Falconry for Bird C

FAICONRY FOR BIRD CONIROL ON AIRDROMES(26 YEARS Oi' SPANISH AlR FORCE EXpERIENCE)r - rl!!Q!qq!l Q!l.l. Spdi, i. lo ared in ono or rh- -romd-n bird niqrar:o. roLrFsfrofr North Europe to Africa and viceversa. The iberian route is useddLcks.as"'. I geoas rcolJ.b t ll ioLgr s me or rresem:9rdrrng biid. raai and na-l :n h- lb-r:dn ppnnin^,1d. lh. m.:nhd?ord -o -l-- -j ito y dj advjga(rol ia Spoil dre noi!16' iloseLrnd'.ds or .a r.a.ds ol I9r...a9 brrds nor lha rlo_ks of n-sr r.9.2. oag84!'- 'at e ioer idl s.'es of l-Al ONIFORM|S. --rr lywuftures Iike the comon vulture (Gqps fulsus), the black vulturelAeqgpius nonachus), the'al:imoche\Neaphoron pe.cnopte.usl and the" quebr antahuesos' (Gupaetus aaslatus).2.1. TRAIN1.3 Tro iecent census for the comon vulture. carried out in 1979and in 1989 by the Spanish E.virome.tal Agency (ICONA) in cooperationwith the Spanish Society of Ornithotogy (SEO) cde out with a figureof nore than SOOO nesting couples in Spain, with a growth rate of 80:to 909 for that decade. Probably more than 2QOQ0 vultures fly today-4 Ia rdcl, on h^ pd. I l8 montn.-h-Spdajsr ^ Fo c6 srtrar.dtwo najor and one ninor bild strikes during low 1evel navigation dueto ormo' vultu es. dnd ro' d singla onp wiin .n1 orher bird2.2. IMPLE}goo\es, stoa6 l. l4 b-rs'ards, dppFnd-noo, n- s-osrdpnicd toca r, I ot 66-h pa.fi Jldr Air ror-a Bdsp.2.3. CONCLwing (Spanish Air Force) and of the Sixth Ai. Force (USAF), a birdcontrol ploqran ustnq falcons was establish.1.6 FroD August 1967 to March 1958 a total of seven bird strikeswere recorded at that particular air base: 4 bird strikes during thetake off phase, l on final, 1 on missed app.oach and L during thelcao ng p.ase. All ol .ao,- b rd. rkas uF'a dLF ro h- lo..ttvca1led'SISoN" {Little Busta!)- which is the size of a duck.During not pe!loo or rime lr.5as srghl rrqs oi li rlaBustar (otis tet.ar, sisoo in Spanish) and 2.944 sigbtings of tapwingFlover (vane-l-lus qare-l.lus, avefria :in Spanish) were recorded on thearrli- o br Inc oo rror6rng obr- oamag-'.onlrol ladn.1.7 After the falconry prograh was started, and tor the sane periodof eight months, the sightings uele reduced to 2.071 Little bustarsand 2.304 tapwing Flovers., r .,d c. . ires n.u^-s call-d Oparotsior, Bohd!: Bohdr i rs an dr' i-r 'p"' ..h wo.d lol-nd il hd baar 'un.i.9 onr ir Jou -r dad ,Jcccss rry398

From April 68 to May 94 not a single bird strike has beenreco.ded at Torrejon Air Force Base.l.o As th- usc ot Falco.ty hds.'ranodn i-

