Research Scientific Papers
Abundance of Gulls and Other Birds at Landfills in Northern Ohio~ Belnant J.L., T.W. Seamans, S.W. Gabrey and R.A. Dolbeer
We estimated the abundance of birds at three landfills in northern Ohio from May 1991-July 1992 recording 699,350 individuals of 42 species. Gulls (Larus spp.) comprised 94.5% of the birds recorded followed by European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, 5.0%) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura, 0.3%). Gulls were primarily of two species, ring-billed (L. delawarenesis, 74.49%) and herring (L. argentatus, 25.50%).
View the Document
An Integrated Approach to the Management of Urban Canada Goose Populations~ Fairaizl S.D.
Canada geese (Branta canadensis) in the Reno-Sparks, Nevada urban area have become a problem of increasing significance. Nuisance complaints from city parks, golf courses, and housing developments augment the bird hazard to aircraft operations at the local airport. Eleven goose collisions with commercial aircraft, between January 1986 and April 1989, caused $250,000 in structural damages but no injuries or loss of human life.
View the Document
Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United State 1990-2012~Dolbeer R.A., S.E. Wright, J. Weller, and M.J. Begier.
This report presents a summary analysis of data from the FAA’s National Wildlife Strike
Database for the 22-year period 1990 through 2012.
View the Document
Bird Use of Stormwater-Management Ponds: Decreasing Avian Attractants on Airports~ Blackwell B.F., L.M. Schafer, D.A. Helon, and M.A. Linnell
Characteristics of stormwater-management ponds that contribute to avian hazards to aviation at airports have not been quantified. We selected 30 stormwater-management ponds (average 0.1 ha), approximately 50km from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, as surrogates to on-airport facilities. We conducted 46 weeks of avian surveys (between 14 February 2005 and 17 February 2006) and evaluated model fit of 6 a priori models relative to pond use by an avian group via Kullback–Leibler information. Our full model, composed of pond surface area (sa), ratio of area of open water to area of emergent and woody vegetation (ow:ew), perimeter irregularity, and geographic isolation, was among 3 best approximating models for pond use by 9 of 13 groups (within Anatidae, Ardeidae, Charadriidae, Columbidae, Accipitridae, Laridae,and Rallidae) considered.
View the Document
Collisions of Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) and Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus)~ Blackwell B.F. and S.E. Wright
From 1990 through 2003, 52,493 wildlife collisions with aircraft were reported to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); 97% of these incidents involved birds. The approximate cost to the civil aviation industry in the U.S.A. due to collisions of birds with aircraft (hereafter referred to as bird strikes) was $163.51 million in direct monetary losses and associated costs for the 14yr- period (Cleary et al. 2004).
View the Document
Community Dynamic Study of Insect Foraging Guild at CCK Airforce Base in Taiwan~ Yo S. and C. Lee
Air insect-foraging birds are proficient air foraging creatures which are active among 0 to 200 feet above ground at the airport field. Since they share the sky with aircraft, they have been a safety hazard at the air force base in Taiwan. Current bird dispersal methods used in the field failed to exclude them out of the runways at the airport. Therefore, it is important to use habitat management technologies to reduce their population around the airport for decreasing the risk of bird strike on aircraft.
View the Document
Does Tall Grass Reduce Bird Numbers on Airports? Results of Pen Test with Canada Geese and Field Trials at Two Airports~ Seamans T.W., R.A. Dolbeer, M.S. Carrara, and R.B Chipman
A suggested management plan to reduce bird numbers and bird-aircraft collisions at airports is to maintain grass 15-25 cm high. However, 3 studies conducted in the United States in 1998 indicated tall-grass management may not result in fewer birds. First, Canada geese (Branta canadensis), in a replicated experiment lasting 9 days in 6 pens in Ohio, showed no preference (P = 0.53) for short-grass (4-11 cm) over tall-grass (16-21 cm) plots. Second, we compared bird use of 8 tall- (23.3 ± 0.5 cm high, x ± SE) and 8 short- (14.3 ± 0.2) grass plots totaling 46 ha at Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio on 15 days from 20 April-9 June.
View the Document
Bird and Other Wildlife Hazards at Airports: Liability Issues for Airport Managers~ Dolbeer R.A.
