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The costs of bird strikes and bird strike prevention
Abstract
Collisions between birds (and other wildlife) and aircraft are known to cause substantial losses to the aviation industry in terms of damage and delays every year. Techniques exist to control bird numbers on airfields and hence to reduce the number of wildlife strikes, but they are applied at widely different levels from airport to airport. Some of this variation may be due to differing levels of strike-risk at the different sites, but much of it is due to the unwillingness or inability of the airports concerned to invest in bird strike prevention. Part of the reason for this reluctance to invest in airport bird control is a lack of understanding of the true costs to the airlines in terms of direct damage to aircraft and in delays and cancellations. Previous estimates of the cost of bird strikes have concentrated only on measurable repair costs and have not attempted to assign costs to aircraft delays. My paper uses newly available data from major international airlines to provide the first estimate for the total cost of bird strikes to the world's airline fleet. Much of the data are commercially confidential and sources cannot be quoted nor the accuracy of the data verified. The estimates also rely on information from a very small number of airlines to produce extrapolations for the worldwide costs of damage and delays. Although these are major international carriers, and as representative as possible of the world bird strike problem as a whole, the results should be interpreted with a suitable level of caution. A tentative and probably conservative estimate of US$1.2 billion per year in damage and delays is the outcome of this calculation. The costs of bird damage are evaluated relative to the ability of managers to pay for bird control programs and the derived benefits thereof. Reasons for the industry's failure to invest further to reduce the costs of bird strikes are examined.
... Wildlife-aircraft collisions, commonly referred to as wildlife strikes or bird strikes, are relatively rare events that pose considerable safety and economic risks within the aviation industry. Damaging wildlife strike events generate substantial repair costs as well as downtime for aircraft and commercial aircraft passengers [1][2][3][4][5] . In the most severe and rare instances, wildlife strikes can cause injury and even loss of life 6 . ...
... AWHP management was estimated to have an increasingly positive impact on the joint wildlife strike rate over the management period (Fig. 3A). The smallest estimated management effect was observed in the first two years following management intervention (β [1,2] = 0.22, p = 0.347) with steadily increasing management effects observed over the management period (β [5,6] = 1.22, p = 0.012; β [9,10] = 2.50, p < 0.000). ...
... Well-estimated null effects in the pre-management period, when AWHP management was not present, supplies confidence that our regression models were able to robustly identify the the impact of AWHP management in the post-intervention period. Similar to the static estimates presented above, a comparison of the dynamic management effects among civiland military-specific wildlife strike rates shows that management-induced changes in the joint wildlife strike rate were again driven by changes in reported wildlife strike incidents with civil aircraft (β [1,2] = 0.35, p = 0.035; β [5,6] = 1.33, p = 0.032; β [9,10] = 2.44, p = 0.001) (Fig. 3B). Among the pre-management estimates for the civil-specific overall wildlife strike rate, there appeared to be some evidence of anticipation in the two years prior to AWHP intervention. ...
Collisions between wildlife and aircraft, commonly referred to as wildlife strikes or bird strikes, are rare events that pose considerable safety and economic risks to the aviation industry. Given the potentially dramatic consequences of such events, airports scheduled for passenger service are required to conduct wildlife hazard assessments and implement wildlife hazard management plans for the purpose of mitigating wildlife strike risk. The evaluation of such management, however, is complicated by imperfect reporting that mediates the relationship between realized wildlife strike risk and wildlife strike metrics. In this paper, we shed light on such phenomena by investigating the staggered adoption of a federal wildlife hazards management program at joint-use airports across the contiguous United States. This research design allowed us to exploit variation in both management presence across airports, over time as well as variation in the quality of wildlife strike reporting within airports. As hypothesized, we found that wildlife hazards management intervention has a significant impact on the quality of reporting, as evidenced by a substantial increase in the number of civil strikes reported over the management period. Where pre-existing reporting mechanisms were more robust, however, we found that wildlife hazards management had a significant impact on realized wildlife strike risk as evidenced by a decrease in strike-induced economic damages among military aircraft. Overall, we found that the estimated economic benefits of the studied airport wildlife hazards management program were 7 times greater than the costs over the management period. Our results have important implications for the measurement of wildlife strike risk and the management of wildlife hazards at airports, as well as important insights pertaining to the use of observational data for causal inference, particularly in the context of risk management.
... These challenges are exacerbated when missing data hamper cost-benefit analyses that support effective wildlife hazard management practices. Allan [3] notes that wildlife-strike-prevention costs, which the airport operator typically bears, are often expensive; however, they are incurred to save on costs suffered by the aircraft operator, who often considers these data commercially sensitive and manages them with particular sensitivity [3,4]. International guidance material recommends the collection of cost impacts in wildlife strike reporting [5], and some jurisdictions collect these data on a per-strike basis. ...
... These challenges are exacerbated when missing data hamper cost-benefit analyses that support effective wildlife hazard management practices. Allan [3] notes that wildlife-strike-prevention costs, which the airport operator typically bears, are often expensive; however, they are incurred to save on costs suffered by the aircraft operator, who often considers these data commercially sensitive and manages them with particular sensitivity [3,4]. International guidance material recommends the collection of cost impacts in wildlife strike reporting [5], and some jurisdictions collect these data on a per-strike basis. ...
... Perhaps the most quoted wildlife strike cost estimate is the USD 1.2 billion annual global cost established by Allan [3]. Over 20 years later, this figure, often without inflationary consideration, is quoted in support of a variety of research topics such as operational bird strike prevention [8], risk assessment modeling [12], robotic harassment [13], speciesspecific hazard analysis [14], and strike risk prediction [15]. ...
Wildlife strikes in aviation represent a serious economic concern; however, in some jurisdictions, the costs associated with this phenomenon are not collected or shared. This hampers the industry’s ability to quantify the risk and assess the potential benefit from investment in effective wildlife hazard management activities. This research project has applied machine learning to the problem by training a random forest algorithm on wildlife strike cost data collected in the United States and predicting the costs associated with wildlife strikes in Australia. This method estimated a mean annual figure of AUD 7.9 million in repair costs and AUD 4.8 million in other costs from 2008 to 2017. It also provided year-on-year estimates showing variability through the reporting period that was not correlated with strike report numbers. This research provides a baseline figure for the Australian aviation industry to assess and review current and future wildlife hazard management practices. It also provides a technique for other countries, airlines, or airports to estimate the cost of wildlife strikes within their jurisdictions or operational environments.
... For example, scarecrows and raptor models have been used to deter birds from farmland for over 3000 years (DeVault et al., 2013;Haining, 1988;Marsh et al., 1992), and people have used dogs to successfully herd livestock for more than 6000 years (Coppinger & Coppinger, 2014). Today, efficient methods for controlling or herding the movement of animal groups have the potential to provide solutions to a variety of animal conservation and management problems at sea (Frixione & Salvadeo, 2021;Horswill et al., 2022), over the land (Fàbregas et al., 2021;Jackson et al., 2012;McKnight, 1995) and in the air (Allan, 2000;Nilsson et al., 2021). ...
... At sea, herding bird flocks has the potential to reduce the negative effects of seabird depredation on fish farms, which can account for >53% of annual yields (Lekuona, 2002) and reduce bird wind-turbine collisions at offshore electricity-generating wind farms (Desholm & Kahlert, 2005). In the air, herding bird flocks away from airports may prevent bird flock collisions with aircraft, estimated to cost the industry $1.2 billion worldwide (Allan, 2000) and resulting in human casualties (Allan, 2000;Dale, 2009;DeVault et al., 2011). Over the land, herding farm livestock can promote efficient use of pastures, protect environmentally sensitive areas, provide ecosystem services and increase profitability (Reichelt, 2018). ...
... At sea, herding bird flocks has the potential to reduce the negative effects of seabird depredation on fish farms, which can account for >53% of annual yields (Lekuona, 2002) and reduce bird wind-turbine collisions at offshore electricity-generating wind farms (Desholm & Kahlert, 2005). In the air, herding bird flocks away from airports may prevent bird flock collisions with aircraft, estimated to cost the industry $1.2 billion worldwide (Allan, 2000) and resulting in human casualties (Allan, 2000;Dale, 2009;DeVault et al., 2011). Over the land, herding farm livestock can promote efficient use of pastures, protect environmentally sensitive areas, provide ecosystem services and increase profitability (Reichelt, 2018). ...