l. At.-r d \rqh Inte.srLy cdmpcjng o cortiluou, eid leguld'hrna:n9 dnd killinq pa'fo' red by rhF fdlcors o the llocks rg. when the first result is obtained, as in paragraph "e.'he,freqLe cy o' thp 'lving dnd hrn-ing o' he tdlcone d' beredJ..d. bLl shoLld n-ler be sLspeaoed. bF.du-p w rhou. d ddil.control, the flocks of baids will return for sure to the a!ea.3. PRESENT DAY OPERATIONSFour Air Force Bases are running prograns alike operationB-hdr (lese-edre: lo'_-jo' AFB, Moton A!8, dv-ra AFB ord SdnJavier AFB (see Figure 1). Fast jets operate fron atI those airfieldsin a 24 hrs basis. In all of them the bird strike hazard is pfesent,bur lhF species o o ds d'e d __erenr from ore Bdse ro rle orher.so in ewery case a paiticular nodification of the standard plogramhas to be stabfish.",1 1n evely c-sa 'h- oper.tion i- divLd-d i, LNo phcses: HTcHPREASURE, inplenented by two to three falconers and six falcons,rlowi daily dnd .ONITNUAI1ON phase, :n ihis one t\e qoa is onl / lomdr..dir 'he predsu!6 oa !a^ locol oiJds. r. i- run b/ on- sinqferalcon-! -r lh d r-dn of six r6\ rulll rd.ned falcon and ie-ce s.but only fou! of them are ftown on a daily basis. Most of the fafconsLr"/.o rust,corus All oi rh-m wer- oo_aineo by rep!oductio. :ncopriviiy.-nroughdn orli.id-v duthoLrsed o qdnrsar,on. -heattrition rate has been an awerage of five birds a year for thecomplete ope.ation in the four Bases.r.- Tne operdtron run ai Lhe Ib,ze aterna iondl A:rpo1t .i. d sogoing to be mentioned in this paper becuase the sltuation is sinilarto that present in san Javier AFB (which begun the bird control withfatcoas at the end of the last spring), so the e:perience in that oneis going to be use to control the bird factor in San Javier.3.3.33.3.43.3.53.3.6_ 19gulf, 19fligJ.3. IBIZA INTERI{ATIONAL AIRPORT BIRD CONTROL.Th- lrre'ndlror-l Arpo o' \- lbi/a i-land !ioui- ) rslocated in an tsthmus and very close to a huge area of open aii salt3.3.1 Tre -sLindteo populdr ion ol diflerFnr spa_:-s or \-d-ollls(iarus argentatus, l,arus audouirii. .Larus ridjD@dus) in the year1988 was of 13.460 couples, with an annual growth rate of 1308. Otherbirds also feed and nest in this area: cranes (-Ardea cine.ea, Egtextasatcetta), eagles (Pandion halietus, carcus aerogtnosus ), storks(fiinantopus niftantopus ) and swallows (Apus apus, Ei.fido rastica).3.3.2 The bird population has caused various bird strikes in therecent histo.y of the airport, the most serious of thm are as3.4. TALA3.4.lLi- Str422 sightLi.' 1980: Du inq rae cl r b. arte. .ke o'1. o spanisn N.// Se"|/ i ng l dqas dn aag l- in hp la r ang, no. I n6 halo ho.-o ad\al-r dor. re.ulrinq in o hdrd ldndi'q. Ttc oagin6hd- o be chdnqed du. ro rae e\.ensivc odm-gF or Ina b d40 0

l.- 1949r an AVIACO DC-9, with 120 pax on board, ftew into a seadueto the ingestion of ma.y birds. The pilot manaqed to restartLy- 1990: a CON AIR Airbus-3oo, sith 22O pax on boafd, took tdomanaged to nake an energe.cy landing on runway 06, but thecontact with the runpay was so hard that the main lanating gearcolapsed. The ailptane did not exploded beacause afl the fuelw.s dLrped p'Fv,ous y oy rha cr6u bo-ora rho ldnd:n9.in.l,r Afler ra's I.-- ac id-n . rh- Airporr Au(no'rry decided roinitiate a bird control program with shot guns and scarcing devices,but the result das very poor, and stil1 sone ninor incidents were3,3.4 In April 1992 a bird control program Nith falcons wasstarted. The first result were evident just a feu weeks after theplogram begao. The birds have left the .unway, which they used as ashelter and as a rest alea and they have changed their habits as3-3-5 It took three months until the sea-gu1ls quit coning back-o tho rLn*aj drte the odily:ourine 11ig1rs or the -.-Lcons.fhe birds have also changed their daily nigrations routes, from.he open air ..1- wolR-. sollf o rhF a rpor' o ihe c: ) 'uooishdump, far away to the NE of the airport, as shown in figure 3, inord-r'od\oid whd rhey now coaside. d ver/ dorqerous d ec.3.3.6 Not a single incident involvtng btrds has been reported atthe lbiza lnrFrnor iondl Airporl srncF .ha sra'r o' lh- ral_onryprogran, in april 92.3.4. TAINVERA AIR FORCE BASE-loproqroT st.lred dr -hi" militaly f4or' h 04, Du"'Sthat lirst nonth the bird census was as follows:- titLe Bustard (otis Ietrax) 1164 siqhtinqs- Stork (Cicoria cicoria) 59 sightingsnss- Crane (Eqretta) 23 sightingsPerdix /qla^tol.s .u/\ 60 srgSr'ns\- Mag pie (Pica pi.a) 73 sightidgs,4.1 onl/ luo nonrhs arlF-ha rdl.ons ,-r- rlown on o raq I amaner, in may, the totat sightings of birds was only 364 (a total of422 s.9hr 'rgs du.rng rhF noa'l ol dpr il , b-rn9 lha rollorino ho- Litle bustaidd40 t

