This week, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) charged a helicopter pilot with getting too close to a closed shorebird nesting spot.
For reportedly hurting the eggs of a protected species when he landed at Egmont Key State Park and scared away hundreds of shorebirds with the smell of fuel, Ernesto Cordero was charged with harassing the nesting birds, a misdemeanor.
He got a ticket for parking the helicopter in a state park and going into an area that wasn’t supposed to be there.
The FWC says that the shorebirds have come together at the wildlife reserve to breed.
Cordero told FOX 13 that he was scared the helicopter was leaking fuel, so he decided to land at the island wildlife refuge at the entrance to Tampa Bay rather than taking the chance of crashing.
Investigators from the FWC said that people saw a woman get out of the helicopter and take pictures at the closed nesting spot where black skimmers and sandwich terns were nesting. Cordero said he could look for a leak from the plane. He also said that he didn’t use the radio when there was an emergency.
“It’s their home, and we need to respect that,” Hubbard’s Marina Capt. Robyn Lela told FOX 13.
Based on Flight Aware, the Tampa Bay Times said that Cordero was flying a CC Landscaping Warehouse Plus, Inc. company chopper in Bradenton, Florida. The company is said to be owned by Cordero.
The Times said that Cordero finally landed south in Punta Gorda.
Audubon Florida’s Audrey DeRose-Wilson told FOX 13 that seabirds and shorebirds have a right to be here on the beach and a unique worth. “But if we want to talk about, like the value they give to us, they are indicators of a healthy, functioning ecosystem, which is something that benefits all of us.”
Audubon Florida said that the wind from the blades of the helicopter probably broke the eggs at the nesting spot as the pilot landed.