A single sheepdog can bring together and manoeuvre hundreds of sheep from one location to another. Engineers and ecologists are fascinated by this sheepdog herding because of the potential it provides for ‘bio‐herding’: a biologically inspired herding of animal groups by robots. Although many herding algorithms have been proposed, most are studied via simulation.
There are a variety of ecological problems where management of wild animal groups is currently impossible, dangerous and/or costly for humans to manage directly, and which may benefit from bio‐herding solutions.
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) now deliver significant benefits to the economy and society. Here, we suggest the use of UAVs for bio‐herding. Given their mobility and speed, UAVs can be used in a wide range of environments and interact with animal groups at sea, over the land and in the air.
We present a potential roadmap for achieving bio‐herding using a pair of UAVs. In our framework, one UAV performs ‘surveillance’ of animal groups, informing the movement of a second UAV that herds them. We highlight the promise and flexibility of a paired UAV approach while emphasising its practical and ethical challenges. We start by describing the types of experiments and data required to understand individual and collective responses to UAVs. Next, we describe how to develop appropriate herding algorithms. Finally, we describe the integration of bio‐herding algorithms into software and hardware architecture.
... A subset of those vehicle collisions includes collisions between aircraft and birds, hereafter bird strikes, which occur around the globe (ATSB 2019; Dolbeer et al., 2021;Sarkheil et al., 2021). Besides the loss of birds, bird strikes cause substantial economic damage and pose a major safety hazard to aviation (Allan, 2000;DeVault et al., 2018;Dolbeer et al., 2021). The estimated annual cost of bird strikes in the U.S is $205 million dollars, and globally as $1.2 billion dollars (Allan, 2000;Dolbeer et al., 2021). ...
... Besides the loss of birds, bird strikes cause substantial economic damage and pose a major safety hazard to aviation (Allan, 2000;DeVault et al., 2018;Dolbeer et al., 2021). The estimated annual cost of bird strikes in the U.S is $205 million dollars, and globally as $1.2 billion dollars (Allan, 2000;Dolbeer et al., 2021). Additionally, over a 31-year period, bird strikes have been the cause of 292 human fatalities and the destruction of 271 aircraft (Dolbeer et al., 2021). ...
Collisions between birds and aircraft cause bird mortality, economic damage, and aviation safety hazards. One proposed solution to increasing the distance at which birds detect and move away from an approaching aircraft, ultimately mitigating the probability of collision, is through onboard lighting systems. Lights in vehicles have been shown to lead to earlier reactions in some bird species but they could also generate attraction, potentially increasing the probability of collision. Using information on the visual system of the Canada goose (Branta canadensis), we developed light stimuli of high chromatic contrast to their eyes. We then conducted a controlled behavioral experiment (i.e., single-choice test) to assess the avoidance or attraction responses of Canada geese to LED lights of different wavelengths (blue, 483 nm; red, 631nm) and pulsing frequencies (steady, pulsing at 2 Hz). Overall, Canada geese tended to avoid the blue light and move towards the red light treatment; however, these responses depended heavily on light exposure order. At the beginning of the experiment, geese tended to avoid the red light. However, after further exposure the birds developed an attraction to the red light, consistent with the mere exposure effect. The response to the blue light generally followed a U-shape relationship (avoidance, attraction, avoidance) with increasing number of exposures, again consistent with the mere exposure effect, but followed by the satiation effect. Lights pulsing at 2 Hz enhanced avoidance responses under high ambient light conditions, whereas steady lights enhanced avoidance responses under dim, ambient light conditions. Our results have implications for the design of lighting systems aimed at mitigating collisions between birds and human objects. LED lights in the blue portion of the spectrum are good candidates for deterrents and lights in the red portion of the spectrum may be counterproductive given the attraction effects with increasing exposure, and consideration should be given to systems that automatically modify pulsing of the light depending on ambient light intensity to enhance avoidance.
... However, occasionally a local story will catch media attention and a midair incident with a bird will remind travelers that not all flight technical challenges are a result of mechanical issues and that nature can also be unpredictable. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually keeping passengers safe from bird strikes at airports and military bases internationally and to offset the potential cost in billions for plane damage, plus flight delays and cancellations (Allan 2000). From working dogs, falconry, habitat modification, deterrents and barriers, and visual and sound effects to capture and killing programs, many wildlife control tactics are needed to ensure success when the stakes are so high (Belant and Martin 2011;Bradbeer et al. 2017). ...
... Wildlife control in aviation aims to modify the behavior of animals to reduce their numbers within the active areas of the flight paths. Bird control at airports is regulated in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia, and most European countries; however, in some developing nations, such requirements do not exist (Allan 2000). ...
There isn’t one conversation about animal ethics. Instead, there are several important ones that are scattered across many disciplines.This volume both surveys the field of animal ethics and draws professional philosophers, graduate students, and undergraduates more deeply into the discussions that are happening outside of philosophy departments. To that end, the volume contains more nonphilosophers than philosophers, explicitly inviting scholars from other fields—such as animal science, ecology, economics, psychology, law, environmental science, and applied biology, among others—to bring their own disciplinary resources to bear on matters that affect animals.
It is a resource designed for anyone interested in the moral issues that emerge from human interactions with animals.
Chapter 31 - Explores is it ever ok to kill wild animals? How can we apply a common framework globally for assessing conservation interventions where root causes are ultimately human behaviour.
... The emergency landing ofUS Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River in New York City in 2009, for example, was caused by a collision with Canada Geese (Branta canadensis; Marra et al. 2009). Global costs of so-called bird strikes (i.e., the collision between birds and airplanes) to airlines are estimated to be at least $1.2 billion a year (Allan 2000). Given this cost, poten- tial habitats in and around airports are strongly managed in order reduce the chance ofbird strikes ( Blackwell et al. 2009), but such measures are often not carried out to their full po- tential ( Allan 2000, Marra et al. 2009). ...
... Global costs of so-called bird strikes (i.e., the collision between birds and airplanes) to airlines are estimated to be at least $1.2 billion a year (Allan 2000). Given this cost, poten- tial habitats in and around airports are strongly managed in order reduce the chance ofbird strikes ( Blackwell et al. 2009), but such measures are often not carried out to their full po- tential ( Allan 2000, Marra et al. 2009). ...
The book chapter contains the following sections:
- Birds in human culture
- Birds in coupled-human-natural systems
- The social context of bird-oriented actions
- Ecosystem services and disservices
Download the figures here: https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/ornithology
... Bird and other wildlife collisions with aircraft cause well over $1.2 billion in damages to the aviation industry worldwide [1], [2]. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documented 142,000 wild-life strikes at US airports between 1990 and 2013, with birds being involved in 97 % of the reported cases [3]. ...
... The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documented 142,000 wild-life strikes at US airports between 1990 and 2013, with birds being involved in 97 % of the reported cases [3]. A large number of passive and active methods are currently used for deterring birds from entering the airspace around airports [1], [4], [5], which depend on the type of birds encountered at the airport. Passive techniques typically work by curtailing the food and water resources around the airfield or laying bird-repellent grass swards. ...
In this paper, we derive an algorithm for enabling a single robotic unmanned aerial vehicle to herd a flock of birds away from a designated volume of space, such as the air space around an airport. The herding algorithm, referred to as the
m
-waypoint algorithm, is designed using a dynamic model of bird flocking based on Reynolds’ rules. We derive bounds on its performance using a combination of reduced-order modeling of the flock’s motion, heuristics, and rigorous analysis. A unique contribution of the paper is the experimental demonstration of several facets of the herding algorithm on flocks of live birds reacting to a robotic pursuer. The experiments allow us to estimate several parameters of the flocking model, and especially the interaction between the pursuer and the flock. The herding algorithm is also demonstrated using numerical simulations.
... Although specific statistics are difficult to obtain, ducks and geese have been shown to constitute 20% of bird strike aviation accidents (Thorpe 2016), with geese globally responsible for at least 957 known reported bird strikes between 1983 and 1998, or 63.8 per year (Allan et al. 1999), and during 1990-2013 a total of 2015, or 84.0 per year, voluntarily reported strikes in the US alone (Dolbeer et al. 2014). Aircraft operators bear the brunt of the cost of damaging strikes, estimating to cost over US$ 1.2 thousand million annually throughout the world (Allan 2002). Single engine repairs may cost upwards of US$ 1 million without taking into account lost opportunity costs and service disruption from damage and downtime (Allan 2002). ...
