No abstract

Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion US dollars annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is limited. Live avian predators can be an effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled entirely. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. We developed the RobotFalcon, a device modelled after the peregrine falcon, and tested its effectiveness to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. The RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best conventional method at the airbase (distress calls). Importantly, there was no evidence that bird flocks habituated to the RobotFalcon over the course of the fieldwork. We conclude that the RobotFalcon is a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations.

Collisions between birds and airplanes, bird strikes, can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion U.S. dollars annually. Bird deterrence is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of all available deterrence methods is limited. For example, live avian predators can be a highly effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled with sufficient precision. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. To this end we developed the RobotFalcon, a device that we modelled after the peregrine falcon, a cosmopolitan predator that preys on a large range of bird species. Mimicking natural hunting behaviour, we tested the effectiveness of the RobotFalcon to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. We show that the RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best conventional method at the airbase (distress calls). Importantly, there was no evidence that bird flocks habituated to the RobotFalcon. We propose the RobotFalcon to be a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations.HighlightsWe present and test a new method of deterring of deterring birds, the RobotFalcon.The RobotFalcon chased away flocks fast and prevented early returns.The RobotFalcon outperformed both a drone and convential methods.No evidence of habituation to the RobotFalcon was found during the study period.