Airplanes and birds

Okay, this may not be the most thoroughly researched or well written blog post but I HAVE to respond to something I heard said today regarding birds and airplanes (ethno-ornithology is EVERYWHERE!!!).

"Bird strikes" are when birds, often flocks of birds, collide with aircrafts. Somehow the phrasing makes it sound (to me) like the strikes are blamed on the birds. My understanding of said strikes is that the birds don't hear the airplane coming, the plane is moving faster than the birds or the birds don't know what the airplane is and how it can affect them (they didn't invent airplanes after all) and are kind of sucked into the propellers and whatnot. January 15, 2009 US Airways flight #1549 crash landed on the Hudson River shortly after striking a flock of Canada Geese after taking off from LaGuardia airport in New York. I mention this incident because I have heard it discussed many times this month, two years after this particular bird strike incident. The discussion that I heard today mentioned that bird strikes are up because of population increases in birds weighing over eight pounds.

According to Richard Dolbeer, of the USDA National Wildlife Research Center in Sandusky, Ohio, 13 of the 14 species of birds that weigh over eight pounds and nest in North America, are on the rise. The reason for these increases is surmised to be due to stronger environmental regulations, conservation efforts, land-use changes and urban acclimation by some bird species. Increases in these populations is a good sign and in many instances a sign of environmental health.

Many (if not all) airports hire companies, like Birdstrike Control Program, to assist with keeping bird populations on airport grounds at bay. These non-lethal methods of protecting birds (okay, I acknowledge that the birds are not the airports' priority it is human lives and money they are trying to protect) are clever and preferable to lethal methods. I particularly enjoy the border collie and falconry options.

Finally, the Federal Aviation Administration has a Wildlife Strike Database that is interesting, while being concurrently horrifying (the have pictures of bird strikes on their page). There is a great deal of information available online about making airplanes that can withstand bird strikes and not have engines that fail. Currently, airplane engines can withstand varying levels of bird strikes, based on the number of birds, the size of birds or some combination of both. Interestingly enough a plane engine's ability to not be destroyed if it encounters a flock of birds is called its ability to digest birds. Thus, most plane engines today can handle "digesting" four pound birds. For some reason I find this terminology repugnant.

Now for the personal opinion stuff...I cannot BELIEVE (or maybe I can) that there is so much information about airplanes that have experienced bird strikes but very little about the birds themselves. I can't understand how there aren't more people interested in finding ways to alert birds to the oncoming aircrafts. The pictures I've seen are not only disgusting but heart wrenching, disturbing and sad. I want to scoop up the bird's parts and bury them. Or say some sort of prayer for the thousands of birds that are killed annually in a rather gruesome way. I understand that people like to fly because it saves time. I have never really enjoyed flying and I must say that after reading all of this information I don't see myself flying any time soon. I'd rather drive. Or take the train, which I acknowledge likely have their own wildlife strike problems...




Associated Press. NTSB confirms birds in engines of US Airways plane ditched in Hudson. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/ntsb_confirms_birds_in_engines.html. Updated February 4, 2009. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Canada_Goose/id. Updated 2009. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Dolbeer, Richard A. Population Increases of Large Bird Species in Relation to Impact Standards for Aircraft Engines and Airframes. 2002. USDA National Wildlife Research Center. Available at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1147&context=icwdm_usdanwrc. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Federal Aviation Commition. FAA Wildlife Strike Database. http://wildlife-mitigation.tc.faa.gov/wildlife/default.aspx. Updated February 18, 2010. Accessed January 31, 2011.

Blog drafts

I have discovered a great number of partially written blog posts. I think my goal over the next few weeks, aside from studying for a geology exam and figuring out what on earth is going on with the garden project, will be to finish said drafts and post them. I rarely edit my blogs and assume that is why I have missed them. Time to clean house in the unfinished blog realm!

Thoughts on a blog post I read

An old affiliate of mine has a blog that I recently rediscovered. As we no longer speak I don't comment on their blog posts. But one of their posts really got me thinking. You can read the original post here.

I don't know many enviro-folk that are "save the humans" type people. I think that those that talk about humanity along with environmentalism are individuals that realize that humans have to experience a reconnection with nature or they will never come around. Unfortunately, humans actively interact with virtually all ecosystems on this planet. Even in areas that receive very little human traffic we affect the ecosystem through acid rain, invasive species and a myriad of other effects. Some individuals claim that the earth is always changing and the changes that we see are little more than a normal part of nature's fluctuating state of being. Most people in the environmental movement (at least most that I have meet) feel that we are causing a greater rate of change, a greater rate of species extinction, than is normal. I agree with these individuals. Change may be normal but that does not mean that we have a right to hurry these changes a long. Particularly in favor of our ego- and anthro-centric selves. So, how do we create a societal shift from anthro-centric thinking to eco-centric thinking? Well, by considering humanity when we think about environmentalism. By thinking of ways to get people involved. To educate and inspire youth, the impoverished, people who experience environmental injustice on a regular basis and those on the fringes of society to get connected. To join our cause. To think outside of themselves. If we take care of the planet we will take care of each other and in many instances if we take care of each other we will take care of the planet. At least that is how I view things.

As for the issue of individual species campaigns and restoring habitat. Individual species campaigns often work, our society is drawn to charismatic species such as Siberian tigers and bald eagles. But there are many uncharismatic species that also need help, for example the devil's hole pupfish and vernal pool fairy shrimp. The only way that individual species restoration projects work is if those species are umbrella species. Or maybe a keystone species. Just conserving land for an individual species could exclude other species that would normally occur in that region or that would be a natural part of a successional event. Restoring or conserving habitat for the red tree vole for instance, will ruin habitat for meadow dwelling or dependant species. It is finding a balance between the needs of the species being restored/conserved and the needs of other species in that area that will be most important. Saving habitat for one species at the expense of others is not a successful way to manage, protect or restore natural ecosystems. Whole systems approaches are the most appropriate way to preserve, conserve and restore species, habitats and ecosystems.

Rinse and repeat

Alas I did not keep up with blogging in the last year (ish). I mostly keep my thoughts in my head, or randomly spout them at people who acquiesce my ramblings but never seem to know quite what to say in return. Sometimes they seem to share my horror, but maybe they are horrified by my outbursts (an amusing thought I dare say). When I started this blog ethno-ornithology brought up very few links when searched. Today, there were two pages brought up before I found my blog (which I had to Google because I couldn't remember the name or my log-in information for certain until today). Maybe this is a good sign for me. Maybe this means FINALLY some professor will decide to humor my interest in people and birds (how we affect them and how they affect us...mythology would be a good thing to include in there too).

I am taking a Geology class this term. Two parts "because I miss college/university" and one part "because I need to know more about Geology." Having not spent much time invested in the specifics/basics of geology I must say my brain is feeling challenged. A lovely feeling indeed. The instructor is funny and I remembered how interesting community colleges are. I am concurrently enrolled in the Master Gardener program (thanks to my AmeriCorps site sponsor). Yay OSU! I find the program a bit too social for me but the people seem genuinely interested in soil and green things and food (yum!) so it eases some of the pain.

So, here's to hoping I can carve a little time out of my life/time to do something I miss and truly enjoy doing...researching and relaying information!