... Aircraft operators bear the brunt of the cost of damaging strikes, estimating to cost over US$ 1.2 thousand million annually throughout the world (Allan 2002). Single engine repairs may cost upwards of US$ 1 million without taking into account lost opportunity costs and service disruption from damage and downtime (Allan 2002). Beyond economic impacts, goose strikes present an extremely serious threat to human life when aircraft are damaged beyond their ability to sustain controlled flight. ...
We here review the collision risks posed by large-bodied, flocking geese to aircraft, exacerbated by recent major increases in northern hemisphere goose populations and air traffic volume. Mitigation of goose–aircraft strike risks requires knowledge of local goose movements, global goose population dynamics and ecology. Airports can minimise goose strikes by managing habitats within the airport property, applying deterrents to scare geese away and lethal control, but goose migration and movements at greater spatial scales present greater challenges. Habitat management outside of airports can locally reduce goose attractiveness of peripheral areas, but requires stakeholder involvement and coordination. Information on bird strike rates, individual goose movements and goose population dynamics is essential to understand how best to reduce the risk of goose strikes. Avian radar provides tactical information for mitigation measures and strategic data on local patterns of goose migration and habitat use. In the face of expanding air traffic, goose distributions and populations, these threats need to be integrated with other local, national and international stakeholder involvement to secure viable solutions to multiple conflicts.
... Le coût économique est également très important entre les dégâts sur les avions et les répercussions sur le trafic aérien. L'estimation de ce coût était de l'ordre du milliard de dollars annuel pour l'aviation mondiale en 2000 et semble en augmentation [5]. En effet en 2017, ce coût a été estimé à 700 millions de dollars pour la seule aviation civile américaine [6]. ...
... Birds are predominant noncooperative targets in low altitude airspaces. Bird strikes are representative aviation safety threats for their critical effect on the economy and human life loss [6][7][8][9]. Increasing bird strike accidents have motivated the development of avian radar systems and technologies. Representative avian radar systems like Merlin, Accipter, Robin, and CAST (China Academy of Civil Aviation Science and Technology) [10][11][12][13] were developed and validated for years in worldwide airports. ...
Birds in airport airspaces are critical threats to aviation safety. Avian radar systems are effective for long-range bird monitoring and hazard warning, but their functionalities are confined to a short-term temporal scale. Spatial–temporal activity modeling and characterization for birds are not studied comprehensively from historical radar datasets. This paper proposes a radar data analysis framework to characterize bird activities as a long-term functionality complement. Spatial domain modeling initializes data mining by extracting reference spots for data filtering. Bird activities are quantified in the temporal domain. Activity degrees are utilized for periodicity extraction with the daily segment random permutation strategy. Categorical probabilities are calculated to interpret bird activity periodicity characters. Historical radar datasets collected from an avian radar system are adopted for validation. The extracted activity periodicity trends for diurnal birds present prominent consistency with artificial observation records. Migratory bird periodicity trends present a good match with ornithology understandings. A preliminary experiment is presented to indicate the possibility of predicting bird activity levels, especially for migratory birds.
... Collisions between birds and aircrafts are an issue worldwide. They affect human safety (Dolbeer et al. 2000;DeVault et al. 2018), with 231 human lives lost between 1912 and 2002 (Thorpe 2003), and also bring economic costs of US$ 1.2 billion per year due to flight delays and cancellations (Allan 2000;El-Sayed 2019). Airport agents have taken several measures to make the airport environment less attractive to these species with the use of excluding measures such as fence building and land use management Communicated by Carla Suertegaray Fontana. ...
Birds pose a serious threat to aviation due to collisions, leading to both life and severe economic losses. To mitigate this problem and prevent further collisions, identifying the species with the highest aviation hazard should be the frst step. Here we calculate a Relative Hazard Score (RHS) based on an extensive open-source database developed by CENIPA (Aircraft Accident Investigation and Prevention Center), which includes data on bird and mammal collisions between 2011 and 2022. We developed the ranking for (a) all vertebrate species, (b) all bird species, and (c) for bird families (including regional rankings); and for the second group, we investigated if there is a relationship between RHS, body mass, and group size. The black vulture (Coragyps atratus) appeared as the most dangerous animal for aviation, followed by dogs (including both domestic and wild), magnifcent frigatebirds (Fregata magnifcens), and unidentifed vultures. According to our predictions, RHS presented a positive relation with body mass and group size. We reinforce the importance of this ranking for aerodrome management, which if added to more detailed information can be successfully used to decrease collisions. We appointed the most dangerous species in Brazil and, at the regional scale, to its biome, providing needed information to base actions to reach safer aviation in the country and similar regions
... As of October 27, 2021, 534 fatalities and 618 aircraft hull losses were attributed to wildlife strikes (Shaw and Dolbeer 2021). While such catastrophic outcomes are rare, relatively lower impacts, such as damage and diversions, cost the worldwide industry >$1.2 billion USD annually (Allan 2000) and the U.S. industry $205 million USD in 2019 . ...
Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic impacted air traffic, industry bodies warned of the potential increase in wildlife strike risk. Prior to the pandemic, wildlife strikes were already a concern to the industry. We sought to evaluate industry warnings using interrupted time series analysis of wildlife strike trends in the United States. Using pre-pandemic wildlife strike trends, we compared a forecast of the expected monthly strike rates through the COVID-19 impact period (March 2020 to December 2020) to the actual wildlife strike rates for the same period. Our results showed an increase in wildlife strike rates in 5 out of the 10 months analyzed, supporting the need for careful consideration of wildlife strike risk through the industry’s recovery.
... Among the natural sources, bird strikes and hailstorms pose a significant risk and are relatively frequent events in the aviation industry. These impacts may result in significant damage [41]. In terms of man-made sources, debris on runways also poses a significant risk. ...
The reliability of aircraft control surfaces, constructed from thermoplastic materials, can be affected by impacts from airborne particles. Recognizing the exact position of such impacts is essential for correctly estimating the resulting damage. This research intended to address the issue by introducing an innovative structural health monitoring solution capable of autonomously detecting and localizing impacts using acoustic emission monitoring. The objective of this research is to investigate the application of AE for the localization of impacts on aircraft elevators using machine learning techniques, specifically regression algorithms. To achieve this goal, two algorithms, linear regression, and random forest, were employed for predicting the impact locations based on AE signals. The performance of each algorithm was validated on a thermoplastic composite aircraft elevator. Results indicated that both linear regression and random forest models show high accuracy in predicting the impact locations. The random forest model, with an R2 value of 0.98616 and an RMSE of 0.6778, outperformed the linear regression model, which exhibited an R2 value of 0.9361 and an RMSE of 1.4614.
... This increase is due to growth of the global aviation industry, as well as increasing populations of some medium-and large-sized bird species, including gull, raptor, duck, and geese species (Dolbeer et al. 2019;Dolbeer 2020). Although developments in aircraft technology mean that fatalities owing to bird strikes are rare (Allan 2000), the annual cost to the US civil aviation industry alone, from damage and aircraft downtime, is estimated to be over US$200 million (Dolbeer et al. 2019). Further, the majority of damaging bird strikes generally occur at the level of the airfield during take-off and final-approach maneuverers (Dolbeer 2006(Dolbeer , 2011. ...
Context: Collisions between birds and aircraft (bird strikes) are a serious threat to aviation safety and these negative human–wildlife interactions are predicted to increase. As the wider spatial use of landscapes by birds can affect aviation safety (e.g. location of foraging and roosting sites), there is a clear need to implement effective management strategies at sites adjacent to airfields to reduce ingress of avian taxa across airfield boundaries.
Aims: In the present study, we assessed the efficacy of both an acoustic deterrent (sonic net) and a visual simulated predator effigy, in the form of a fox-shaped model, to disturb and reduce bird accumulations on: (1) agricultural foraging sites; (2) an active airfield; and (3) problematic roof-top roosts.
Methods: These non-lethal scare technologies were assessed separately and in combination by using a factorial design. Bird abundances, species richness and behavioural changes were considered.
