RT29: ‘Airport ornithology’: Studies aimed at reducing bird strike problems.

¹Royal Netherlands Air Force, The Hague, The Netherlands, e-mailhans.blokpoel@ec.gc.ca, ²Canadian Wildlife Service, Nepean, Ontario, Canada

Blokpoel, H. & Buurma, L. 1999. ‘Airport ornithology’: Studies aimed at reducing bird strike problems. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 3215. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

Bird/aircraft collisions continue to be a major problem for the aviation industry. Especially in civil aviation, the majority of bird strikes occur at or near airports. Several major airports have commissioned studies to learn more about abundance, distribution, behaviour and ecology of birds present at these airports in order to develop programs to reduce the incidence of bird strikes. RTD participants will briefly report on their airport studies. The RTD will then discuss the philosophy, goals, methods, results and operational usefulness of such studies and will review land use patterns at and near airports. Of particular interest is the potential of managing airport environments for bird species that are of conservation concern, but that are not likely to cause serious collisions with aircraft.