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(IVAR) - Final Report - Strategic Environmental Research and ...

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used in both the BASH <strong>and</strong> natural resources program. The eBirdRad unit had been used to<br />

document several patterns of seasonal <strong>and</strong> daily airfield bird movements, including vulture<br />

activity <strong>and</strong> concentrations of blackbirds, <strong>and</strong> this information was being passed to the tower <strong>and</strong><br />

flight planning so pilots <strong>and</strong> aircrews were aware of the increased hazard during the times these<br />

birds were active. The eBirdRad unit was also being used by the natural resources managers at<br />

NASPR as a survey tool, mostly in areas of planned construction <strong>and</strong> particularly from dusk to<br />

dawn, when manual observations are limited by darkness.<br />

4.3 NAS WHIDBEY ISLAND<br />

NAS Whidbey Isl<strong>and</strong> (NASWI; 48°21'7.00"N, 122°39'19.01"W; Figure 4-5) is located on the<br />

northern end of Whidbey Isl<strong>and</strong>, in Isl<strong>and</strong> County, Washington, approximately 95 km northwest<br />

of Seattle. Situated between the Straits of Juan De Fuca <strong>and</strong> the Saratoga Passage <strong>and</strong> within the<br />

rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, NAS Whidbey Isl<strong>and</strong> offers high quality year round<br />

training opportunities for naval aviators. The facility encompasses 1720 ha <strong>and</strong> has two 2440 m<br />

intersecting runways. The primary missions supported at NASWI are maritime patrol <strong>and</strong><br />

electronic warfare, with logistic <strong>and</strong> search-<strong>and</strong>-rescue operations in a secondary role. The<br />

primary aircraft types using the airfield include the assigned P-3, EP-3, EA-6B, <strong>and</strong> H-60 along<br />

with extensive transient aircraft from various Navy <strong>and</strong> other military comm<strong>and</strong>s.<br />

Figure 4-5. NAS Whidbey Isl<strong>and</strong>, Washington, showing the location of the eBirdRad radar (RT-<br />

1) <strong>and</strong> the visual team (VT) observation sites used in the spring 2007 (’07) <strong>and</strong> fall 2008 (’08)<br />

studies.<br />

NAS Whidbey Isl<strong>and</strong> consistently has the highest number of bird targets of any of the <strong>IVAR</strong> study<br />

locations. It has an eBirdRad unit <strong>and</strong> a mobile AR-1 unit that are connected wirelessly<br />

51

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