Preventing Bird Strikes At Airports

With the recent near disaster bird strike of US Airways flight 1549, I thought my readers would be interested to know what bird management methods were employed by airports to reduce incidents like these.

The management of birds in and around an airport requires three main components:

1. Habitat Management
2. Bird Control Teams
3. Lethal Removal Of Birds

Let’s look quickly at each of these.

Habitat Management

Managing the habitat in and around the airport focuses on removing bird attractants like: landfills, standing water, unkempt grass and vegetation, small animal populations and perching places. All of these things either satisfy a basic need of birds or provide them with cover or nesting areas.

Bird Control Teams

These trained units patrol the airport and actively scare away or otherwise disperse birds that are on the airport grounds. They may use fireworks and noisemakers that scare without harming the birds. Some airports are now using trained dogs and falcons for this.

Lethal Removal Of Birds

This is the last resort and is only done under permit. For this, the birds are rounded up from the airport and surround areas and euthanized. Canada geese are one such bird that is routinely collected in early summer and put to death.

A Necessary Evil

While we feel badly for birds whose only crime is foraging for food or shelter in and around an airport, we can’t ignore the need for this. Airport authorities owe it to all air passengers to do everything they can to eliminate bird strikes and the potentially catastrophic consequences they bring.