Here are 8 tips on how to avoid disturbing wildlife with your drone, when capturing landscape and wildlife video and photos. But before I get to the tips, let’s review why it’s important not to disturb wildlife, when out hiking or backpacking with your drone.
Related: If you want to see what I think is the best drone for hiking and backpacking, and least likely to disturb wildlife, click the link to get to the article.
Importance of minimizing wildlife disturbance
It’s important to minimize disturbing the local wildlife when operating your drone. Not only can it cause immediate stress to the animals in your operating area, causing fight, flight or freeze reactions. But it can cause permanent changes to how they interact with areas of shelter, feeding, and breeding, or other avoidance behaviors that can put them, and their young, at risk of reduced survival.
This is especially the case with nesting birds, who may perceive the drone to be a predator that has entered their area. Fight or flight behaviors in other animals may also result in the temporary abandonment of their young, leaving them susceptible to predators.
At any rate, you’re not practicing ‘leave no trace’ philosophy, if you’re permanently altering the behavior of wildlife.
Animals may not show their stress outwardly
It should also be noted that in some cases, an animal can become stressed from the presence of your drone, but not show any outer reaction to communicate that stress. And the last thing you want to do is agitate a large predator in your immediate area, and not even know that you’ve done so. Such creates a safety issue for both you, and others in the area.
Large land mammals are more disturbed by the sound of the drone, than its visual presence
Another thing to keep in mind, is that larger land mammals react more to the sound of your drone, than to the visual aspect of it. This was discovered and documented by Geison Pires Mesquita, Margarita Mulero-Pázmány, Serge A. Wich, and José Domingo RodrÃguez-Teijeiro, authors of the journal article, Terrestrial Megafauna Response to Drone Noise Levels in Ex Situ Areas, in the journal, Drones, 2022.
I will talk more about this in the tips section below.
Disturbed animals are less photogenic
Your videos or photos will be a lot higher quality if you are able to capture wildlife in its natural state. A bear fishing in a stream, or a coyote or bobcat pouncing on the ground, trying to rouse out a small mammal for dinner, is a lot more interesting of a story, than these animals fleeing the site, where you only capture a few seconds of them.
With these ideas in mind, let’s check out the tips for minimizing your impact on the ecosystem your filming in.
Be aware of any animals in the vicinity and do not launch within a few hundred feet of them
If you’re able to capture wildlife on your camera or phone, then unless you have a telephoto lens, you probably shouldn’t be launching your drone. Just continue to grab your footage, quietly with your camera.
This is especially true for birds, and more so, nesting birds, as explained above.
I actually have a photo of a red shouldered hawk, with a dead snake under one of its talons, perched in a tree. And I was relatively close to the hawk when I grabbed the shot. Ain’t no way a drone could have been as close as I was, without the raptor fleeing.
Further, spacial ecologist Jarrod Hodgson, who is an expert on drone impacts on wildlife, states that your launch and recovery sites should be out of sight of animals when possible.
Particular attention should be given to siting launch and recovery sites away from animals (out of sight if possible) and maintaining a reasonable distance from animals at all times during flight.
Best practice for minimizing unmanned aerial vehicle disturbance to wildlife in biological field research, Jarrod Hodgson
Do not fly during breeding season
Scaring animals away is one thing. Scaring them away from their mating ground could have dire population effects, regarding their next generation. And that could be compounded if a particular species is endangered.
In my area, in Southern California, the mule deer’s peak breeding season is in November and December. The males will grow antlers and fight it out for the right to reproduce. It would not be a good idea to disturb this ritual, or be intent on shooting mating footage.
Again Jarrod Hodgson recommends a light touch in lieu of evidence on how a drone might alter an animal’s behavior.
When researchers cannot make informed decisions about minimum wildlife disturbance flight practices for their environment or study species, they should exercise caution, particularly if endangered species or ecologically sensitive habitats are involved.
Best practice for minimizing unmanned aerial vehicle disturbance to wildlife in biological field research, Jarrod Hodgson
Use only small, quiet drones, that do not look like raptors
In the animal world, the size of a counter party can have an impact on an animal’s perception of its threat level. For example if a mountain lion starts looking at you like it’s going to attack, you better make yourself look as big and threatening as possible. Thus it’s rational to conclude that the smaller the drone in an animal’s habitat, the less of a concern it may be.