Key results: Although the scare technologies did not reduce bird species richness at treated sites, in most cases, a significant reduction in bird abundances was observed. Equally, the number of birds observed to forage or roost was also generally significantly reduced, as was time spent by birds within treated sites. However, the effects of treatments were not universally across species. For example, a reduction in the abundance of gulls tended to be paired with an increase in the number of corvids for foraging sites. Nevertheless, the combined application of the sonic net and fox effigy caused a considerable reduction in foraging bird numbers, whereas singular treatment types appear to work best for roof-top roosts. Data also indicate that the sonic-net technology can be used to deter night-time roosting on an active airfield.
Conclusions: When taken together, treatments resulted in substantial and often significant reductions in bird abundance, foraging and roosting activity, as well as site residency time. However, treatment efficacy tended to be context and taxon specific.
Implications: Sonic net and mobile simulated predator effigies represent promising experimental scare technologies. Following further testing, the integration of these technologies into bird management interventions could yield substantial risk reductions for bird strikes, as well as improved non-lethal management of problematic roosting and nesting sites.
... There are two main ways in which aviation interacts with wildlife: direct interactions of aircraft with wildlife and interactions of aviation with the environment. Direct interactions such as wildlife strike and wildlife control activities (Allan, 2002) mainly occur at and around airports. Wildlife strike has received more attention and research probably due to the associated repair costs, operational consequences and, in some cases, human fatalities (El-Sayed, 2019; Arrondo et al., 2021). ...
Aviation can have impacts on wildlife that should be taken into account, especially in natural areas. Limitations on aircraft overflight in natural areas can reduce these impacts from aviation and promote the conservation of biodiversity. In Spain, a coordinated effort has been made between the different administrations to improve aviation regulation in protected areas. The aim of this work is to analyse the trend in operational regulations that have been legally established in protected areas in Spain and to outline the newly established framework for proposing new regulations for aviation in protected areas. Data showed an increase in the area under regulation from the 1980s with plateauing from the 2010s. Similarly, the growth in the number of sites with new regulations has slowed from the 1990s because regulation in protected areas has been progressively addressed and the need for regulations in new sites has declined. However, the number of sites subject to authorisation for flights has increased from the 2000s. The average minimum height established for overflight of protected areas has increased in the last two decades. Based on available evidence, we propose several general criteria on heights and distances in protected areas that allow coexistence between aviation and wildlife. After consultation with the relevant groups, we managed to get the different public administrations involved to commit to include these general criteria in their regulations. We consider our experience fully transferable to other countries.
... Collisions between birds and aircrafts are an issue worldwide. They affect human safety (Dolbeer et al. 2000;DeVault et al. 2018), with 231 human lives lost between 1912 and 2002 (Thorpe 2003), and also bring economic costs of US$ 1.2 billion per year due to flight delays and cancellations (Allan 2000;El-Sayed 2019). Airport agents have taken several measures to make the airport environment less attractive to these species with the use of excluding measures such as fence building and land use management Communicated by Carla Suertegaray Fontana. ...
... Airports are one of the many hazards wildlife face in human-altered landscapes. Collisions between wildlife and aircraft are notorious for causing extensive losses to the aviation industry with regard to damage and delays per annum, and pose a major threat to human safety (Allan 2000, Sodhi 2002. The effect of airfields on wildlife may be disproportionately high because airfields provide open, undeveloped land similar to early successional vegetation communities that are perceived as suitable habitat by many species. ...
Human‐dominated environments often include ecological traps for wildlife, such as airports that may be perceived as suitable habitat by grassland birds but reduce fitness because of collisions with aircraft. Birds of prey are often attracted to airports where collisions with aircraft (i.e., bird strikes) are usually fatal for the birds and are a significant threat to flight safety. The snowy owl ( Bubo scandiacus ) is known for its nomadism, exhibiting unpredictable and highly variable movements during the nonbreeding season, including being a common visitor to airports, which often have high small‐mammal populations and mimic flat, open habitats used naturally by owls. Since 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration reported an average of 22 snowy owl deaths annually due to aircraft collisions throughout 55 North American airports. To aid in active management of owls at airports, we assessed relocation data of 42 telemetry‐tracked snowy owls from 2000–2020 in the United States and Canada. Owls that returned to the airport after relocation (33%) frequently crisscrossed and perched near runways where they were at risk of strikes. Adult females and immature males were more likely to return than the other sex and age classes, and returns were less likely to occur as the distance between the release site and the airport increased. Owls relocated in open habitats with a greater proportion of wetland and cropland (including grasslands and pasture) land cover classes were also less likely to return. We conclude that inclusion of multiple factors to limit return rates of relocated snowy owls from airport facilities can unspring the ecological trap presented by airports to these owls.
... Primary concerns for aviation and aviators focus on human safety, but collisions also incur significant financial cost directly through physical damage of equipment and indirectly through delays in operations. World-wide, the annual costs of bird strikes have been estimated at $1.2 billion (Allan, 2000). Due to the high speeds involved, collisions are also almost always fatal to the birds involved (DeVault et al., 2015). ...
Aircraft collisions with birds span the entire history of human aviation, including fatal collisions during some of the first powered human flights. Much effort has been expended to reduce such collisions, but increased knowledge about bird movements and species occurrence could dramatically improve decision support and proactive measures to reduce them. Migratory movements of birds pose a unique, often overlooked, threat to aviation that is particularly difficult for individual airports to monitor and predict the occurrence of birds vary extensively in space and time at the local scales of airport responses.
We use two publicly available datasets, radar data from the US NEXRAD network characterizing migration movements and eBird data collected by citizen scientists to map bird movements and species composition with low human effort expenditures but high temporal and spatial resolution relative to other large‐scale bird survey methods. As a test case, we compare results from weather radar distributions and eBird species composition with detailed bird strike records from three major New York airports.
We show that weather radar‐based estimates of migration intensity can accurately predict the probability of bird strikes, with 80% of the variation in bird strikes across the year explained by the average amount of migratory movements captured on weather radar. We also show that eBird‐based estimates of species occurrence can, using species’ body mass and flocking propensity, accurately predict when most damaging strikes occur.
Synthesis and applications. By better understanding when and where different bird species occur, airports across the world can predict seasonal periods of collision risks with greater temporal and spatial resolution; such predictions include potential to predict when the most severe and damaging strikes may occur. Our results highlight the power of federating datasets with bird movement and distribution data for developing better and more taxonomically and ecologically tuned models of likelihood of strikes occurring and severity of strikes.
... com/ incid ent-datab ase/). For example, bird strikes are estimated to cost upwards of US$1.2 billion to the global civil aviation industry, annually (Allan 2002). However, whilst the majority of wildlife strikes involve bird species (e.g. ...
Collisions between wildlife and aircraft are a serious and growing threat to aviation safety. Understanding the frequency of these collisions, the identity of species involved, and the potential damage that can be inflicted on to aircraft aid mitigation efforts by airfield managers. A record of all animal carcasses recovered from Dublin International Airport, Ireland’s largest civil aviation airport, has been maintained since 1990 where strikes with the endemic Irish hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus), a protected subspecies of mountain hare, are of particular concern despite substantial management efforts from the airfield authority. The first strike event with a hare was recorded in 1997, and strike events have substantially increased since then, with a sharp increase recorded in 2011. Over a 30-year period, a total of 320 strike events with the Irish hare have been recorded at the airfield. To date, no strike event with a hare has resulted in damage to an aircraft. However, carcasses can present as a major attraction to avian scavenger species in addition to posing as a risk of causing foreign object damage in the event of an undetected carcass. Hare strikes are discussed in the context of the rate of civil aircraft movements, possible direct and indirect damage to aircraft, and airfield wildlife hazard management. Here, we demonstrate that not only are strike events increasing by 14% on an annual basis, but that the kinetic energy of such an event has the potential to cause significant damage to an aircraft.
... The number of strikes reported by the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) in the United States has increased from 1851 in 1990 to a record 13,668 in 2014 2 . The increasing birdstrikes cause aircraft grounding and delays, which not only affect travel arrangements but also incur huge security risks and economic losses 3 . The International Federation of Aviation upgraded birdstrikes to an "A" aviation disaster. ...
