Reducing the Incidence of Bird Strikes Involving High Risk Species at Melbourne Airport, Australia W. K. Steele 1 & S. Renner 2 1 Consulting Wildlife Biologist, EM: steelewk@bigpond.com 2 Australia Pacific Airports (Melbourne), EM: sarah.renner@melair.com.au 29th Meeting of the International Bird Strike Committee Cairns, Queensland, 21 24 September 2010 1
Introduction Melbourne Airport Second largest airport in Australia in terms of aircraft and passenger movements. >194,000 ATMs (incl. > 37,000 by aircraft over 136 tonnes) 26 million passengers a year. Occupies 2,367 ha site to the north-west of Melbourne, Victoria. Airside covers c. 750 ha. 2
Introduction Melbourne Airport 3
Background Data available: 1700 wildlife strike reports between March 1986 and July 2010. 297 bird counts by ornithologist between January 1997 and July 2010. 4895 bird counts by staff (with 110,330 observations typed into airport database). Daily wildlife hazard management logs from April 2007. KEY: 10 to 15 birds 5 to 10 birds 1 to 5 birds <1 bird 4
KEY: >30 strikes recorded 20 29 strikes 10 19 strikes 1 9 strikes KEY: 10 to 15 birds 5 to 10 birds 1 to 5 birds <1 bird 5
Background 1700 wildlife strikes reported between March 1986 and July 2010 1025 confirmed bird/bat strikes at, or near, Melbourne Airport 42 damaging strikes Photo: Chris Thomson, WA News 6
Background strike records Seasonal pattern to strikes with autumn peak. Numerous small grassland birds. Australasian Pipit 7
Background strike records Species % of strikes Australian Magpie 25.1 Eurasian Skylark 12.0 Masked Lapwing 5.3 Nankeen Kestrel 4.9 Rock Dove 4.6 Little Raven 4.4 Brown Falcon 3.5 Eastern Barn Owl 3.2 Australasian Pipit 3.2 8
Background 2007 risk assessment 2007 risk assessment identified eight species as presenting a risk: Australian Magpie Australian Pelican Rock Dove Common Starling Galah Grey-headed Flying-Fox Australian White Ibis Straw-necked Ibis A further three species fell into the review category of risk: Wedge-tailed Eagle, Brown Falcon, Masked Lapwing. Photo: Andy Nunn, www.tripsource.com/stories/andy/andy/trip9/aust3.htm 9
High risk species 2007 Rock Dove (300 g) Brown Falcon (600 g) Australian Magpie (300 g) 10
High risk species 2007 Masked Lapwing (370 g) Grey-headed Flying-fox ( fruit bat ) 760 g Common Starling 11
High risk species 2007 Eastern Barn Owl (335 g) Black Swan (5.5 kg) 12
Wildlife hazard management approach Pre-emptive measures Habitat management Exclusion Reactive measures Population reduction Removal (trapping/ shooting) Costs Active harassment Passive deterrence 13
Pre-emptive management 14
The problem of ground-foraging birds 15
The problem of ground-foraging birds 16
Methods From March 2007 ground-foraging birds were specifically targeted through: New passive deterrents 17
Methods Intensive bird harassment by dedicated Airside Safety Officer(s) during high risk times of year 18
Methods Increased, targeted culling of juvenile high risk ground-foraging birds 19
Methods Masked Lapwing nests on the airside destroyed 20
Methods 21
Methods insecticide application 22
Results all species Year ATMs Reported bird/bat strikes Confirmed bird/bat strikes Damaging strikes Estimated mass (kg) 2004 175,000 127 72 10 17,557 2005 180,278 142 68 3 19,101 2006 179,732 150 81 5 25,337 2007 184,492 101 42 1 14,671 2008 199,556 183 86 8 23,148 2009 191,864 203 89 1 18,934 Average reported strike-rate per 10,000 ATMs: 2004 06 = 7.8 ± 0.55 (n = 419 records) 2007 09 = 8.4 ± 2.64 (n = 487 records) No significant difference (F = 23.31, p < 0.05, d.f. = 4; t = 0.37, d.f. = 4) 23
Results all species Average confirmed strike-rate: 2004-06 = 4.1 ± 0.37 (n = 221 records) 2007-09 = 3.7 ± 1.28 (n = 217 records) No statistically significant difference (F = 12.11, p < 0.05, d.f. = 4; t = 0.51, d.f. = 4) Average damaging strike-rate: 2004-06 = 0.34 ± 0.21 (n = 18 records) 2007-09 = 0.17 ± 0.20 (n = 10 records) Not statistically significant (F = 0.92, p < 0.05, d.f. = 4; t = 1.01, d.f. = 4) There was also a decline in three-year average of damaging strikes, from 6.0 to 3.3 24
Results targeted species Australian Magpie Average number counted on the airside declined from 62.2 to 32.3 The number of strikes involving this species declined by almost half, from an average of 21.3 strikes/yr to 11.0 strikes/yr (F = 0.23, p < 0.05, d.f. = 4; t = 1.46, n.s., d.f. = 4) 25
Results targeted species Ibis Average number of strikes per year declined from 4.0 to 1.0 Masked Lapwing Average number of strikes per year declined from 6.7 to 3.0 26
Conclusions Intensive harassment is not enough in itself and must be part of an integrated, multi-pronged approach. We know that pre-emptive management is better than reactive harassment. We continue to look for improved methods of managing groundforaging species of bird. But, in the absence of any better management tools, we believe we have been able to reduce the incidence of damaging strikes on targeted high risk species of ground-foraging birds at Melbourne Airport. 27
Thank you With thanks to Birds Australia for early bird records and the Airside Safety Officers for their advice and their ongoing efforts 28