Aircraft collisions with birds (bird strikes) and other wildlife are a serious economic and safety problem. The problem has increased in the past decade because of expanding populations of many wildlife species that are hazardous to aviation (Dolbeer and Eschenfelder 2002). Cleary et al. (2004) estimated wildlife strikes (98% involving birds) cost the civil aviation industry in the USA about $500 million/year, 1990-2003.
View the Document
Evaluation of the Efficacy of Products and Techniques for Airport Bird Control ~ Harris R.E. and R.A. Davis
Ever since the recognition of birds as hazards to aircraft safety, there has been serious interest in techniques and products that could control this hazard. Indeed, the need for effective bird control measures at airports and elsewhere has only increased over the years. The constantly expanding level of air traffic, and the development of larger, faster, and quieter jet-engined aircraft, has raised the risk of serious bird strikes.
View the Document
Habitat Management Approaches for Reducing Wildlife Use of Airfields~ Barras S.C. and T.W. Seamans
Wildlife-aircraft collisions (wildlife strikes) pose safety risks to aircraft and cost civil aviation over $390 million annually in the USA We reviewed published studies to summarize findings on habitat management techniques that have shown potential for wildlife strike reduction. Habitat components that may attract wildlife to airports include food, cover, water, and loafing areas.
View the Document
Height Distribution of Birds Recorded by Collisions with Civil Aircraft~ Dolbeer R.A.
The National Wildlife Strike Database for Civil Aviation in the United States contained 38,961 reports of aircraft collisions with birds (bird strikes) from 1990–2004 in which the report indicated the height above ground level (AGL). I analyzed these strike reports to determine the distribution of all strikes and those strikes causing substantial damage to aircraft by height. For the 26% of strikes above 500 feet (152 m) AGL (n¼10,143), a simple negative exponential model, with height as the independent variable, explained 99% of the variation in number of bird strikes per 1,000-foot (305-m) interval. Strikes declined consistently by 32% every 1,000 feet from 501–20,500 feet (153–6,248 m).
View the Document
Insects, Vegetation, and the Control of Laughing Gulls (Larus atricilla) at Kennedy International Airport, New York City~ Buckley, P.A. and M.G. McCarthy
In response to a purported ‘bird-strike problem’ at J.F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, we examined short (5cm) and long (45cm) grass heights as gull deterrents, in a randomized-block experiment. Vegetative cover, numbers of adult insects and of larval beetles (suspected on-airport food of the gulls) were sampled in the six-black, 36-plot study area, as well as gut contents of adult and downy young gulls in the immediately adjacent colony of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
View the Document
Jackson County Airport: Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Policy, Plan and Procedure May 2010
The Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Plan will identify both short and long term strategies for mitigating the hazard that certain species of wildlife present to aircraft operations. Additionally, this plan will outline policies and procedures to guide airport management and operational personnel in implementing both short and long term wildlife control measures. Only current Airport employees are authorized to utilize lethal measures for wildlife hazard mitigation.
View the Document
Wildlife Hazard Assessment for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport~ Servoss W., R.M. Engeman, S.Faiaizl., J.L. Cummings, and N.P. Groninger
We examined wildlife abundance, distribution, and movement patterns at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and within an 8-km radius to assess current air-strike hazards, and to provide baseline information for projecting changes in air-strike hazards as land-use patterns around PHX change. We found that water sources at or near PHX especially induced wildlife movement patterns that put air traffic at risk. This was particularly true of the Salt River bed adjacent to the airport, which also is a natural fight corridor for birds.
View the Document
Ranking the Hazard Level of Wildlife Species to Aviation~ Dolbeer R.A., S.E. Wright, and E.C. Cleary.
Aircraft collisions with birds and other wildlife are a serious economic and safety problem. However, all wildlife species are not equally hazardous to aviation. In implementing programs to reduce wildlife hazards, airport operators need guidance on the relative risk posed by various species so that management actions can be prioritized by the most hazardous species.