Birdstrikes are an important threat to aviation safety. A standardized, scientific process for assessing birdstrike risk could prevent accidents, thereby improving the flight safety and reducing economic losses. However, China currently lacks a unified birdstrike risk assessment system. Here, we propose and validate a new model for assessing birdstrike risk in order to fill that need. The model consists of two elements. First, empirical data are collected on the occurrence of birds at the airport and in a surrounding 8 km buffer. Second, each species is evaluated with a risk assessment matrix that takes into account the number of birds, weight, flight altitude, a tendency to cluster, and range of activity. These five factors allow each species to be divided into one of three risk levels: high danger (level 3), moderate danger (level 2) and low danger (level 1). We propose corresponding birdstrike prevention measures for each level. We apply this method to the civil aviation airport in Ordos, China. We found that 20 of the 118 species of birds in and around the airport were high danger birds (level 3). To validate this process, we compared these species with records of birdstrike accidents in a database maintained by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) for 2007–2016. We found that 42% of the species we identified as high risk had been involved in at least one birdstrike accident, and that the remaining 58% belonged to families that appeared in the database. The high degree of overlap gives us high confidence in the practicality of our risk assessment model, which is based on the risk management concept of ISO 31000. Critically, this new model and method for predicting bird strike risk can be replicated at other airports around the world, even where no extensive records have been kept of past birdstrikes.
... Previous facts show more than 30 accidents involving hull losses and fatalities caused by them that happened until now (Metz et al. 2020), and undeniable casualties fatalities on military aviation (Richardson and West 2005). Also, all over the world, every year, bird strikes in the aviation industry, especially commercial transport, suffer financial damage, so that it is irreparable (in terms of losses, cost of complaints, delays, and cancellations) (Allan 2002). ...
In every Airport, management options are facing different issues that may cause problems for aviation operations. Hazard identification and risk modeling must be the priority of airport management. Our research focused on runway safety, so that is very important, and it has various risks. Factors affecting flight safety include runway incursion, runway excursion, loss of control on the ground, bird strike, etc. Collision with wildlife is one of the most critical factors affecting the environment. Our study goal was that bird strikes pose a significant threat to aviation safety worldwide. This issue has two perspectives; first, wildlife significantly affects safety by increasing collision risk with airplanes. Second, the aviation operation causes danger for animals' lives and, consequently, to the environment. To carry out the research method, we attempt to present a historical background and record of wildlife collision and their environmental risks and simultaneous a way to identify these hazards and control their impacts. An essential part of the research results was introducing two hazard identification forms and wildlife risk modeling at Sardar-e-Jangal international airport of the Rasht City of Iran. The risks summarized in this case, from March to September 2019. The results of daily observations showed that a variety of birds always used the runway. Based on observation, safety risk modeling has been done. Most birds that collide with aircraft were of the Pheasants type, as a relatively large bird species. Given all of these factors, the severity of this hazard is catastrophic. So the safety risk index is 5A and unacceptable. Therefore, it is necessary to make specific arrangements, especially, Abundant rivers, canals, and waterways in the Airport, creating diverse vegetation that attracts small insects and animals (rodents, amphibians, etc.) needed food, shelter in vegetation. In addition, making the right environment for childbirth, high rainfall in the Medium to a long-term action plan for each according to local circumstances.
Graphic abstract
... Regarding operational impacts, between six and seven percent of all reports indicate a negative operational effect on the flight [6,7,10]. It is estimated that bird strikes cause annual costs of at least one billion US $ to the worldwide commercial aviation industry [11]. Due to incomplete reporting, these figures have to be interpreted as conservative estimates [12][13][14]. ...
Collisions between birds and aircraft pose a severe threat to aviation and avian safety. To understand and prevent these bird strikes, knowledge about the factors leading to these bird strikes is vital. However, even though it is a global issue, data availability strongly varies and is difficult to put into a global picture. This paper aims to close this gap by providing an in-depth review of studies and statistics to obtain a concise overview of the bird strike problem in commercial aviation on an international level. The paper illustrates the factors contributing to the occurrence and the potential consequences in terms of effect on flight and damage. This is followed by a presentation of the risk-reducing measures currently in place as well as their limitations. The paper closes with an insight into current research investigating novel methods to prevent bird strikes.
... An additional parameter to be considered is the economic impact. Bird strikes cause substantial costs to the aviation industry [24], [25]. On the other hand, the take-off delays generated by the collision avoidance algorithm cause costs as well [26]. ...
This paper presents a collision avoidance algorithm to prevent bird strikes for aircraft departing from an airport. By using trajectory-information of aircraft and birds, the algorithm predicts potential collisions. Collision avoidance is performed by delaying departing aircraft until they can follow a collision-free trajectory. An implementation of this concept has the potential to increase aviation safety by preventing bird strikes but might reduce runway capacity due to delaying aircraft. As a precursor to the feasibility, this study investigates the maximum achievable safety effect at minimum delay costs of such a system by assuming a deterministic world. Therefore, no uncertainties regarding bird and aircraft positions were considered to enable the system to prevent all bird strikes for departing traffic while causing the smallest possible delay. The anticipated effects were studied by running fast-time simulations including three air traffic intensities at a single-runway airport and bird movements from all seasons. The results imply a high potential for the increase in safety at a reasonable reduction in runway capacity. An initial cost-estimate even revealed a strong saving potential for the airlines. Based on these results, a feasibility study of implementing a bird strike advisory system including uncertainties in bird movements as well as probabilistic effects will be performed.
... In 2008, 16 pigeon breeding facilities were removed from this area (Pawlak 2008). Birds are recognized as a hazard to aircraft operations and the presence of any type of bird or wildlife attracting installation in the proximity of the area of the airport is strictly forbidden by any type of existing law (Allan 2000;Heimbs 2011;Linnell, Conover & Ohashi 1999;Boguszewicz & Sala 2011;Nizampatnam 2007;Blokpoel 1976;Dolbeer, Wright & Cleary 2000;EASA 2003). ...
The present paper focuses on spatial management regulations in order to carry out investment in the field of airport facilities. The construction, upgrades, and maintenance of airports falls within the area of responsibility of local authorities. This task poses a great challenge in terms of organisation and finances. On the one hand, an active airport is a municipal landmark and drives local economic, social and cultural development, and on the other, the scale of investment often exceeds the capabilities of local authorities.
The immediate environment of the airport determines its final use and prosperity. The objective of the paper is to review legislation that affects airports and the surrounding communities. The process of urban planning in Lodz and surrounding areas will be presented as a background to the problem of land use management in the vicinity of the airport. This paper seeks to address the following questions: if and how airports have affected urban planning in Lodz, does the land use around the airport prevent the development of Lodz Airport, and how has the situation changed over the time?
It can be assumed that as a result of lack of experience, land resources and size of investments on one hand and legislative dissonance and peculiar practices on the other, aviation infrastructure in Lodz is designed to meet temporary needs and is characterised by achieving short-term goals. Cyclical problems are solved in an intermittent manner and involve all the municipal resources, so there’s little left to secure long-term investments.
... Over a 22-year period from 1990, there was nearly a 6-fold increase in the number of documented bird strikes in the USA with 10,343 incidents recorded in 2012 (Federal Aviation Administration 2012). These collisions cost the USA civilian aviation industry up to US $957 million annually in direct and other monetary losses (Dolbeer et al. 2011) and a conservative estimate of US $1.2 billion per annum globally (Allan 2002). The increase in bird strike incidents is believed to be associated with a number of factors including a rise in passenger aircraft numbers, increasing aircraft flight routes, increasing urban sprawl, changes to land use surrounding many airports and the introduction of much quieter aircraft engines. ...
Birds are a major issue for airport authorities worldwide creating hazards to operating
aircraft. The effect of a species of grass, Schedonorus arundinaceus, colonised by a unique strain
of the mutualistic fungal endophyte Epichloé coenophiala on bird abundance was examined
during a series of trials at two New Zealand airports between 2007 and 2012. Fewer birds were
observed on S. arundinaceus cv. Jackal AR601 plots compared with the original uncultivated
ground cover for many months of the year across many years of trials. This corresponds with
data collected by airport authorities on the number of bird strikes experienced by these airports
before and after the introduction and establishment of S. arundinaceus cv. Jackal AR601. This
plant-fungal association was later developed into the product known as Avanex.
... Not only does bird-strike kill large numbers of birds, it also causes significant financial costs for multiple industries (e.g. wind energy, construction, communications, aerospace, and power industries) (Allan 2000). Bird-strike also impacts permitting and construction in some industries, which is a financial burden, causes delays, and can result in a loss of potential development sites (Snyder and Kaiser 2009). ...
