Lighting May Reduce Fatal Airplane-Bird Collisions

To prevent bird-airplane collisions, safety officials need to understand the birds' point of view, according to a group of researchers who tested birds' responses to model aircraft to help develop methods for avoiding potentially fatal bird strikes.

Although dwarfed by man-made flyers, birds can damage airplanes and even cause them to crash. Lighting may be a critical factor in preventing these potentially fatal collisions, this study indicates.

Key to their study was the knowledge that birds don't see the world quite like humans do. For instance, Canada geese have wider lateral visual fields, meaning they can see farther to the sides of their heads, and they can see ultraviolet light, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum not visible to humans.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/21497-aircraft-bird-collisions.html

Lake Canada Geese cull on Windermere is shelved

Plans for a cull of 200 Canada Geese on Windermere have been shelved.

The Windermere Geese Management Group (WGMG) said the birds had been causing environmental problems on the lake and other control measures had failed.

However, after concerns were raised by members of the public and the RSPCA, the group has now decided to put the plans on hold.

Neil Ryding, who organised a signed petition against the cull, said he was "absolutely delighted" with the news.

When the group announced the plan for the cull last month, it said it would be carried out "professionally, quickly and humanely".

However, on Monday, RSPCA chief executive Gavin Grant said there were alternative solutions and warned if the cull was not carried out lawfully it would consider prosecution.

Mr Grant said such a cull would be a "bloody stain" on Windermere.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-17466802

Cull of 200 Canada geese planned in Lake District

A SOUTH Lakeland conservationist has slammed a planned cull of Canada Geese on Windermere as ‘a total massacre’.

Clive Hartley hit out at the Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA), which is considering killing around 200 of the birds this spring.

It follows complaints from landowners about geese eating grass and crops and there are also concerns their droppings affect water quality.

An LDNPA spokesman said it would be the first time it had carried out a cull but numbers had ‘reached a point where we have to take action’.

Mr Hartley, of Grange-over-Sands, resigned from the authority’s geese management group, saying he was ‘disgusted’ at the plans as they had ‘no scientific justification’.

“At that time of year, the geese are found in big flocks and are looking for protection from predators – you can walk up to them,” he said.

“It’s not a cull, it’s a slaughter as far as I’m concerned.”

The naturalist said Canada Geese numbers had ‘fluctuated’ over the years but had not ‘gone over the top’.

“From a wildlife point of view, I know Windermere as good as anybody,” he explained.

“I think, in the 21st Century, it’s a great pity and a sad reflection of our country that with issues to do with wildlife, the answer is to start killing them.

“It’s happening with badgers at the moment – where do you draw the line?”

Mr Hartley, who makes a monthly count of all waterbirds on Windermere, said there were around 661 Canada Geese on Windermere.

But LDNPA ranger Steve Tatlock said the number was around 1,200, which was why the cull had been proposed.

“Mr Hartley’s figures are based purely on land-based observations, whereas ours are carried out from a boat giving us a more complete survey and picture of overall numbers,” he said.

Mr Tatlock said the geese were a ‘non-native species’ and a cull would improve water quality, help with land management, address farming concerns and protect tourist activities.

“We understand that this is an emotive issue,” he said.

“If a cull does take place, it will be to the highest possible professional standards.”

Mr Hartley said the group had recommended increasing the cull from 200 to 600. But he said this ‘would be a total massacre, not a cull’.

The LDNPA said it would gather more scientific data about local movements of geese on lakes such as Windermere.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said the group would not object to the ‘legal control of Canada Geese, so long as all non-lethal methods’ were considered and licence conditions were met.

http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/farm_and_country/9506095.Cull_of_200_Canada_geese_planned_in_Lake_District/?ref=mr

Canada geese, an invasive species soon to be culled

Once a protected species, Canada geese (Branta canadensis) may soon become a target for hunters. There are certainly so many of them in France that they are beginning to pose a threat to wetland biodiversity. On 6 September, the day before the shooting season opened in France, the National Hunters Federation (FNC) repeated its determination to have the geese put back on the list of waterfowl that can be hunted. But is this the right answer?

The Canada goose is the largest goose found in Europe. It was introduced to Britain in the 17th century, then adopted as a game bird on the continent during the last century. In the wild they live 10 to 25 years and are prolific breeders. They are now resident in western Europe and, for reasons that remain obscure, their numbers have started increasing very fast. They are now on a list of 100 invasive species posing a serious threat to biodiversity in Europe.

There were only several hundred Canada geese in France at the end of the 1990s. Now there are more than 5,000 spread over at least 58 départements, with half in the Paris area.

"Unlike other wild geese, the Canada goose is quite happy in the suburbs, in parks, on lakes and in marinas," says ornithologist Philippe Dubois, who is coordinating a national survey of invasive alien species for France's League for the Protection of Birds (LPO). "Their droppings really make a mess on lawns and leisure areas, and in swimming pools." In 2009 the health risk caused by this pollution led to the temporary closure of an outdoor leisure centre at Cergy-Pontoise, north-west of Paris.