View the Document
A Review of Falconry as A Bird-Hazing Technique~ Erickson W.A., R.E. Marsh, and T.P. Salmon
The use of trained falcons and hawks for dispersing pest birds has been mainly limited to airports in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in North America to prevent bird/aircraft strikes. The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) are the raptors used most often. These trained birds can effectively disperse gulls (Larus spp.) and a variety of other pest bird species, although other bird-scaring methods are often equally or more effective and economical. Because of the scarcity of trained raptors and handlers, their use is limited to special situations such as airports where the incidence of bird strikes is potentially high and all possible measures must be taken to assure aircraft safety.
View the Document
Using DNA Barcodes to Identify Bird Species Involved in Birdstrikes~ Dove. C.J, N.C. Rotzel, M. Heacker, and L.A. Weigt
We determined the effectiveness of using mitochondrial DNA barcodes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 [CO1]) to identify bird-aircraft collision (birdstrike) cases that lacked sufficient feather evidence for morphological diagnosis. From September through December 2006, 821 samples from birdstrike events occurring in the United State were submitted for DNA analysis. We successfully amplified a CO1 DNA barcode product from 554 (67.5%) of the samples; 267 (32.5%) did not contain viable DNA and depended on morphological methods (microscopy) for Order or Family level identification.
View the Document
The Costs of Bird Strikes and Bird Strike Prevention~ Allan J.R.
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.
View the Document
Taking Habitat Management One Step Further~ Dekker A.
An integrated approach to bird strike prevention generally consists of habitat management, supplemented with active bird control. Habitat management is generally defined as the reduction of the numbers of problem species by removing the attracting conditions without creating new attractions for other species. Typically, habitat management is aimed at reducing (access to) food, water, rest, and shelter in the runway environment.
View the Document
ACRP 32, A Guidebook for Addressing Aircraft/Wildlife Hazards at General Aviation Airports
ACRP 32, A Guidebook for Addressing Aircraft/Wildlife Hazards at General Aviation Airports is an excellent FAA-funded report produced by the Transportation Research Board's Airport Cooperative Research Program.
All airports - GA and commercial - have a legal responsibility to provide a safe aircraft operating environment. ACRP Report 32 is a wildlife management guidebook for general aviation airport personnel designed to assist them in providing the safest environment possible in an efficient manner.
View the Document
Abundance of Gulls and Other Birds at Landfills in Northern Ohio~ Belnant J.L., T.W. Seamans, S.W. Gabrey and R.A. Dolbeer
We estimated the abundance of birds at three landfills in northern Ohio from May 1991-July 1992 recording 699,350 individuals of 42 species. Gulls (Larus spp.) comprised 94.5% of the birds recorded followed by European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris, 5.0%) and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura, 0.3%). Gulls were primarily of two species, ring-billed (L. delawarenesis, 74.49%) and herring (L. argentatus, 25.50%).
View the Document
An Integrated Approach to the Management of Urban Canada Goose Populations~ Fairaizl S.D.
Canada geese (Branta canadensis) in the Reno-Sparks, Nevada urban area have become a problem of increasing significance. Nuisance complaints from city parks, golf courses, and housing developments augment the bird hazard to aircraft operations at the local airport. Eleven goose collisions with commercial aircraft, between January 1986 and April 1989, caused $250,000 in structural damages but no injuries or loss of human life.
View the Document
Wildlife Strikes to Civil Aircraft in the United State 1990-2012~Dolbeer R.A., S.E. Wright, J. Weller, and M.J. Begier.
This report presents a summary analysis of data from the FAA’s National Wildlife Strike
Database for the 22-year period 1990 through 2012.
View the Document
Bird Use of Stormwater-Management Ponds: Decreasing Avian Attractants on Airports~ Blackwell B.F., L.M. Schafer, D.A. Helon, and M.A. Linnell
Characteristics of stormwater-management ponds that contribute to avian hazards to aviation at airports have not been quantified. We selected 30 stormwater-management ponds (average 0.1 ha), approximately 50km from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, as surrogates to on-airport facilities. We conducted 46 weeks of avian surveys (between 14 February 2005 and 17 February 2006) and evaluated model fit of 6 a priori models relative to pond use by an avian group via Kullback–Leibler information. Our full model, composed of pond surface area (sa), ratio of area of open water to area of emergent and woody vegetation (ow:ew), perimeter irregularity, and geographic isolation, was among 3 best approximating models for pond use by 9 of 13 groups (within Anatidae, Ardeidae, Charadriidae, Columbidae, Accipitridae, Laridae,and Rallidae) considered.