3.4.2 Not a single incident involving bilds has been reportedsin-o fh6 oeg n.nq oIne proqdln ol r is -ili!aty :rsr--) ion.3. 5.4 O3,4.3 The daily routi.e starts at around 07:30 hrs, 30 minutesDerore h- rirs- !tign- or rhe ddl. L rh c omPlere _hFrk or rhrunwayaod taxt ways, to confirn that the area is cfear of birds orto take imediate action against ttle intruder birds. This routine isrepeated 3 to 4 tines during the norning and one no.e time during thet.4.4 loul r"lcons, oLr o si:, o.a llown -very ddy, cad dl^arethe falcoDer is in close coordination with the control tower and onradio contact. Onfy one falconer in deeded for every loutine turdto the runway .3.5.5 Tcs-danrary oird- thd dr. dn enricenear_oro!\-'sPe iF5 or biJds.'sot dn ir 6nsi/F a --oa hould bFmaintained on the airfield, this is due to the fact that seasonaloiros .r- ookrng ior . s.re pldce 'o Ies and tead du'irq hFsumner, and the presence of sedentary flocks are a slmpton of thesarory or ri- spot for n-k comer'3.6. r,roRoN!3.5. SAN JAVIER AIR FORCE BASE & AIR FORCE ACADEMY.this program stalted during the last days of Aplil 94. Based onthe prewious experience at the Ibiza airport, which has about thesane bird fauna and llora, tith that experience as a background itis fof,seable to think that this oev program is going to be a complete3.6. r Tt3.7. OTIiER S3.5.1 The Air Base is tocated ashore a salt lake (called the MarMenor" - sma1] sea), very close to the Mediterranean sea (see figure4) and surronded by narshes and open air salt tork areas.3.5.2 The filst bird census at the airfieid itseff was pelfornedduring April 94, and the resDlt of it was as follows:- sad gu I rLarusl: r05 rjqLriroslon6-u!fAU (Burhinus ocdi.n-nus):- Pigeon: 20 sightingsI 7 ,ighl inqsCranes: 4 sightings- Sno!i-Toed Ld'k _dldrdrel.l".ir6rF-): ro0 s.igh-rnqs- Tlail: 29 sightingsUp. IUpdD. -poe): ,r- s.9h_:ng.- Red Partridge (Perdix): 42 sightingsCoose (4nser anse.): 13 sightings- Harlier (Ci.crs aeroginosus ): 3 sightings- Europea. Kestrel lFa.lco titudculus ): 2 sightingsKite: 1 sightingstotal: 10Aa birds seeD.4. OPERAI4.1 The 9l250.O0Is I dn be no_60 rhor s-" gLlls .re. b) r.1 ,-ho mosdangerous bi.d for aircrafts at San Javier, due to its size andbird has becone the first target of the progratu.40 2

