EFFICACY OF AIRCRAFT LANDING LIGHTS IN STIMULATING AVOIDANCE BEHAVIOR IN BIRDS

Abstract

Abstract Aircraft collisions with wildlife (primarily birds) are costly in terms of injury or loss of human life, loss of the animals involved, damage to property and business, and the use of lethal control of wildlife at airports worldwide. One potential nonlethal technique to reduce bird–aircraft collisions—pulsed white and wavelength-specific aircraft-mounted light—has been considered for nearly 3 decades, but the efficacy of the technique has not been evaluated quantitatively. We tested the hypothesis that during daylight, captive birds exposed to an approaching ground-based vehicle exhibiting pulsing 250-W white aircraft landing lights would initiate avoidance behavior more quickly than birds experiencing an oncoming vehicle with nonpulsing (steady) or no lights (control). In experiments involving captive brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), Canada geese (Branta canadensis), European starlings (Sturnis vulgaris), herring gulls (Larus argentatus), and mourning doves (Zenaida macroura), only cow-bir...