BIRDS’ PREVALENCE, HAZARDS AND EVALUATION OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES AT THE RAWALPINDI / ISLAMABAD AIRPORT SAMEERA ARSHAD (07-arid-1119) Department of Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry, Range Management and Wildlife Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan 2015 BIRDS’ PREVALENCE, HAZARDS AND EVALUATION OF MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES AT THE RAWALPINDI/ ISLAMABAD AIRPORT by SAMEERA ARSHAD (07-arid-1119) A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Wildlife Management Department of Wildlife Management Faculty of Forestry, Range Management and Wildlife Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi Pakistan 2015 ii CERTIFICATION I hereby undertake that this research is an original one and no part of this thesis falls under plagiarism. If found otherwise, at any stage, I will be responsible for the consequences. Student Name: Sameera Arshad Signature: ____________ Registration No: 07-arid-1119 Date: ____________ Certified that contents and form of thesis entitled “Birds’ Prevalence, Hazards and Evaluation of Management Techniques at the Rawalpindi/Islamabad Airport” submitted by Ms. Sameera Arshad have been found satisfactory for the requirement of degree. Supervisor: ______________________________ (Prof. Dr. Iftikhar Hussain) Member: ______________________________ (Dr. Maqsood Anwar) Member: ______________________________ (Prof. Dr. Sarwat Naz Mirza) Member: ______________________________ (Dr. Ejaz Ahmad) Chairman: _________________________ Dean, FRW: __________________________ Director Advanced Studies: __________________________ iii Dedicated to “The Divine spark within each of us” iv CONTENTS Page List of Tables xii List of Figures xiv List of Abbreviations xix Acknowledgements xxi ABSTRACT xxiii 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 2 RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY OF BENAZIR BHUTTO 7 INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ISLAMABAD 2.1 INTRODUCTION 7 2.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 8 2.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 11 3.1 The Reconnaissance Survey 11 2.3.2 Secondary Data Collection 11 2.3.3 Study Site 13 2.3.3.1 The airport location 13 2.3.3.2 Main operator 13 2.3.3.3 Runway description 13 2.3.3.4 Aircraft movements 13 2.3.3.5 Airport buildings and terminals 15 v 2.3.3.6 Local climatic conditions 15 2.3.4 Site Selection in the Vicinity of BBIA 17 2.4 RESULTS 17 2.4.1 Bird Attractants in the Vicinity of BBIA 17 2.4.1.1 Water bodies 17 2.4.1.2 Public parks 19 2.4.1.3 Sports grounds 21 2.4.1.4 Localities adjacent to BBIA 21 2.4.1.5 Garbage dumps 24 2.4.2 Meetings and Discussions with Airport Authorities (CAA and 33 PAF) 2.4.2.1 Bird attractants at the airfield 33 2.4.2.1.1 Vegetation at the airfield 33 2.4.2.1.2 Structures attracting birds at the airfield 34 2.4.2.1.3 Water source 36 2.4.2.1.4 Lack of coordination among agencies 36 2.4.2.1.5 Public awareness 38 2.5 DISCUSSION 38 3 REVIEW OF BIRD STRIKE RECORD OF BENAZIR BHUTTO 45 INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ISLAMABAD 3.1 INTRODUCTION 45 3.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 46 vi 3.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 48 3.3.1 Data Collection 48 3.3.2 Data Analysis 49 3.4 RESULTS 50 3.4.1 Bird Strike Data Analysis of Nur Khan Base, PAF (1999- 50 2012) 3.4.2 Bird Strike Data Analysis of BBIA, CAA (2005-2012) 51 3.4.3 Combined Analysis of Bird strike Data of BBIA, CAA and 51 PAF Base Nur Khan (2005-2012) 3.4.4 Monthly and Seasonal Distribution of Bird Strike Data of 54 BBIA 3.4.5 Seasonal Analysis of Bird Strike Data of BBIA 54 3.4.6 Correlation between Bird Strikes and Met Data 58 3.4.7 Regression Analysis 65 3.4.8 Species Involved in Bird Strikes at BBIA 65 3.4.9 Type of Aircraft 70 3.5 DISCUSSION 75 4 HABITAT SURVEY FOR RECOGNIZING BIRD ATTRACTANTS 81 4.1 INTRODUCTION 81 4.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 81 4.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 83 4.3.1 Site Description 83 vii 4.3.2 Data Collection 83 4.3.3 Species Identification 84 4.3.4 Scoring Data Sheets 84 4.3.5 Habitat Index 84 4.4 RESULTS 85 4.4.1 Site 1 (Mall road ) 85 4.4.2 Site 2 (Saddar) 87 4.4.3 Site 3 (Ayub Park) 87 4.4.4 Site 4 (Kachehri Chowk) 88 4.4.5 Site 5 (Soan Bridge) 89 4.4.6 Site 6 (Khan Research Laboratories, Cricket Stadium road) 89 4.4.7 Site 7 (Runway 30 End) 90 4.4.8 Site 8 (Bahria Town, Phase 8) 90 4.4.9 Presence of Agriculture, Aquaculture, Livestock and Grain 91 Storage Facilities 4.4.10 Commercial and Recreational Land Use 92 4.4.11 Waste Management 92 4.4.12 Water Sources 103 4.4.13 Nesting, Roosting, Loafing and Feeding Areas 103 4.5 DISCUSSION 111 viii 5 IDENTIFICATION OF HAZARDOUS BIRD SPECIES AND THEIR 114 HABITAT 5.1 INTRODUCTION 114 5.