Synopsis:
Each year, billions of birds collide with large human-made structures, such as building, towers, and turbines, causing substantial mortality. Such bird-strike, which is projected to increase, poses risks to populations of birds and causes significant economic costs to many industries. Mitigation technologies have been deployed in an attempt to reduce bird-strike, but have been met with limited success. One reason for bird-strike may be that birds fail to pay adequate attention to the space directly in front of them when in level, cruising flight. A warning signal projected in front of a potential strike surface might attract visual attention and reduce the risks of collision. We tested this idea in captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) that were trained to fly down a long corridor and through an open wooden frame. Once birds were trained, they each experienced three treatments at unpredictable times and in a randomized order: a loud sound field projected immediately in front of the open wooden frame; a mist net (i.e., a benign strike surface) placed inside the wooden frame; and both the loud sound and the mist net. We found that birds slowed their flight approximately 20% more when the sound field was projected in front of the mist net compared with when the mist net was presented alone. This reduction in velocity would equate to a substantial reduction in the force of any collision. In addition to slowing down, birds increased the angle of attack of their body and tail, potentially allowing for more maneuverable flight. Concomitantly, the only cases where birds avoided the mist net occurred in the sound-augmented treatment. Interestingly, the sound field by itself did not demonstrably alter flight. Although our study was conducted in a limited setting, the alterations of flight associated with our sound field has implications for reducing bird-strike in nature and we encourage researchers to test our ideas in field trials.
Airports can be attractive places for fauna to find food resources, especially for large birds, which can cause severe collisions with aircraft. At many Brazilian airports, the Crested Caracara (Caracara plancus) is considered a problem due to the high rates of collisions and sightings in risk areas. Therefore, strategies to manage the species at airports are needed. We use an airport located in Central Brazil as a model system to evaluate the density and space-time distribution of Crested Caracara at the airport and in nearby regions. We studied the fortnightly temporal distribution and density of Crested Caracara in five different areas throughout one year, including the airport. Using circular statistics, we found that the spatiotemporal distribution was uneven throughout the year in all observed areas, with sightings peaking at different times. The airport’s distribution differed from three out of four other areas. The density was higher in the region farthest from the city center. In the airport, the density was one of the lowest. The difference between density and temporal distribution patterns can be explained by the species’ foraging dynamics, which shift according to the availability and abundance of resources, which vary randomly over time in the urban landscape. Our research is the first to evaluate the temporal distribution of problematic bird species in airports and their surroundings. The results can contribute to management plans to mitigate the risk imposed by fauna.
Collisions between birds and aircraft cause bird mortality, economic damage, and aviation safety hazards. One proposed solution to increasing the distance at which birds detect and move away from an approaching aircraft, ultimately mitigating the probability of collision, is through onboard lighting systems. Lights in vehicles have been shown to lead to earlier reactions in some bird species but they could also generate attraction, potentially increasing the probability of collision. Using information on the visual system of the Canada goose ( Branta canadensis ), we developed light stimuli of high chromatic contrast to their eyes. We then conducted a controlled behavioral experiment ( i.e. , single-choice test) to assess the avoidance or attraction responses of Canada geese to LED lights of different wavelengths (blue, 483 nm; red, 631 nm) and pulsing frequencies (steady, pulsing at 2 Hz). Overall, Canada geese tended to avoid the blue light and move towards the red light; however, these responses depended heavily on light exposure order. At the beginning of the experiment, geese tended to avoid the red light. After further exposure the birds developed an attraction to the red light, consistent with the mere exposure effect. The response to the blue light generally followed a U-shape relationship (avoidance, attraction, avoidance) with increasing number of exposures, again consistent with the mere exposure effect, but followed by the satiation effect. Lights pulsing at 2 Hz enhanced avoidance responses under high ambient light conditions; whereas steady lights enhanced avoidance responses under dim ambient light conditions. Our results have implications for the design of lighting systems aimed at mitigating collisions between birds and human objects. LED lights in the blue portion of the spectrum are good candidates for deterrents and lights in the red portion of the spectrum may be counterproductive given the attraction effects with increasing exposure. Additionally, consideration should be given to systems that automatically modify pulsing of the light depending on ambient light intensity to enhance avoidance.
Worldwide, wildlife–aircraft strikes cost more than US$1.2 billion in aircraft damage and downtime and jeopardize the safety of aircrews, passengers, and animals. Radar has long been used to monitor flying animal movements and can be a useful tool for strike mitigation. In the USA, the Avian Hazard Advisory System (AHAS) is an early‐warning system that integrates data from next‐generation weather radar (NEXRAD) weather surveillance radars (WSRs) with historic bird occurrence data to quantify avian activity and forecast the relative bird risk within a ~9.3‐km radius of military and civilian airfields. Bird detection radars (BDRs) with both horizontal‐surveillance and vertical‐scanning components are also available for monitoring local avian activity at airports, but we have little information regarding the congruence of broad‐scale warnings and local avian activity where WSRs and BDRs overlap. We quantified trends in biological activity recorded at hourly intervals by a BDR at an airfield in Texas, USA, and in the most frequently assigned AHAS risk forecasts for that site during the same intervals. We then examined the strength of association between these datasets by season and time of day to determine when information from BDRs might best complement forecasts from the broad‐scale AHAS system. We found a strong overall association between the datasets but weak or moderate agreement during daylight periods, when most strikes occur. NEXRAD WSRs see only limited bird activity near the Earth's surface, where the majority of damaging strikes take place and, not surprisingly, AHAS warnings during our study were best predicted by the BDR at higher altitudes. Our results suggest BDRs might best complement early‐warning systems, like AHAS, as part of integrated strike mitigation plans at airfields with large numbers of hazardous birds flying at low altitudes during daylight hours, especially in late afternoon.
RESOURCE METHODOLOGY OF ONTOLOGICAL DESIGNING
IMMINENT PROBLEMS OF FLIGHT SAFETY AND AVIATION SECURITY
SECOND EDITION
Some animal populations are rapidly increasing in numbers and expanding their ranges, leading to intensified human–wildlife conflicts. A wide range of tools has been developed to repel animals from areas where they are suspected to cause damage. For waterfowl, direct comparisons of multiple repelling methods have so far focused only on species´ presence, total numbers, cost effectiveness or subsequent damage assessments, but not on individual behaviour.
Here, we investigated the individual responses of free‐flying geese to three repelling methods using high‐resolution tracking data. In an experimental setup, tracked individuals were repelled by human approach, gunshot sound or handheld lasers.
We found that repelling success and return time to the field where the repelling took place increased when individuals were repelled multiple times. Travel distances after the repelling events were longer after human approach and gunshot sound compared to the handheld laser treatments. In spring, the probability to return to the same field was higher after repelling with handheld lasers, but no difference between treatments was evident in autumn. We observed no increase in the probability to visit accommodation fields, where geese were allowed to forage and were not repelled, after the repelling events.
Synthesis and applications. We found no strong differences between the three methods regarding the repelling effectiveness and the resulting behaviour of the tracked geese. However, the higher return rates of individuals after repelling with handheld lasers in spring suggest that this method might be less effective in situations with bright sunlight or very large aggregations of geese. Apart from these limitations, we can recommend handheld lasers for repelling as they might reduce energetic losses for the geese and disturbance of non‐target wildlife. Since repelling by gunshot sound and handheld lasers was twice as fast as repelling by human approach, those methods will reduce working hours by 50% and therefore be more cost‐effective in practice.
Collisions with human-made structures are responsible for billions of bird deaths each year, resulting in ecological damage as well as regulatory and financial burdens to many industries. Acoustic signals can alert birds to obstacles in their flight paths in order to mitigate collisions, but these signals should be tailored to the sensory ecology of birds in flight as the effectiveness of various acoustic signals potentially depends on the influence of background noise and the relative ability of various sound types to propagate within a landscape. We measured changes in flight behaviors from zebra finches released into a flight corridor containing a physical obstacle, either in no-additional-sound control conditions or when exposed to one of four acoustic signals. We selected signals to test two frequency ranges (4-6 kHz or 6-8 kHz) and two temporal modulation patterns (broadband or frequency-modulated oscillating) to determine whether any particular combination of sound attributes elicited the strongest collision avoidance behaviors. We found that, relative to control flights, all sound treatments caused birds to maintain a greater distance from hazards and to adjust their flight trajectories before coming close to obstacles. There were no statistical differences among different sound treatments, but consistent trends within the data suggest that the 4-6 kHz frequency-modulated oscillating signal elicited the strongest avoidance behaviors. We conclude that a variety of acoustic signals can be effective as avian collision deterrents, at least in the context in which we tested these birds. These results may be most directly applicable in scenarios when birds are at risk of collisions with solid structures, such as wind turbines and communication towers, as opposed to window collisions or collisions involving artificial lighting. We recommend the incorporation of acoustic signals into multimodal collision deterrents and demonstrate the value of using behavioral data to assess collision risk.