And as I mentioned earlier, large mammals are more concerned with the sound of your drone, than its physical presence. It might sound like a swarm of stinging wasps or bees. Not something I’d be willing to stick around to find out for sure!
The DJI Mini 2 is know for being a relatively quiet drone in its class. Near field testing puts it at around 64 decibels, or about the same ‘loudness’ as a human talking. Plus it’s got a light white exterior, which is less likely to resemble the colors of an eagle or a hawk. Its size is smaller than a lot of raptors too. Thus it could be a good contender for the hiker or backpacker looking to grab some footage of their trip.
It’s possible that a camouflage painted drone might be less impactful on wildlife, especially if it’s flown far enough away that the acoustic annoyance is less of a problem.
Keep flights short as possible but stay at the highest altitude possible
Have a plan on what you want to shoot before you fly. This also entails knowing how to execute a plan with your drone, so have plenty of practice in flying and capturing video, before you attempt wildlife drone videography or photography.
Once you have a plan, you can grab what you need and be done. This minimizes the stress on the wildlife and increases the chance of getting an adequate video as a consequence.
Another technique reduce your visual and sonic impact on the fauna is to fly at the highest altitude possible, putting a good deal of distance between your drone and the animals you want to capture. Again you’ll have to have some experience with your drone, to figure out exactly how far away you can get, but still grab meaningful shots. The California Dept of Fish and Wildlife says to never fly less than 100 feet near an animal.
And of course it always helps to know how a particular species will react to a drone’s presence in general, and how tolerant they are to a particular distance between them and it, which again takes experience.
Avoid aerial maneuvers that mimic predatory hunting behavior
Do not give the animals you are shooting the impression that you are a predator focusing on them.
Fly in a straight line, or in a large semicircular pattern, past your subject. Do not fly erratically, or back and forth, or straight at them while descending towards them, as were you a raptor diving for prey.
You basically want to fly as were you a benign airplane off in the distance, with total indifference to your subject.
One thing to note here to is you must have a high quality videography drone, that is capable of being stable in the air via GPS stabilization. Do not use a toy drone, or even a drone that claims to be high quality, but is really just a toy drone. Those type of drones, by their nature fly erratically and will likely disturb wildlife.
Land your drone if you notice animals are becoming stressed
If you think your subject is becoming stressed from your presence, or for whatever reason, abort mission and fly home.
This means you should also have a back up plan for shooting something else, if you notice your animals are reacting poorly to your drone.
Fly at times when predatory birds are less active in the air
Do not fly at eagles’ or hawks’ dinner time, or activity time. There have been incidences of large birds, either preying on drones, or becoming agitated enough to attack them.
You may have to do some research on when the species in your shooting area are active. Based on a cursory Google search, I see some chicken farmers claim the hawks in their areas are most active during early to mid morning, and again near dusk. However drone and wildlife experts Mulero Pazmany and Jarrod Hodgson say to try flying during low-temperature times of the day, when raptors may be less active.
Know your local regulations regarding wildlife and drones
Each state, land or wildlife management departments, or other government localities will have their own rules and regulations on how and where you can interact with wildlife with drones.
Here in California, you need a special permit to use your drone on any Department of Fish and Wildlife lands. Subsection “aa”, of Title 14, Section 550 of the General Regulations for Public Use on All Department of Fish and Wildlife Lands, dictates such. If you want to look at the form, grab your copy of it here. It looks like it may cost you around $150 to apply.
Further in California, you cannot fly a drone, at predefined, low altitudes, over protected bird sanctuaries or game refuges, per the California Fish and Game code. These include:
- Sespe Condor Sanctuary
- Año Nuevo State Reserve
- Farallon Islands Game Refuge
- Point Lobos State Reserve
- California Sea Otter Game Refuge
- Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Barbara, and San Nicolas Islands
Again you must have a good reason, and fill out a permit with the local area’s management to do so.
In California it is illegal to harass animals with drones
Again the California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 251.1 says you cannot harass or herd animals with your drone, unless you happen to be a landowner or farmer, trying to protect your land.
Further Reading
Thanks for checking out my article on how to avoid disturbing wildlife with your drone. It’s part of my hiking/backpacking photography and videography series. If you want to see more articles in the series then click the link and check them out.
See ya out there…