Avian detectives work to prevent aircraft bird strikes

Carol Dove, program manager at the Smithsonian Institution’s Feather Identification Lab, leads a small team that makes up the only full-time bird-strike lab in the world. When a bird collides with an aircraft, researchers at the lab sample bird feathers or other bits and pieces that may be left behind to determine the species. Identifying which species are colliding with both civilian and military aircraft can help wildlife managers determine the most effective means to keep these birds away from flight paths. “One of the chief things we’re trying to do is change the habitat at the airport so that those bird species don’t want to be there anymore,” Mike Begier, the USDA’s airport wildlife hazards program national coordinator told the Washingtonian. In addition to changing the habitat, this research helps aircraft makers design planes that can better withstand bird strikes while also ensuring the current designs are holding up to potential so-called “feathered bullets.”

Read more at Washingtonian.com