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☆ Angry Birds Take on Drones at New York City Beach
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-13 | by ( Michael Levenson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One is a distinctive shorebird, slightly smaller than an average sea gull, with a bright orange bill that pries open clams, oysters and other shellfish. The other is a remote-controlled gadget with rotating blades. In the skies above Rockaway Beach in Queens, bird and drone are not, it seems, coexisting in harmony. Just as New Yorkers flock to the beach to escape the sweltering summer heat, American Oystercatchers have taken to attacking a fleet of drones deployed by city officials to scan for sharks and swimmers in distress. The aerial conflict between animal and machine is raising concerns about the safety of the shorebirds, as they aggressively pursue the buzzing drones in defense of their nests, city officials and bird experts said.

Locations: Queens

☆ N.Y.P.D. Drones Carrying Rafts Could Join Lifeguards in Beach Rescues
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Dana Rubinstein | Corey Kilgannon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This summer, struggling swimmers off Coney Island might be met not just by a young lifeguard in an orange suit but also by assistance from above, in the form of a buglike device delivering an inflatable float. The raft-bearing drone is the latest in a series of gadgets promoted by Mayor Eric Adams as a way to improve life in New York City. Discussing the drone during his weekly question-and-answer session at City Hall on Tuesday, the mayor said it would begin flying as part of a pilot project to address a chronic summer problem. “They’re going to start out with Coney Island, and they’re going to grow from there,” Mr. Adams said, referring to the entertainment mecca on Brooklyn’s south shore. “I think it can be a great addition to saving the lives of those that we lose over the summer.”New York City may be known for its concrete-and-steel canyons, but it boasts 14 miles of city beaches, from Coney Island in Brooklyn and Rockaway Beach in Queens to Orchard Beach in the Bronx and South Beach in Staten Island.

Persons: Eric Adams, “ They’re, ” Mr, Adams Organizations: City, ” Locations: Coney, New York City, York, Coney Island, Brooklyn, Rockaway, Queens, Orchard Beach, Bronx, South Beach, Staten Island

☆ The key to fighting the urban doom loop might be a downtown beach
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Urban rivers, lakes, and parks can also be the key to making cities more resilient to climate change. The 1,200 tons of sand near Greenwich Village along the Hudson river would have to do. But there's no public pool nearby, and no sanctioned river swim spots in the city. The sandy bluff on Gansevoort peninsula is part of the much larger Hudson River park and looks out over Little Island, a whimsical, highly instagrammable transformation of Pier 55. Seattle has torn down an elevated freeway downtown to make way for a waterfront park.

Persons: Mia Olis, Olis, they'll, Amanda Weinstein, Hudson, Karin Balow, Eliza Relman, Bill O'Leary, Trey Sherard, It's, vVJ9elwcss, Sherard, Charles, satchel, Paris, Anne Hidalgo, he's Organizations: Service, University of Akron, Hudson, Inwood, New, Battery, Park, DC, Navy, Nationals, Anacostia, Prince, AFP, Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, Yacht Locations: Chelsea, Hawaii, Greenwich Village, Harlem, New York, Rivers, Upper Manhattan, Manhattan, Jersey City, New York City, Hudson, Little, Manhattan's, Brooklyn, Domino, Queens, Governor's, . Cleveland , Ohio, Lake Erie, Cuyahoga, . Seattle, Potomac, Anacostia, Washington , DC, Prince George's County , Maryland, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Iraja, Black, Boston, Switzerland's, Zurich, Lake Zurich, Bern, who's, American

With outstretched arms, dancers skimmed across the sand like gliding birds, soundless against the pressing wind and somehow soaring without actual wings. Surveying the shoreline of Rockaway Beach on a recent morning, Patricia Lent, from the Merce Cunningham Trust, was elated. “This is a dream come true,” she said, adding: “It’s someone else’s dream — but it is a dream come true.”Cunningham’s “Beach Birds” has finally made its way to the beach. An adaptation of this 1991 dance is part of this year’s Beach Sessions Dance Series, at Rockaway Beach on Saturday. Staged by Lent and Rashaun Mitchell — both former company members and trustees — “Beach Birds” comes to life in a setting where the sand, the sea and real birds create, along with 11 dancers, a humming summer landscape.

