National Wildlife Research Center

FY 2019 Reducing Wildlife Hazards to Aircraft and Other Vehicles

Contact Information: National Wildlife Research Center Scientists Study Wildlife Hazards On and Near Airports Drs. Brad Blackwell & Brian Washburn Co-Acting Project Leaders Ohio Field Station Wildlife Services' (WS) National Wildlife Research Center (NWRC) is the only Federal research 6100 Columbus Avenue organization devoted exclusively to resolving conflicts between people and wildlife through the Sandusky, OH 44870 development of effective, selective, and socially responsible methods, tools, and techniques. The Phone: (419) 625-0242 NWRC field station in Sandusky, Ohio, is dedicated to providing a scientific foundation for WS and Email:[email protected] Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) programs that reduce wildlife collisions with aircraft. [email protected] Website: www.aphis.usda.gov/ Consequently, the scientists work closely with WS airport programs throughout the nation, the FAA, wildlifedamage/nwrc/ and the U.S. Department of Defense.

To be certified for commercial passenger traffic by the FAA, many U.S. airports are required to develop and implement a wildlife hazard management plan. The FAA strongly discourages any management practice that might create wildlife hazards at airports. NWRC scientists conduct research to provide Groups Affected: guidance to the FAA, WS, and the general public regarding mitigation of wildlife-aircraft strike hazards. More specifically, NWRC research is focused on understanding the nature of wildlife hazards on and Airline passengers, pilots, crews, near airports; developing management methods and tools to reduce those hazards; and providing WS, owners and administrators Aircraft and engine manufacturers airport personnel, and the FAA with information on the latest strategies for controlling wildlife hazards. Civil airports Insurance underwriters Applying Science and Expertise to Wildlife Challenges Military pilots and aircrews Residents near airports Calculating Strike Risks for Different Bird Species. Bird collisions with aircraft (also known as bird strikes) cost the aviation industry more than $1 billion each year. Identifying which bird species Major Cooperators: pose the most risk to aviation may help airport managers develop targeted management methods and strategies. NWRC and the WS Aviation Hazards Program developed a model to Airline Pilots Association estimate strike risks for different birds species. The model combines the relative hazard score Airports across the United States (RHS) and bird strike frequency for common bird species found at airports. RHS is the Bird Strike Committee USA Federal Aviation Administration percentage of total strikes for each species that results in damage, substantial damage, or a Indiana State University negative effect on the aircraft's flight (e.g., delay, emergency landing). It provides an index of Mississippi State University severity, but not frequency. Of the 11,364 strike records and 79 bird species studied, red-tailed hawks, Michigan State University Canada geese, turkey vultures, pigeons, and mourning doves pose the greatest risk (i.e., frequent National Association of State and damaging collisions) to aircraft in the United States. Researchers encourage airport Aviation Officials North Carolina Division of Aviation wildlife biologists to adapt the model to their airport-specific strike data and use standardized bird Port Authority of New York and surveys, corrected for detection bias, to further prioritize management efforts at their airports. New Jersey Purdue University Assessing Bird Avoidance of High-Contrast Lights. Birds frequently collide with man-made objects U.S. Air Force U.S. Air Force Bird Air Strike and vehicles. Lights have been suggested as a way to alert birds and minimize the chances of Hazard (BASH) Team at Kirtland collisions. But little is known about what kinds of lights work best to deter birds--bird vision is different Air Force Base from human vision, and bird species also differ in how they perceive objects. In a recent study, Purdue U.S. Army University and NWRC researchers explored this issue. They used perceptual models to find out which U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service U.S. Marine Corps LED (light emitting diode) lights were more visible to brown-headed cowbirds, based on the lights' U.S. Navy specific wavelengths and color differences (high chromatic contrast). The researchers then evaluated University of Georgia the birds' response to the lights--avoidance, attraction or neutral--with a behavioral test. Individual birds University of Illinois-Springfield were released into an area where they moved in a single direction and had to choose a left or right exit. One of the exist routes included a lit LED light, the other an unlit LED light. Findings suggest that brown-headed cowbirds significantly avoid exit routes with lit LED lights that have peaks at 470 nm (blue) and 630 nm (red), but do not avoid or prefer LED lights with peaks at 380 nm (ultraviolet) and 525 nm (green) or broad-spectrum (white) LED lights. Researchers note the findings are limited only to steady lights under diurnal ambient light conditions and a single bird species. However, the approach could be applied to a wide set of conditions and species. Identifying wavelength-specific lights for use as visual deterrents may help reduce bird collisions with stationary and moving objects.

