The physiology of deterrence: Flicker vertigo and its application in avian management

Abstract

Human-bird conflicts are in a critical state, involving economic losses such as agricultural losses, bird strikes on aircraft and avian influenza. Traditional technologies leveraging bird vision and hearing often lose their effectiveness over time as birds become habituated to these stimuli. To address these challenges, our study introduces a novel countermeasure technology based on neurophysiology. The human brain reacts to flickering light, which can cause symptoms like headaches, nausea, and dizziness. In extremely rare cases, it can even lead to epilepsy. This led us to consider the possibility that similar stimuli could be applicable to birds. In our experiments conducted during the day, we used long-range flashlights. White flickering light had no effect on bird escape behavior. However, when cellophane film was attached to the flashlights to restrict the wavelength, the emitted red light induced escape behavior in birds. Additionally, employing two types of flashlights to generate flickering red+blue or red+green lights elicited escape behavior. However, the blue and green combination proved to be less effective. These results are highly similar to those found in human neurophysiology, showing that red light alone and the combination of red and blue lights have the most significant impact on the brain. By measuring the flight initiation distance (FID) of birds, we found that illuminated areas had a significantly higher FID (137m) compared to non-illuminated areas (12m). These findings suggest that applying principles of human physiology to wildlife management can offer new solutions for bird damage control.