Billions of birds fatally collide with human-made structures each year. These mortalities have consequences for population viability and conservation of endangered species. This source of human-wildlife conflict also places constraints on various industries. Furthermore, with continued increases in urbanization, the incidence of collisions continues to increase. Efforts to reduce collisions have largely focused on making structures more visible to birds through visual stimuli but have shown limited success. We investigated the efficacy of a multimodal combination of acoustic signals with visual cues to reduce avian collisions with tall structures in open airspace. Previous work has demonstrated that a combination of acoustic and visual cues can decrease collision risk of birds in captive flight trials. Extending to field tests, we predicted that novel acoustic signals would combine with the visual cues of tall communication towers to reduce collision risk for birds. We broadcast two audible frequency ranges (4 to 6 and 6 to 8 kHz) in front of tall communication towers at locations in the Atlantic migratory flyway of Virginia during annual migration and observed birds’ flight trajectories around the towers. We recorded an overall 12–16% lower rate of general bird activity surrounding towers during sound treatment conditions, compared with control (no broadcast sound) conditions. Furthermore, in 145 tracked “at-risk” flights, birds reduced flight velocity and deflected flight trajectories to a greater extent when exposed to the acoustic stimuli near the towers. In particular, the 4 to 6 kHz stimulus produced the greater effect sizes, with birds altering flight direction earlier in their trajectories and at larger distances from the towers, perhaps indicating that frequency range is more clearly audible to flying birds. This “acoustic lighthouse” concept reduces the risk of collision for birds in the field and could be applied to reduce collision risk associated with many human-made structures, such as wind turbines and tall buildings.
Airport falconry is a highly effective technique for reducing wildlife strikes on aircraft, which cause great economic losses. As an example, nowadays, wildlife strikes on aircrafts in the air transport industry are estimated to cost between USD 187 and 937 million in the US and USD 1.2 billion worldwide every year. Moreover, the life-threatening danger that wildlife strikes pose to passengers has prompted security stakeholders to develop countermeasures to prevent wildlife impacts near airport transit zones. The experience acquired from international countermeasure analysis reveals that falconry is the most effective technique to create sustainable wildlife exclusion areas. However, its application in airport environments continues to be regarded as an art rather than a technique; falconers modulate raptors’ behavior by using a trial-and-error system of controlling their hunger to stimulate the need for prey. This paper focuses on a case study where such a decision-making process was designed as a dynamic system applied to feeding planning for raptors that can be used to set an efficient baseline to optimize raptor responses without damaging existing wildlife. The results were validated by comparing the outputs of the model and the falconer’s trial-and-error system, which revealed that the proposed model was 58.15% more precise.
Collisions between ships and whales raise environmental, safety, and economic concerns. The management of whale-ship collisions, however, lacks a holistic approach, unlike the management of other types of wildlife-vehicle collisions, which have been more standardized for several years now. In particular, safety and economic factors are routinely omitted in the assessment ofproposedmitigation solutions to ship strikes, possibly leading to under-compliance and a lack ofacceptance from the stakeholders. In this study, we estimate the probability of ship damage due to a whale-ship collision. While the probability ofdamage is low, the costs could be important, suggesting that property damages are significant enough to be taken into considerationwhen assessing solutions. Lessons learned from other types of wildlife-vehicle collisions suggest that the whale-ship collision should be managed as wildlife-aircraft collisions. For several years, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) manages collisions between aircrafts and wildlife at the international level. We advocate that its United Nations counterpart, namely the International Maritime Organization (IMO), get more involved in the whale-ship collision management. Further research is needed to more precisely quantify the costs incurred to ships from damages caused by whale-ship collisions.
Noise produced by aircraft is a concern for human populations and its production is controlled by specific laws around the world. Here, we address the conflicting existence of Natural Protected Areas (PAs) of high priority conservation located within noise-impacted areas of Brazilian airports and discuss how noise can generate physiological stress and jeopardize wildlife breeding. Further, we review how this subject has been handled around the world, and highlight the need to initiate a discussion focused on Brazilian legislation, setting in motion an evidence-oriented policy that considers the needs of wildlife for an environmental protection area and for the control of human produced-noise pollution.
The aerosphere is utilized by billions of birds, moving for different reasons and from short to great distances spanning tens of thousands of kilometres. The aerosphere, however, is also utilized by aviation which leads to increasing conflicts in and around airfields as well as en‐route. Collisions between birds and aircraft cost billions of euros annually and, in some cases, result in the loss of human lives. Simultaneously, aviation has diverse negative impacts on wildlife. During avian migration, due to the sheer numbers of birds in the air, the risk of bird strikes becomes particularly acute for low‐flying aircraft, especially during military training flights. Over the last few decades, air forces across Europe and the Middle East have been developing solutions that integrate ecological research and aviation policy to reduce mutual negative interactions between birds and aircraft. In this paper we (1) provide a brief overview of the systems currently used in military aviation to monitor bird migration movements in the aerosphere, (2) provide a brief overview of the impact of bird strikes on military low‐level operations, and (3) estimate the effectiveness of migration monitoring systems in bird strike avoidance. We compare systems from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Israel, which are all areas that Palearctic migrants cross twice a year in huge numbers. We show that the en‐route bird strikes have decreased considerably in countries where avoidance systems have been implemented, and that consequently bird strikes are on average 45% less frequent in countries with implemented avoidance systems in place. We conclude by showing the roles of operational weather radar networks, forecast models and international and interdisciplinary collaboration to create safer skies for aviation and birds.
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Collision rates between aircraft and birds have been rising worldwide. The increases in both air traffic and population sizes of large-bodied birds in cities lacking urban planning result in human-wildlife conflicts, economic loss and even lethal casualties. Black Vultures ( Coragyps atratus ) represent the most hazardous bird to Brazilian civil and military aviation on the basis of their flight behavior, body mass and consequently physical damage to aircraft following collisions. This study investigated how storage apparatus and type of organic residue discarded in public street markets modulate the spatial distribution and abundance of urban Black Vultures in the largest city in the Amazon (Manaus, Brazil). We estimated Black Vulture abundance in relation to the type of solid human waste (animal or plant), the type of waste storage containers and market sizes in terms of the number of vendor stalls at 20 public markets. We also visually quantified the abundance of Black Vultures in urban markets in relation to air traffic. Our results suggest that urban solid waste storage procedures currently used (or the lack thereof) are related to the occurrence and abundance of Black Vultures. Moreover, storage type and the proportion of animal protein (red meat and fish) within rubbish bins directly affects foraging aggregations in vultures. We recommend that policymakers should invest more efforts in building larger and more resistant closable waste containers to avoid organic solid waste exposure. We also identified five outdoor markets as urgent priorities to improve waste disposal. Finally, our waste management guidelines would not only reduce aviation collision risks but also benefit human health and well-being in most cities.
The formalized parameters of bird hazard assessment at the aerodrome are presented. The size of total biomass of all birds that are in a zone of aircraft movement reflects the aggregate characteristic of ornithological hazard. This is a dynamic parameter, its dimensionality is kg/hour‧km2. The size of biomass is differentiated on high-altitude layers and the directions of its movement. In addition, it is necessary to estimate activity of each bird species at the aerodrome as component parts of bird hazard. Its dimensionality is individuals/hour‧km2. One more parameter of aerodrome bird hazard in the assessment process of activity of each bird species is the behavior pattern of birds in aerodrome airspace. This parameter will allow to reveal the sources of bird arrivals at the airfield and to detect the causes of it. Assessment of this share is necessary to choose the effective measures to decrease bird strike risk. The birds recording technique at airfield has been designed to obtain quantitative values of main parameters of bird hazard. The birds recording is carried out from the observation points located on the opposite sides of the runway. The birds recording technique is based on visual detection of birds, identification of species, sex and age determination, expert estimate of altitude and direction of their movement. Except the flying birds, the foraging and resting birds on the ground are also considered. The contribution of these birds to the aggregate value of ornithological hazard is bigger than overflying birds. The birds recording technique is described in detail. The norms and frequency of birds recording to obtain data on daily and seasonal dynamics of aerodrome bird hazard are substantiated. The algorithm of processing the results of birds recording and calculation of the main parameters value of bird hazard is stated. Gradations of bird hazard and relevant measures to decrease quantity of birds at airfield are proposed.