3.5.4 only one nonth afte the program was initiated (may) thesightings decleased dramaticaty, been the total fiqure of birds tesstndr -0o. ahd wds ccold-o on apr't. rna rav ce'.u Las ds lotto*s:- Sea gull: 169 sightings- Stone Cu!1ew: 72 sightings- Pigeon: t0 siqhtingsCranes: 2 sightings- Short-Toed Lark: 150 sightingsTrail: 28 sightings- Duck: 5 sightingstotal: 464 bi.ds3.5.5 ro start with, and only during the first month of theprogram, A falcons and 2 to 3 falcolers were useal to get riar of thesedentary birds, then only 6 falcons and 1 fatcoder shatt be used tomantain the pressure on the bi.d popufation, which is decreasinq3.6. !{ORON AIR FORCE BASE.The progran has been running continousry for alnost twentyyears. The teah is conposed here by tNo fatconers and 9/6 falcoDs.Since the begining of the bjrd control not a sinqle bird strike hasbeen reported in the air base.3.6. 1 the fF.rain iha. sur.ound. rf6 bdse s qL..a.he sam- rho,''''c.nct veoetat ion. !he tunwd\ hasno woods, ponds, villages or any major obstactes 10 kn. around. Thtsas the optinun scenario for the control of birds sith3.7. OTHER SPANISII LOCA1IONSA nunber of other nationaf and internationat airoorts controft - risk o- oiL.l s-rixe- ^i n re_con., fho.e are: Md,do. ,na.. ., B- cjas Inr. dad Rord ildvdl AirStation (Spanish Naqr) -4. OPERATION COSTS4.1 The 91oba1 amual Spanish Air Force contract for evef,yindividuat base cost is 6.500.O00 pesetas (460.OO0 US S),4.2 Partial operation costs are as folloks:. A FLll rrdrreo p-regrine ral-on: JOO.OO0 pr , (/.-0O,JS s).Fatconrt devices and various equipment for falcons: 20O,OOOpts {1.400 us S)_- Lacl rolcor Eterrel ed ona qudil '(o,dn]r.o'4nrr, or-haequivalent of dhihen neat (80 to 100 graMs).- F--diao: .00 p'. . U5 s'- ddy p-r ra -oa rierce_,Conpl-to sF or Re-civ6. Hominq d-vrce dno o x trdnsT.Le!s:250.OO0 pts (1.700 US S). This equipnent is a nust to dihinishthe faLcon attrition rate.First aid kit for falcons: 5O.OO0 pts (35O US Sl.- Annual nedical expenses: 600.0O0 pts (4.200 US S). Everl, vear-\erl srx oiros sutfar rrom oilLFra oisede,l.

4.1 Du.i g rhF b:rds nFcd .o .hong- he-! foorhers,so d -!oHF! parlolmonce re io oa 6xpo-Eed -on tl-- oirds. -heoperation has to be run on a low prolile, supported by scarcing6. coN(4.4 .ha.a dro lha.ompanlr -hd.ork ror Fh- Spdnrsi A r F-r-c on(16 bj.d ^o,rrol wr.L .d,ors, r50sp o.o:- JESUS BRIZUELA MARTINEZC/Galcia Marin, 16. 41539 MORoN-(SEVILIA)Tel/Fax 34.5.445.25.04AMPARO SAEZ CASTRILLOC/cervantes, 35. 28816-CAMIRMA-(MADRID)Tel 34-t-886,60-565. SIJI4MARYAs a sunnary of the Spanish experience, that started nany yearsago, ve can validate almost all the conclusions fron operationBahari, and to add the followinq:The effective area ol falcon influence is lkn arround the ateaFou rou! e tligar p- rods dr6 raedpd. Ine I rsr s.arr:nqabout 30 min. before the first fl:ight of the day.+ - n6q brrd akes ih!po ro four months- For a highty motivated falconer it will take a year to betully proi icieat n rcndl Ing efii.:-nr/ rne tt. ted f.lcon .A nininun of three months are lequiled to reduce the birdpoputation dorn to 8OE at the target airport..e,ce,srmdte tdt,ons, ar- praret-d dgd nsL s al I biro dadfalcons (female) to hunt nediun to large birds. Neve. the lessboth ploduce the sane scaring effect against birds-. | -1 ons orhet noat s dre L\ad, rho

g6. coNclusroNsFalconry, ,is a very cost/effective nethod for the controibirdsofin airdromes, but not atl the airfields "." ..it.Or" roifalcons. The key point for the success of the operation r"frotrvated" ""iVand profesionat fatconer anal a thoroughiy study of the ai;.!dun:::.:.:i:':"*,rsr.j.sr.ord. ropos,apr.,, dnq fh66!rad.cdr6cypF or birddrd a colsr-rr s ud\ or olh4 sc"i-y -err.""=to support the action of fatcons.Madrid 15 june 19 94THE SPANISH BSCE REPRESENTATIVES- l4anuel Chafrorro conz6lez- Jorge Clavero

FIGURE IAIR BASESAIR?ORIS BIRD CONTROL WITH FALCONS',1AiR BASETNAIAL AIR STATION&.CI\:T], AIRPORT406

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