View the Document
Collisions of Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) and Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus)~ Blackwell B.F. and S.E. Wright
From 1990 through 2003, 52,493 wildlife collisions with aircraft were reported to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); 97% of these incidents involved birds. The approximate cost to the civil aviation industry in the U.S.A. due to collisions of birds with aircraft (hereafter referred to as bird strikes) was $163.51 million in direct monetary losses and associated costs for the 14yr- period (Cleary et al. 2004).
View the Document
Community Dynamic Study of Insect Foraging Guild at CCK Airforce Base in Taiwan~ Yo S. and C. Lee
Air insect-foraging birds are proficient air foraging creatures which are active among 0 to 200 feet above ground at the airport field. Since they share the sky with aircraft, they have been a safety hazard at the air force base in Taiwan. Current bird dispersal methods used in the field failed to exclude them out of the runways at the airport. Therefore, it is important to use habitat management technologies to reduce their population around the airport for decreasing the risk of bird strike on aircraft.
View the Document
Does Tall Grass Reduce Bird Numbers on Airports? Results of Pen Test with Canada Geese and Field Trials at Two Airports~ Seamans T.W., R.A. Dolbeer, M.S. Carrara, and R.B Chipman
A suggested management plan to reduce bird numbers and bird-aircraft collisions at airports is to maintain grass 15-25 cm high. However, 3 studies conducted in the United States in 1998 indicated tall-grass management may not result in fewer birds. First, Canada geese (Branta canadensis), in a replicated experiment lasting 9 days in 6 pens in Ohio, showed no preference (P = 0.53) for short-grass (4-11 cm) over tall-grass (16-21 cm) plots. Second, we compared bird use of 8 tall- (23.3 ± 0.5 cm high, x ± SE) and 8 short- (14.3 ± 0.2) grass plots totaling 46 ha at Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio on 15 days from 20 April-9 June.
View the Document
Bird and Other Wildlife Hazards at Airports: Liability Issues for Airport Managers~ Dolbeer R.A.
Aircraft collisions with birds (bird strikes) and other wildlife are a serious economic and safety problem. The problem has increased in the past decade because of expanding populations of many wildlife species that are hazardous to aviation (Dolbeer and Eschenfelder 2002). Cleary et al. (2004) estimated wildlife strikes (98% involving birds) cost the civil aviation industry in the USA about $500 million/year, 1990-2003.
View the Document
Evaluation of the Efficacy of Products and Techniques for Airport Bird Control ~ Harris R.E. and R.A. Davis
Ever since the recognition of birds as hazards to aircraft safety, there has been serious interest in techniques and products that could control this hazard. Indeed, the need for effective bird control measures at airports and elsewhere has only increased over the years. The constantly expanding level of air traffic, and the development of larger, faster, and quieter jet-engined aircraft, has raised the risk of serious bird strikes.
View the Document
Habitat Management Approaches for Reducing Wildlife Use of Airfields~ Barras S.C. and T.W. Seamans
Wildlife-aircraft collisions (wildlife strikes) pose safety risks to aircraft and cost civil aviation over $390 million annually in the USA We reviewed published studies to summarize findings on habitat management techniques that have shown potential for wildlife strike reduction. Habitat components that may attract wildlife to airports include food, cover, water, and loafing areas.
View the Document
Height Distribution of Birds Recorded by Collisions with Civil Aircraft~ Dolbeer R.A.
The National Wildlife Strike Database for Civil Aviation in the United States contained 38,961 reports of aircraft collisions with birds (bird strikes) from 1990–2004 in which the report indicated the height above ground level (AGL). I analyzed these strike reports to determine the distribution of all strikes and those strikes causing substantial damage to aircraft by height. For the 26% of strikes above 500 feet (152 m) AGL (n¼10,143), a simple negative exponential model, with height as the independent variable, explained 99% of the variation in number of bird strikes per 1,000-foot (305-m) interval. Strikes declined consistently by 32% every 1,000 feet from 501–20,500 feet (153–6,248 m).
