Commercial-Mining Drones Keep Getting Attacked By Eagles (abc.net.au)

An anonymous reader summarizes an article from ABC News: The world's seventh-biggest gold producer has lost more than nine drones because of eagle attacks. "People couldn't believe I was able to get such a good photo of an eagle airborne," complained surveyor Rick Steven at a conference sponsored by the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. "But I didn't... Another eagle took that photo... I was getting attacked by two eagles simultaneously." The specially-constructed drones carry a $10,000 camera for high-resolution photos and equipment that produces high-detail contour maps of potential mining areas, and so far the company estimates they've lost more than $100,000 worth of technology to eagle attacks. They've tried camouflage -- including disguising the drones as another eagle -- but unfortunately, according to Stevens, the eagle is the "natural enemy" of the drone.
One drone's video is interrupted by the sudden appearance of an eagle, followed almost immediately by footage from the ground by a sideways drone camera. That video -- included in the article -- ends with a reminder that "Eagle attacks on drones have been documented across the world, to the point where some European police forces are now training them to take down unauthorized aircraft."

Comments

What about the eagles?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm only worried about them and don't give a shit about the drones. Can they get hurt by the attacks?

Re:Zap

[Ol Olsoc]

No, but sharpening the propeller blades will take care of the problem. Buy your props from Ginsu.

I love drones, but do not fuck with the eagles. I love them better.

Excellent

[iggymanz]

No worries about getting in trouble using a gun against damn drones over your property, just take up falconry or have a sympathetic neighbor who does

The eagles are right

[Required Snark]

The eagles attack the drones because they are defending their territory. In this case the intruders are "commercial mining" interests. If the miners find anything they will inevitably destroy the local ecology and the eagles will suffer a great population loss or even be wiped out in the mining area. So the eagles are doing the right thing by making it harder for land exploitation businesses to destroy their homes.

I'm on the side of the eagles on this one.

Re:The eagles are right

[Required Snark]

Wow, you have real anger issues. Calm down.

No where did I imply that the eagles were consciously recognizing that their future as a species was endangered. I was pointing out that their natural instinct to defend their turf happened to impede intrusion from humans as well as their natural opponents, other birds.

As for "human needs", given that this is Australia it's very likely that these are going to be huge mining operations that alter the landscape radically by moving cubic kilometers of rock. The easy picking are gone when it comes to minerals, so that is what happens in most of the world these days.

After this kind of mining the landscape is so torn up that there is not much left for any form of life after the mines are closed. That includes humans. Just look at the mountain removal for coal in the US Appalachians. They leave a shattered toxic landscape where the locals are stuck with horrible pollution.

Even without open pit or removing entire mountains there can be serious environmental consequences for more traditional mines. Take the toxic discharge from the Gold King Mine mine in Colorado. Abandoned since 1924, it had been filling with acidic water with high heavy metal concentrations. In 2015 it burst open during an attempt by the EPA to clean up the sight. Significant amounts of toxic water spread downstream into New Mexico affecting Navajo lands where people subsist of locally grown produce and sheep herding. They depend on the river water for their livelihood.

So when you talk about human need, are you including or excluding the people who have to live where the mining happens? Do the Navajo count? Do the people of Appalachia count? What about the people in Oklahoma who are experiencing earthquakes for the first time in their lives? Remember that a lot of time when the word "need" is used, the real word is "greed".

Respect the pecking order. Don't fly above them

[NetFusion]

After flying RC planes/helicopters/quads for decades you learn that flying above a bird of prey is considered an aggressive dominating move and they will almost always counter to defend their territory and reestablish dominance. If you fly below them like the other smaller birds they consider you prey and rarely attack because you are not their familiar favorite meal.

Ever since I was a kid...

[sootman]

... I've hated this retarded construction: "More than" + some weird number -- high, specific, not round.

"The world's seventh-biggest gold producer has lost more than nine drones because of eagle attacks."

So... ten drones, then?

I just heard "over 46" somethings earlier tonight. That would be 47, I suppose?