The number of bird collisions around the Vancouver International Airport is on the rise, and officials say urban development is to blame for pushing more and more wildlife onto YVR property.
In 2011, there were 216 bird strikes at the airport, a 38 per cent increase from the 157 recorded in 2008.
The vast majority had no impact on flights, but experts say the population of larger birds – like the ones that famously forced a US Airways jet to land on the Hudson River three years ago – is growing.
“Big birds cause big damage,” said Gary Searing of the Bird Strike Association of Canada. “Populations of urban Canada geese, snow geese, bald eagles have been increasing steadily for the last decade, and so there are more of them in the Lower Mainland now.”
The airport says there have already been four eagle strikes this year.
YVR has taken to various methods of bird control, including using screamers, pyrotechnics, sirens, dogs and even introducing falcons to scare away their smaller cousins.
But despite the round-the-clock efforts, Brett Patterson, YVR’s director of safety and planning, says neighbouring development is sending more birds toward the property.
“We are the largest green space in the region,” Patterson said. “The airport becomes more and more the… area for birds to come and feed and rest and nest.”
Patterson said the increase number of strikes is also caused by a growing swallow population at YVR.
The airport, which already spends more than $1 million a year to avoid bird strikes, is set to spend another $10 million to alter the terrain of the airfield and make it less attractive to wildlife.
That will include getting rid of open-water ditches and potentially changing the type of grass in the fields.
With a report from CTV British Columbia’s Mi-Jung Lee
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