Antipredator response data for captive, male red-wing blackbirds toward drones used as frightening devices

We evaluated the behavioral responses of individual Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) to 3 drone platforms: a predator model, a fixed-wing resembling an airplane, and a multirotor, approaching either head-on or overhead. This experiment was conducted in the late summer of 2017 at the Casse...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Conor C. Egan (19660828) (author)
Other Authors: Bradley F. Blackwell (8151570) (author), Esteban Fernández-Juricic (241469) (author), Page E. Klug (17647368) (author)
Published: 2025
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Summary:We evaluated the behavioral responses of individual Red-winged Blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) to 3 drone platforms: a predator model, a fixed-wing resembling an airplane, and a multirotor, approaching either head-on or overhead. This experiment was conducted in the late summer of 2017 at the Casselton Seed Farm in Caselton at North Dakota State University with male birds collected from Colorado. We used video cameras to record behavior of blackbirds in response to drone approaches and quantified the antipredator responses of blackbirds using video footage. This data publication contains the data and analysis code for Egan et al. (2020).<br>The study was designed to establish the degree to which the perception of risk by birds would vary between drone platforms relative to a predator model when flown at different approach types to inform use of drones as hazing tools.<br>Original metadata date was 04/01/2020. On 07/09/2020 metadata were updated to correct units for the variable "Speed" in both data files. The original units were listed as kilometers per hour, but this has been corrected to meters per second.