Falconry World

I came across a story yesterday on the World Hum travel blog about falconry being used at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the only commercial airport in the US to use falconry as a way to control wild bird population as a means to reduce bird strike on planes.

With so much in the news lately about bird strikes and aeroplanes, I wondered why this airport is seemingly the only one to use falconry as a way to prevent bird strikes. Is it due to native raptors not being able to be used for commercial purposes? Which seems crazy since it can help save lives. Or maybe it’s down to the location; Kennedy Airport is right beside Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, nearly 10,000 acres in size and home to oystercatchers, plovers, whimbrels, ibises, willets and more. All which could mean disaster for the aeroplanes that are about to launch so an exception is made.

The report states that using falconry for this kind of problem works wonders, “It’s an effective way to deal with the bird issue, for the simple reason that while birds can get used to noise, they never habituate to having a natural predator in the area.”

The falcons they use are all bred and raised in captivity and are trained not to hunt or kill any of the pest birds, just to scare them away. The company also use a CD recording. Read the full report on the World Hum site.