How to Spot Dept. of National Defence Drones Over Ottawa

If you notice pigeons acting jumpy in downtown Ottawa this week, you might not be imagining things. Ottawa Citizen reports that from Nov. 24 to 28, the Department of National Defence is running a test to track small drones in a dense urban area. The activity is happening along Kent, Queen, Sparks and Wellington streets.

The goal is simple. DND wants to know how well new counter drone systems can detect small unmanned aircraft in a busy city. The department says the work brings together Canadian Armed Forces members, police, defence experts and tech partners.

In plain terms, they are checking if today’s sensors can pick out tiny drones between tall buildings, traffic noise and crowds. It is a controlled exercise with a scientific purpose. The public notice stresses that the tech is safe to use near people and that the trial is detect only. Nothing will be shot down. Sighs.

Still, the idea of drones scanning the downtown core can feel strange. It is another sign that drones are part of daily life now. They show up at events, in industry and in policing. It is common to look up and wonder who is watching from above.

What You Might See on the Street

On Monday afternoon, the first day of the test, pigeons on Sparks Street gave the earliest hint that something was different. They were flying low and fast. They were not behaving like the slow wandering birds that normally wait for crumbs near office workers.

There were no loud signals from above. No buzz from big aircraft. The drones were small. They were not easy to spot at first. Even someone walking the test area on Queen, Kent, Sparks and Wellington could miss them.

But the drones were there. After a short break for food, a closer look from Bank and Wellington revealed three of them. They moved at different heights above the rooftops. One flew low near Sparks Street, below the level of the Rabbit Hole and Brixton’s British Pub. Another passed over a flock of pigeons, sending them scrambling.

Most people on the street did not react. Public servants and political staffers kept walking toward Parliament Hill. The drones blended into the sound of the city.

When and Where to Look

The drones will stay in the downtown airspace until Friday. DND says one testing period will happen in the evening, although the exact day was not listed. The systems are scanning for small drones, the kind that are often the hardest to notice.

If you walk through the test area, you may see them if you look toward the sky between buildings. They can hover high over intersections. They can also skim low and quick above the street. They do not make much noise. The easiest sign may be the reaction of pigeons, which seem to sense the small motors long before people do.

The exercise is meant to help Canada understand how drones behave in tight spaces and how to track them without confusion from city clutter. It reflects a larger shift in major cities as public agencies adapt to a world filled with small aircraft.

DroneXL’s Take

DND’s test in Ottawa shows how rapidly urban drone detection is evolving. Small drones can blend into the skyline, so agencies need better tools to spot them. Watching pigeons respond before people notice anything is a funny but honest reminder of how quiet today’s systems have become. As more cities adopt similar tech, detection will matter more than ever.

Photo credit: Julie Oliver / Postmedia