As our use of the aerosphere is increasing, so too are the conflicts that arise between our activities and those of aerial wildlife. As a result, numerous stakeholders are interested in monitoring, modelling and forecasting the aerial movements of animals in the context of anthropogenic impacts. Birds can pose a serious threat to aviation, resulting in delays, damage to aircraft, lost flight hours and even the loss of lives. Military and civil aviation use a range of measures to monitor the movements of birds and to try and reduce the risk of wildlife strikes. Increasingly, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles are sharing an already crowded airspace, although just how problematic this may become remains to be seen. The wind energy industry, another important stakeholder, may pose serious threats for aerial wildlife, due to collisions with turbines, or the extra energetic costs and risks entailed with avoiding wind farms. Similarly, other tall structures pose a threat for aerial wildlife. In this chapter, we describe the nature of these different conflicts and provide an overview of the factors that influence the risk associated with aerial movement. We also describe how movement is being studied to provide essential information for these different stakeholders and discuss several of the solutions that have been implemented to reduce potential conflicts. We conclude by discussing future perspectives for reducing conflicts by integrating different technologies for studying aerial movement, diverse approaches for modelling movement and working across international borders.
Background
Sound decisions on control actions for established invasive alien species (IAS) require information on ecological as well as socio-economic impact of the species and of its management. Cost-benefit analysis provides part of this information, yet has received relatively little attention in the scientific literature on IAS.
Methods
We apply a bio-economic model in a cost-benefit analysis framework to greater Canada goose Branta canadensis , an IAS with documented social, economic and ecological impacts in Flanders (northern Belgium). We compared a business as usual (BAU) scenario which involved non-coordinated hunting and egg destruction with an enhanced scenario based on a continuation of these activities but supplemented with coordinated capture of moulting birds. To assess population growth under the BAU scenario we fitted a logistic growth model to the observed pre-moult capture population. Projected damage costs included water eutrophication and damage to cultivated grasslands and were calculated for all scenarios. Management costs of the moult captures were based on a representative average of the actual cost of planning and executing moult captures.
Results
Comparing the scenarios with different capture rates, different costs for eutrophication and various discount rates, showed avoided damage costs were in the range of 21.15 M€ to 45.82 M€ under the moult capture scenario. The lowest value for the avoided costs applied to the scenario where we lowered the capture rate by 10%. The highest value occurred in the scenario where we lowered the real discount rate from 4% to 2.5%.
Discussion
The reduction in damage costs always outweighed the additional management costs of moult captures. Therefore, additional coordinated moult captures could be applied to limit the negative economic impact of greater Canada goose at a regional scale. We further discuss the strengths and weaknesses of our approach and its potential application to other IAS.
Grasslands represent 39% to 50% of U.S. airport properties, and a recent management framework recommended exploiting both antipredator behaviours and food resources in airport grasslands to curb use by birds considered hazardous to aviation safety. We evaluated framework predictions empirically by exposing unsated and sated brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) to visually obstructive (∼13-cm vegetation height; tall), higher-risk plots versus unobstructive ( < 8 cm vegetation height; short) plots, and relative to prey resources. We predicted that 1) unsated birds (unfed since the previous day) would be present in greater numbers and forage more in short than tall vegetation plots 24 h post-mowing because of invertebrate flush resulting from mowing; 2) unsated birds would show increasing numbers and foraging in tall plots >24 h post-mowing because of decreasing food abundance and availability in short plots; and 3) sated birds would be present in greater numbers and forage more in short vegetation overall, because vigilance needs would exceed that of food needs. We evaluated effects of visual obstruction (a metric correlated with both vegetation height and insect density) on behaviours within plots via generalized linear mixed models. Unsated cowbirds showed nearly equal numbers in tall and short plots ( [SE] individuals using tall plots: 9.5 [5.1]; short plots: 9.8 [5.1], P = 1.00, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test), and foraged nearly equally in both plots 24 h post-mowing (tall plots: 6.9 [4.7] individuals; short plots: 6.6 [4.1] individuals, P = 0.94). Prey availability was likely enhanced within short plots within 24 h of mowing, but possibly in adjacent tall plots as well. Over the course of the experiment (8 to 9 days) unsated cowbirds showed no difference in numbers between plots (tall plots: 8.2 [4.9] individuals; short plots: 11.4 [4.9] individuals, P = 0.13), but foraged more in short plots (tall plots: 4.4 [3.8] individuals; short plots: 7.8 [4.2] individuals, P = 0.01); visual obstruction was significantly and negatively correlated with foraging in tall plots. Sated cowbirds selected for short plots (use of tall plots: 5.9 [4.2] individuals; short plots: 11.7 [4.6] individuals, P < 0.01; foraging in tall plots: 4.1 [3.3] individuals; short plots: 8.2 [4.6] individuals, P < 0.01). Our findings support recommendations for use of visually obstructive vegetation in combination with proactive control of food resources to reduce use of airport grasslands by birds that select against visually obstructive cover.
Larus atricilla comprised 52% of the bird strikes from 1988-1990, averaging 156 aircraft strikes/yr. This species is present from May to September in association with 7600-nest colony (1990) adjacent to the airport. Other gulls present year-round, comprised 35% of the strikes. Another 52 species of birds comprised the remaining 13% of strikes. People with shotguns stationed on airport boundaries shot gulls flying over the airport from mid-May to early August killed 26 038 laughing gulls and 2314 other gulls flying over the airport. The shooting program substantially reduced the number of strikes between all species of gulls and aircraft, by 70% in 1991 and 89% in 1992 relative to the previous three years. The laughing gull nesting colony in its present location presents an unacceptable hazard to aircraft. The shooting program, although effective in reducing the number of gulls struck by aircraft, did not condition gulls to avoid flying over the airport. A long-term solution is to relocate the colony from Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. However, the interim shooting program should continue on the airport to minimize the number of gull strikes until the colony is relocated. -from Authors
A total of 286 serious bird-related accidents to military aircraft from 32 countries (1950-99 period) are listed here or in two earlier papers. Serious accidents are those where an aircraft was destroyed or people were killed. This paper lists 59 "new" birdstrike accidents from the 32 countries in 1950-99, and provides more details for 110 accidents listed previously. The primary countries considered include most of those in Europe (east to Russia), Canada, U.S.A., Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. For most countries, accident data were provided or corroborated by military Flight Safety Offices, local birdstrike specialists, or aviation historians. Unofficial sources were also used extensively. Records are still incomplete to varying degrees, depending on country. Of these 286 serious bird-related accidents, at least 63 were fatal, with at least 141 deaths (137 on the aircraft; 4 on the ground). The 1990s were the most costly decade, with at least 68 bird-related fatalities. Countries with maximum known numbers of bird-related accidents in 1950-99 are Germany (60 aircraft from at least 8 countries), U.K. (47), and U.S.A. (46+). Most cases involved jet fighter or attack aircraft with one engine (at least 179 accidents) or two engines (40+), and jet trainers (34+). Among the other military aircraft lost since 1950 were seven 4-engined aircraft (three in the 1990s). Since 1950, many additional serious birdstrike accidents to military aircraft have been reported in Asia (especially India), and a few in Africa and South America. These reports, most unofficial and of uncertain reliability, are summarized briefly.
Regular observations on thirteen airfields showed that birds were fewer and occurred less frequently on long grass (15-20 cm) than on short grass (5-10 cm) areas. This happened with the more hazardous species on British airfields viz, lapwing, woodpigeon, rook and starling and especially gulls. Other species were also scarcer in long grass, except for kestrels and pipits on three airfields and nesting terns on one coastal airfield. On two airfields where a good stand of long grass could not be grown on the experimental areas the bird numbers were the same as on short grass. The growing of long grass does not eliminate birds but generally reduces numbers and is therefore an effective component of bird control measures on airfields.
Authorities responsible for the safety of aircraft have for a number of years been very concerned with the dangers and the damage caused by aircraft striking birds while in flight, particular since the introduction of the jet engine. Methods of reducing this risk have been sought, which have brought about the method of grass management described in this paper.
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