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News: Peregrines
The Peregrine Chick:
I've added this here mainly because of the photo ...
Robird drones deployed at Edmonton International Airport to keep birds at bay a first in the world
Gordon Kent / Edmonton Journal / 9 May 2017
The Robird is coming to Edmonton International Airport (EIA), and he has a message for his feathered friends — dead or alive, you’re coming with me. The airport will start using a falcon-shaped drone this spring that flaps its wings and mimics the flight patterns of a real raptor to scare away birds that pose a danger to aircraft.
“Birds can get habituated, especially if there isn’t any kind of lethal reinforcement, but they’re hard-wired to respond to a predator,” airport wildlife specialist Jul Wojnowski said Tuesday.
“They react to preserve themselves and fly off to seek shelter.”
The device will be operated by Calgary’s Aerium Analytics, which is also providing EIA with drones for surveying and mapping. It can run for 12 minutes before the battery runs out.
Wojnowski expects to deploy it over the nearby golf course, ponds, disturbed soil and other locations that attract gulls, geese and ducks, keeping it hundreds of metres away from such critical sites as runways and approaches. It’s the first time such technology has been incorporated into an airport’s regular wildlife management plan, he said. During the summer, EIA brings in a falconer on weekends with real peregrine falcons and a Harris’s hawk to help keep down a local avian population, which can grow to flocks of thousands moving through the property at migration times. The electronic version should be easier to guide than the flesh-and-blood Falcon 1.0.
“It will put a chase on … You can control the direction you want to send the birds, if there’s an area you want to steer them clear of, or a flight path.”
The airport also uses pyrotechnic bangers and screamers to shoo away troublesome fowl, sometimes shoots them to reinforce that the noise means danger, and traps and relocates wild prey birds because they can cause problems hunting near the runways, Wojnowski said. The Robird will be deployed during the week for about three months, then EIA staff will assess how well it works.
“My hope is that we will see a reduction in birds using the airfield and the property too. Hopefully, a predator exhibiting hunting behaviour will discourage them.”
gkent@postmedia.com / twitter.com/GKentEJ
source: Edmonton Journal - Robird drones deployed at Edmonton International Airport to keep birds at bay
carly:
:'( :'( :'(
Alison:
An article published March 31 2017 on the shooting of a peregrine. At least this one survived; I hope he/she will make a full recovery.
Salisbury Cathedral Peregrine found shot near Stockbridge
Police are appealing for information after a peregrine falcon was found shot on farmland near Stockbridge.
A peregrine falcon is a Schedule 1 protected bird and killing or injuring it is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
The injured bird was found by a member of the public on Saturday 11 March on a farm at King’s Somborne.
The bird was taken to the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Amport, where it underwent treatment for a fractured wing.
The peregrine falcon, originally ringed at Salisbury Cathedral in June 2014 when it was three weeks old, is expected to make a full recovery.
“The bird may have either been shot at on purpose, or recklessly, due to its predatory nature on rural estates. The falcon was in fairly good condition when it was located. It was not malnourished and there were no signs of other injuries, which would suggest it had been shot in the local area fairly."
– PC Stephen Rogerson, Wildlife Crime Officer at Hampshire Constabulary
http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2017-03-31/rare-peregrine-falcon-found-shot-near-stockbridge/
I think the quote intended to say "fairly recently."
Alison:
Turkmenistan
This airport, shaped like a falcon, was built in the capital city of Ashgabat last year at a cost of about $2.3 billion.
Alison:
This plane was seen in Chicago at O'Hare. I like the design.
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