Species Flight Maneuverability and Frequency of Bird Strikes. Bird strikes involve financial loss to commercial, civil, and military aviation worldwide and are a source of mortality for birds. Purdue University and NWRC researchers investigated whether certain biological traits of birds, such as their body mass (takeoff time and distance), eye size (visual acuity), brain size (cognitive ability), and wing

Wildlife Services Protecting People ♦ Protecting Agriculture ♦ Protecting Wildlife loading and wing aspect ratio (maneuverability), increased or Selected Publications: decreased their risk of collisions with aircraft. Wing loading is the ratio of body mass to wing area and reflects the wing's ability to Blackwell, B.F., T.W. Seamans, E. Fernández-Juricic, T.L. turn relative to the bird's body. Models comparing the traits of 93 DeVault, and R.J. Outward. 2019. Avian response to aircraft in bird species with bird strike frequency showed that birds with an airport environment, The Journal of Wildlife Management 83: greater maneuverability (i.e., lower wing loading) had a higher 893-901. frequency of bird strikes. Examples of bird species with greater maneuverability include swallows and songbirds. Bird species with DeVault et al. 2018. Estimating interspecific economic risk of lower maneuverability include waterfowl and raptors. Researchers bird strikes with aircraft. Wildlife Society Bulleting 42:94-101. speculate that species with greater maneuverability may fly slower and take off at shorter distances to avoid aircraft. They may also Fernandez-Juricic, E.J. Brand, B.F. Blackwell, T.W. Seamans, and be hazed less than other more obvious species at airports given T.L. DeVault. 2018. Species with greater aerial maneuverability their smaller body size and people's belief that they cause less have actually higher frequency of collisions with aircraft: a damaging bird strikes. comparable study. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 6:1-12.

Wildlife Strike Damage to Rotary-Wing Aircraft. Rotary-wing Goller, B., B.F. Blackwell, T.L. DeVault, P. Baumhardt, and aircraft (i.e., helicopters and tilt-wing aircraft) make up an E. Fernandez-Juricic. 2018. Assessing bird avoidance of important part of military and civilian flights. NWRC researchers high-contrast lights using a choice test approach: analyzed the damage rate, airframe models, and impact locations implications for reducing human-induced avian mortality. on rotary-wing aircraft associated with 4,256 wildlife strikes from PeerJ. 6:e5404; DOI 10.7717/peerj.5404 1990 to 2011. Birds and mammals (mainly bats) accounted for 93 percent and 7 percent of the wildlife strikes, respectively. Iglay et al. 2018. Large mammal use of seminatural grasslands Although all parts of civil and military rotary-wing aircraft had and implications for aviation strike risk. Journal of Fish and damage from wildlife strikes, some specific areas had more Wildlife Management 9(1):222-227. damage than others. Researchers recommend that airframe manufacturers and maintenance personnel consider reinforcing Phillips et al. 2018. Efficacy of avian radar systems for and redesigning rotary-wing aircraft windscreens and main rotor tracking birds on the airfield of a large international systems to better withstand the impact of a wildlife strike. airport. Wildlife Society Bulletin 42(3): 467-477.

Reducing Airplane Collisions with Large Mammals. Many large Washburn, B.E., P.J. Cisar, and T.L. DeVault. 2017. mammals are attracted to airports because of their surrounding Impact locations and damage to civil and military rotary-wing habitats. Giving airport managers options for alternative land cover aircraft from wildlife strikes. Human-Wildlife Interactions on and near airports may help reduce mammal-airplane collisions. 11(1):23-32. To explore these options, NWRC, Mississippi State University, and University of Georgia researchers compared white-tailed deer and Major Research Accomplishments: coyote use of two experimental fields: one with mixed native warm-season grasses and one with switchgrass (Panicum • WS research discovered that red-tailed hawks, Canada virgatum). Observing the fields via remote cameras, geese, turkey vultures, pigeons, and mourning doves pose researchers found that coyotes and deer used the switchgrass the greatest risk (i.e., frequent and damaging collisions) to field much less than the mixed native warm-season grass field--27 aircraft in the United States. percent and 51 percent less, respectively. Considering that deer and coyotes are among the most hazardous mammal species to • WS research determined that brown-headed cowbirds avoid aircraft, fields of switchgrass may be a better alternative land lit LED lights that have peaks at 470 nm (blue) and 630 nm cover. Researchers plan further studies to compare deer (red) wavelengths. and coyote use of switchgrass to more traditional airport land covers, such as turf grasses and row crops. • WS research showed that smaller more aerially maneuverable bird species are struck by aircraft more Avian Radar for Tracking Birds at Airports. Avian radar frequently than larger species and might contribute technologies have the potential to track bird movements and significantly to strike risk. activity at airports. However, the capabilities and limits of these technologies are relatively unknown. NWRC, WS Operations and • WS research determined that birds and mammals (mainly University of Illinois experts evaluated the efficacy of three X-band bats) accounted for 93 percent and 7 percent of the wildlife marine radar sensors for tracking birds and flocks of birds at strikes with rotary-winged aircraft, respectively. Chicago O'Hare International Airport. Researchers used field observations to determine how often the radar sensors gave • WS research found coyotes and white-tailed deer used corresponding information on bird targets. In total, there were 972 switchgrass fields much less than mixed native warm-season sightings of individual birds or flocks on the airfield. Of these, 143 grasses, noting switchgrass may be a better land cover (15 percent) were tracked by at least 1 radar sensor. All confirmed alternative on and near airports. tracks of individual birds or flocks were 4.8 km or less from the radars. Larger bodied birds, birds/flocks flying at higher altitudes, • WS research indicates that an individual bird or flock's and birds/flocks flying closer to the radars increased the radars' distance from avian radar has a strong influence on whether ability to detect and track them. When using avian radar to detect or not the radar sensor tracks it. and track birds, wildlife managers could best apply this tool by placing the radar system within 4 km of the landscape, habitat or bird's suspected flight path.

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