DAZZLING red lasers can drive birds away from airports and other sensitive
sites, say biologists working for the US government. These high-tech scarecrows
can shift thousands of roosting birds in only a few hours, and most of them will
never return.
Bird strikes can severely damage the engines of planes taking off or landing.
To reduce the risk to passengers, airports often kill the birds or frighten them
away with noisy bird scarers.
The advantage of the red laser is that it drives away the birds without
physically harming them. The laser, which is the size of a flashlight, was
originally designed for US military police to dazzle and disorient people
without damaging their eyes. 鈥淭he birds can handle more intense light than
humans and our studies show they are not harmed,鈥� says Brad Blackwell of the
Department of Agriculture鈥檚 National Wildlife Research Center at Sandusky,
Ohio.
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The researchers have already used the lasers to disperse cormorants roosting
at catfish farms in the Mississippi delta, and to drive Canada geese away from a
reservoir. 鈥淚t works best during darkness. The birds see the large red spot
moving towards them across the surface of the water or ground. They seem to
think it is a predator and they panic,鈥� says Blackwell. However, Britain鈥檚 Civil
Aviation Authority says it restricts the use of lasers within 10 miles of an
airfield to prevent pilots being dazzled.