Persons: Patricia Lent, Merce Cunningham, Lent, Rashaun Mitchell —, —, Cunningham, John Cage Organizations: Merce Cunningham Trust Locations: Rockaway

☆ Rockaway Shark Attack Victim Had 5 Surgeries and Faces Long Recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-17 | by ( Erin Nolan | More About Erin Nolan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Tatyana Koltunyuk pictured her life post-retirement, she imagined walking around New York City with a new puppy and traveling the world with her family. She talked about swimming in the ocean every day, her family said. But Ms. Koltunyuk’s vision for the future was irrevocably altered when she was bitten by a shark at Rockaway Beach in Queens last week. She was swimming alone near Beach 59th Street in the early evening when the shark bit her on the left leg, according to officials, and lifeguards responded when they heard her screaming for help. In the eight days immediately following the attack — days that her family described as “nightmarish” on a GoFundMe page raising money for Ms. Koltunyuk’s recovery — Ms. Koltunyuk underwent five surgeries, and her family said she will require more.

Persons: Tatyana Koltunyuk, Koltunyuk, Dasha Koltunyuk, Gregg Kallor Locations: New York City, Beach, Queens

Safety officials at one New York beach are ramping up the use of drones to try to prevent potentially dangerous interactions between humans and sharks. Lifeguards and New York State Park Police officers at Jones Beach — a state park that stretches 6.5 miles along the Southern coast of Long Island and sees six million visitors a year — are using the technology to monitor the waters off the shore. When they spot sharks or unusual sea life activity, they can warn swimmers to stay on the beach. The next day, lifeguards at Jones Beach closed the water three times after possible shark sightings, two of which were made with drones. New York State Park PoliceThe technology has uses beyond searching for sharks, too.

Persons: Rishi Basdeo, ”, You’re, Basdeo, …, “, ” Basdeo, We’re Organizations: New, New York CNN, New York, Park Police, Jones, CNN, Federal Aviation Administration, . New Locations: New York, Long, , New York, Southern, Beach, Queens, York, ., . New York

☆ After Queens Shark Bite, Drones Buzz Over Unfazed Beachgoers
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Hurubie Meko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The sky was clear over Rockaway Beach in Queens early Saturday afternoon. Lifeguards scanned the still waters, dotted by a few swimmers, and occasionally blew whistles to warn those who ventured too far into the ocean. The woman, Tatyana Koltunyuk, had been swimming alone near Beach 59th Street when she was bitten on the left leg, officials said. Jose Velez, 64, was at Beach 59th Street on Saturday with his wife, brother, sister-in-law and nieces and nephews. The family comes to the beach every year, he said, and had “never, never, never” heard of such an attack.

Persons: Tatyana Koltunyuk, Jose Velez, “, ” Organizations: Rockaway, Jamaica Hospital, Beach Locations: Rockaway Beach, Queens, Beach, Jamaica

☆ Opinion: What nearly every human seems to be missing about shark attacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Opinion Holly Thomas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

For the unlucky few who experience shark attacks, the ordeal is undoubtedly terrifying. Yet every summer, stories about shark attacks top homepages. Unlike shark attacks on humans, which are mainly attributed to curiosity, we know exactly what we’re doing. Throughout, the great white is characterized as a dogged predator obsessed with human flesh. I’d never suggest that the victims of shark attacks had it coming, or that cinemagoers should feel an iota of shame.

Persons: Holly Thomas, Katie Couric, Holly Thomas Holly Thomas, Kyle Van Houtan, Peter Benchley, Steven Spielberg’s, Brody’s, Jonas Taylor, Jason Statham, Taylor, I’d Organizations: Katie Couric Media, CNN, New Yorker, Florida Museum, Natural, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Oceanographic Magazine, Twitter, Facebook Locations: London, New York City, New, finning, Monterey, Amity Island’s

☆ New York City Closes Rockaway Beach After Rare Shark Encounter
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones Locations: rockaway

☆ Woman Is Bitten by Shark in First New York City Attack in Recent Years
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Lola Fadulu | More About Lola Fadulu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A spokesman for the New York City Police Department said on Tuesday morning that the woman’s condition was “serious but stable.” The woman is believed to have lost about 20 pounds of flesh because of the bite, according to the police report. Park officials described Monday’s shark attack as the first on Rockaway Beach “in recent memory.”There have been 20 unprovoked shark attacks in New York state since 1837, according to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File, a database of all known shark attacks. But Monday’s shark bite marked the first confirmed attack in New York City since the 1950s, according to the Global Shark Attack File, an unofficial database of such encounters. The last documented shark attack in the city recorded in that database was in 1958, when a man was bitten by a harpooned shark after provoking it. “It’s not very common that we would see this,” said Gavin Naylor, the program director of the International Shark Attack File.

Persons: “, ”, Gavin Naylor Organizations: New York City Police Department, Florida Locations: Rockaway, New York, New York City

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