Track down meadow bird nests with 6 drones

This spring, six drones will be launched to detect nests of meadow birds. That is not cheap, but the drones can fly many hectares in a short time and determine nest positions very accurately. In addition, the birds are not disturbed in this way.

Project Meadow Bird Drone is a collaboration between Landscape Overijssel, Brandhof Nature & Countryside and Clear Flight Solutions. Over the past two years, research has been conducted into whether drone technology can help detect bird nests. This is now done by volunteers and farmers. In total there are 90.000 nests of black-tailed godwits, lapwings and oystercatchers. It is estimated that only twenty percent of the total number of nests.

The project will start with six drones this spring, writes drone watch† However, it remains an experiment. One drone can scan between 30 and 40 hectares per hour. It is equipped with a thermal imaging camera for this. The eggs are warmer than the environment due to incubation, so you can easily track them down. Special software filters molehills and mice from the image.

The advantages of the drone are that it is less disruptive to the birds, the location can be determined more accurately and it can be stored in a national database. It is not cheap with 25.000 euros per drone. Earnings should primarily come from time savings. The first drones will take to the air from April.

The agricultural sector has asked whether it is possible to send the GPS coordinates of each nest to the tractor's GPS system. During mowing, an automatic warning can then be given. In addition to meadow birds, drones with thermal cameras are also used to track down fawns in the grass.

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