View the Document
Insects, Vegetation, and the Control of Laughing Gulls (Larus atricilla) at Kennedy International Airport, New York City~ Buckley, P.A. and M.G. McCarthy
In response to a purported ‘bird-strike problem’ at J.F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, we examined short (5cm) and long (45cm) grass heights as gull deterrents, in a randomized-block experiment. Vegetative cover, numbers of adult insects and of larval beetles (suspected on-airport food of the gulls) were sampled in the six-black, 36-plot study area, as well as gut contents of adult and downy young gulls in the immediately adjacent colony of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
View the Document
Jackson County Airport: Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Policy, Plan and Procedure May 2010
The Wildlife Hazard Mitigation Plan will identify both short and long term strategies for mitigating the hazard that certain species of wildlife present to aircraft operations. Additionally, this plan will outline policies and procedures to guide airport management and operational personnel in implementing both short and long term wildlife control measures. Only current Airport employees are authorized to utilize lethal measures for wildlife hazard mitigation.
View the Document
Wildlife Hazard Assessment for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport~ Servoss W., R.M. Engeman, S.Faiaizl., J.L. Cummings, and N.P. Groninger
We examined wildlife abundance, distribution, and movement patterns at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) and within an 8-km radius to assess current air-strike hazards, and to provide baseline information for projecting changes in air-strike hazards as land-use patterns around PHX change. We found that water sources at or near PHX especially induced wildlife movement patterns that put air traffic at risk. This was particularly true of the Salt River bed adjacent to the airport, which also is a natural fight corridor for birds.
View the Document
Ranking the Hazard Level of Wildlife Species to Aviation~ Dolbeer R.A., S.E. Wright, and E.C. Cleary.
Aircraft collisions with birds and other wildlife are a serious economic and safety problem. However, all wildlife species are not equally hazardous to aviation. In implementing programs to reduce wildlife hazards, airport operators need guidance on the relative risk posed by various species so that management actions can be prioritized by the most hazardous species.
View the Document
A Review of Falconry as A Bird-Hazing Technique~ Erickson W.A., R.E. Marsh, and T.P. Salmon
The use of trained falcons and hawks for dispersing pest birds has been mainly limited to airports in Europe and, to a lesser extent, in North America to prevent bird/aircraft strikes. The peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and the goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) are the raptors used most often. These trained birds can effectively disperse gulls (Larus spp.) and a variety of other pest bird species, although other bird-scaring methods are often equally or more effective and economical. Because of the scarcity of trained raptors and handlers, their use is limited to special situations such as airports where the incidence of bird strikes is potentially high and all possible measures must be taken to assure aircraft safety.
View the Document
Using DNA Barcodes to Identify Bird Species Involved in Birdstrikes~ Dove. C.J, N.C. Rotzel, M. Heacker, and L.A. Weigt
We determined the effectiveness of using mitochondrial DNA barcodes (cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 [CO1]) to identify bird-aircraft collision (birdstrike) cases that lacked sufficient feather evidence for morphological diagnosis. From September through December 2006, 821 samples from birdstrike events occurring in the United State were submitted for DNA analysis. We successfully amplified a CO1 DNA barcode product from 554 (67.5%) of the samples; 267 (32.5%) did not contain viable DNA and depended on morphological methods (microscopy) for Order or Family level identification.
View the Document
The Costs of Bird Strikes and Bird Strike Prevention~ Allan J.R.
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.
View the Document
Taking Habitat Management One Step Further~ Dekker A.
An integrated approach to bird strike prevention generally consists of habitat management, supplemented with active bird control. Habitat management is generally defined as the reduction of the numbers of problem species by removing the attracting conditions without creating new attractions for other species. Typically, habitat management is aimed at reducing (access to) food, water, rest, and shelter in the runway environment.
View the Document
ACRP 32, A Guidebook for Addressing Aircraft/Wildlife Hazards at General Aviation Airports
ACRP 32, A Guidebook for Addressing Aircraft/Wildlife Hazards at General Aviation Airports is an excellent FAA-funded report produced by the Transportation Research Board's Airport Cooperative Research Program.
All airports - GA and commercial - have a legal responsibility to provide a safe aircraft operating environment. ACRP Report 32 is a wildlife management guidebook for general aviation airport personnel designed to assist them in providing the safest environment possible in an efficient manner.
View the Document