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 115 5.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 118 5.3.1 The Point Count Method 119 5.3.1.1 Data collection 119 5.3.1.2 Species of concern 120 5.3.2 Data Evaluation 121 5.3.2.1 Species Density 121 5.3.2.2 Relative Abundance 121 5.3.2.3 The Simpson Biodiversity Index 121 5.3.2.4 Margalef Diversity Index 122 5.3.2.5 Clustering 122 5.3.3 Seasonal Effect on kite (Milvus migrans) 122 5.4 RESULTS 123 5.4.1 Estimation of Bird Species Density 123 5.4.2 Percentage Distribution of Species 123 5.4.3 K-Dominance Species Abundance Model 131 5.4.4 Simpson’s Biodiversity Index 131 ix 5.4.5 Margalef Diversity Index 131 5.4.6 Bray-Curtis Cluster Analysis 132 5.4.7 Species Distribution 138 5.4.7.1 House Crow (Corvus splendens) 138 5.4.7.2 Kite (Milvus migrans) 139 5.4.7.3 Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) 140 5.4.7.4 Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) 141 5.4.7.5 Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) 141 5.4.7.6 Egret (Egretta alba) 142 5.4.7.7 Pigeon (Columbia livia) and Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 142 5.4.7.8 House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 142 5.4.7.9 House Martin (Delichon urbicum) 143 5.4.8 Seasonal Effects on kite (Milvus migrans) 143 5.5 DISCUSSION 151 6 EVALUATION OF EXISTING MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES AT 155 BENAZIR BHUTTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ISLAMABAD 6.1 INTRODUCTION 155 6.2 REVIEW OF LETRATURE 156 6.2.1 Bird Management Techniques at Airport 156 6.2.2 Removal Method (Shooting) 157 x 6.3 MATERIALS AND METHODS 158 6.3.1 Evaluation of Shooting Data (2011-13) of BBIA 158 6.3.2 Data Analysis 158 6.4 RESULTS 159 6.5 DISCUSSION 168 6.6 Evaluation of Scare Crow at BBIA 171 6.7 Specification of Scare Crow mounted at BBIA 172 6.8 Outcome of the Study 173 7 GENERAL DISCUSSION 175 CONCLUSION 179 SUMMARY 182 LITERATURE CITED 185 APPENDICES 199 xi List of Tables Table No. Page 2.1 Selected study sites in the vicinity of BBIA, Islamabad 18 2.2 List of public parks within 8-10 km radius of BBIA, Islamabad 22 2.3 List of sports grounds within 8-10 km radius of BBIA, Islamabad 23 2.4 Dumping sites within 0.2-2 km radius of BBIA, Islamabad 27 2.5 Ranking of dumping sites present within 0.2-2 km radius of BBIA 30 Monthly records of bird strikes incidences (1999 to 2012) at PAF 3.1 52 Base Nur Khan, Rawalpindi Monthly records of bird strikes incidences (2005 to 2012) at BBIA, 3.2 53 Islamabad (CAA) Yearly and monthly records (2005 to 2012) of bird strike incidences 3.3 56 at (CAA and PAF) BBIA, Islamabad. Seasonal mean monthly bird strike incidences from 2005 to 2012 at 3.4 59 BBIA, Islamabad and Nur Khan Base (CAA and PAF) 3.5 Regression Analysis of bird strike data of BBIA 66 3.6 Annual growth rate of bird strike at BBIA by Log-Linear Model 69 List of bird species recorded during habitat survey at each site in the 4 93 vicinity of BBIA, Islamabad List of plant species recorded at each site during habitat survey in 4.1 96 the vicinity of BBIA, Islamabad 4.2 Classification and characteristics of study sites surveyed as habitat 100 xii for birds in the vicinity of BBIA, Islamabad Scoring for recognizing bird attractants at each study site in the 4.3 101 vicinity of BBIA, Islamabad 4.4 Bird score for each study site 105 4.5 Habitat Index (HI) of each site for habitat analysis 106 4.6 Habitat Composite Index (HCI) of each study site 108 4.7 Ranking of different habitats on the basis of HCI score 110 Cumulative bird species recorded during habitat survey (2011-2012) 5.1 129 at eight selected study sites Bird population (mean number per 50 m radius) at 8 study sites 5.2 130 around BBIA, Islamabad (2011-212) 5.3 K-Dominance Species Abundance Model 133 5.4 The Simpson Biodiversity Index of all eight study sites 134 5.5 Margalef Diversity Index of all eight study sites 135 5.6 Cluster formation for similarity matrix 137 6.1 Past three years (2011-2013) shooting data of BBIA Islamabad 161 Mean monthly distribution and percentage of success of Shooting 6.2 162 data of BBIA, Islamabad (2011-2013) 6.3 Annual distribution of shooting data of BBIA (2011-2013) 163 6.4 Cost of shot per bird or animal (stray dog) killed 166 6.5 Annual cost of cartridges fired at BBIA during (2011-2013) 167 xiii List of Figures Figure No.