Author: John L. Seubert

Publisher:

Published: 1965

Total Pages: 34

ISBN-13:

Research was continued on the bird-airport problem. Commercial carriers reported 337 bird-plane strikes in 1963 with gulls and waterfowl again the most important hazard species. In a 1-year study at Washington National Airport and nearby Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, 20 bird species were rated potentially hazardous because they were numerous and present for extended periods. Productivity was reduced significantly when herring gull eggs were treated with an oil-formaldehyde mixture. Surveys showed the presence of eider ducks, cormorants, laughing gulls, and herons on gull breeding islands, and that herring gulls continued to concentrate at metropolitan food sources. Four gull species were repelled from two airports with broadcast gull distress calls. Caged herring gulls reacted little if at all when exposed to laser beams of 1 to 200 joules. The 'head and shoulders' waves on which the original reported similarity between Electra engines and insect sounds was based also were found in Memoscope tracings of sounds of other aircraft and other animals. Chemical solutions were evaluated as taste stimuli for herring gulls, starlings, and red-winged blackbirds. Individual variation in taste was substantial. An international meeting in 1963 on the bird-aerodrome problem acknowledged that bird problems exist, and recommended that remedial measures be taken, that airplane design requirements be standardized, and that national committees be formed. (Author).