using, so that the guidelines can be adapted to your specific model.
Because a drone is not just a drone.
“In agriculture, we now have drones with a load capacity of up to 100 kilograms. It goes without saying that such a machine will affect the surroundings completely differently than the small drones that you often see private individuals flying around. We’re talking about a soundscape that is more similar to that of a helicopter,” says the researcher.
Initially, the tool is intended for the forestry and agricultural industry. However, the researchers see nothing to prevent it also eventually becoming available to private individuals.
In this way, drone tourists in Lofoten may finally be able to navigate nature in a way that does not challenge either the bird life or local patience.
Reference:
Hellerud, K. & Huang, L. Factors–Responses–Consequences Framework for Assessing Wildlife Impacts of Uncrewed Aerial Systems: A Systematic Review, Drones, 2026. DOI: 10.3390/drones10040298
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Read the Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no
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