If they settle in wilder spots, Canada geese pose other problems. "They have a strong sense of territory and will prevent other waterfowl from moving into quite a large area round their nest, so they may hinder reproduction by ducks, coots and other goose species," Dubois says. He reckons that if the present population dynamic continues, something will have to be done. This would involve a more radical response than the occasional measures taken recently by the National Agency for Hunting and Wildlife (ONCFS), sterilising eggs and culling birds on the orders of the local government representative.

In response to a government request for plans for a campaign, the ONCFS recommended a culling role for hunters. But Pierre Migot, its head, pointed out that many people don't want the geese to disappear and a goal needs to be set. So it remains to be seen what fate awaits the Canada goose in France.
Frédéric Jiguet, an ornithologist at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris, has a compromise. "Maybe they should resume hunting this invasive species," he says. "But in exchange we should take the greylag goose off the game list, at least from August to October." In 2010 there were only 150 pairs left in France.

This article orginally appeared in Le Monde

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/27/france-considers-canada-geese-cull?newsfeed=true

Peculiar geese deaths baffle wildlife officials

Ailment afflicting birds around Lake Erie
By TOM HENRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER

Several dozen Canada geese along western Lake Erie's shoreline have recently died or are presumed dead while others have become so sick they cannot hold up their heads, fly, or maintain control of their motor functions.

State wildlife investigators are stumped, awaiting word on tests that a national wildlife laboratory in Wisconsin has been doing on some of the dead birds.

"They will fall out of the sky and have trouble staying upright," said Dave Sherman, a biologist at the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station the Ohio Department of Natural Resources operates in Ottawa County.

Symptoms began manifesting themselves first with mallards about two or three weeks ago.

"Now, it's mostly geese we're seeing," he said.

The bulk of the problem appears to be in the Oregon area, Mr. Sherman said, in the vicinity of open water near FirstEnergy Corp.'s coal-fired Bay Shore power plant, where birds typically congregate this time of year.

The plant's warm-water discharge often keeps that part of the lake from freezing.

But the problems are not limited to that area.

Mr. Sherman said some of the sick or dead geese have been found as far east as Vermilion, Ohio, which is halfway between Sandusky and Cleveland.

Four were recently found on a thawed part of the Maumee River near downtown Perrysburg.

Cody Klima, Ohio DNR wildlife officer, said he has picked up about two dozen goose carcasses over the past couple of weeks.

He also said he's taken that many sick birds or more to Nature's Nursery in Whitehouse and Back to the Wild in Castalia, Ohio, two facilities that attempt to rehabilitate injured wildlife.

Officials at those facilities have not had much success with this outbreak.

Many of the sick, injured, or dead geese are inaccessible because warming temperatures have made the ice too dangerous to traverse.

"I'm guessing some of them are drowning," Mr. Klima said. "They lose their coordination and flip upside down."

He said he has been getting about a dozen calls a day from area residents reporting new sightings or seeking answers about birds they've seen.

"They're throwing their heads back. They're losing all balance and literally almost all back-somersault and have a seizure," according to Laura Zitzelberger, operations director at Nature's Nursery. At least eight or nine of about a dozen geese that were brought to Nature's Nursery either died or had to be euthanized.

Two ducks and one of the geese that exhibited symptoms appear to have recovered. Another goose is struggling, she said.

At Back to the Wild, 18 of 23 geese dropped off for treatment have died, nearly all within the past three days, said Sarah Langdon, Back to the Wild supervisor.

Of the remaining five, three are "acting like normal geese again" and may be released soon, she said.

Seventeen of those 23 injured birds were brought in from the Bay Shore plant area, she said.

Chris Barry, a Perrysburg engineer, said he has seen three carcasses and a sick goose on the Perrysburg side of the Maumee River since Saturday. He said they were only 20 to 30 feet from the shore, but the ice was too dangerous to walk on.

"They're at the edge of the ice," Mr. Barry said, referring to an area near Water and Pine streets in Perrysburg.

The sick bird "was floating in a tiny patch of open water," Mr. Barry said.

"It didn't have much strength left," he said.

Anyone who sees geese acting strangely can contact the Crane Creek Wildlife Research Station at 419-898-0960 or the ODNR office in Findlay.

http://beta.toledoblade.com/local/2011/02/18/Peculiar-geese-deaths-baffle-wildlife-officials.html

Safety vow after geese deaths

CALLS have been made to step up safety measures at Scarborough’s Sands apartment block after three more Canada geese flew into the side of the building.


The geese died after hitting the large, cream-coloured end wall at the end of Kepwick House, one of the two blocks of apartments.

The company which manages the Sands apartments has installed new, bright LED lighting to try to tackle the problem. But the geese are still flying at full speed into the wall as they head out over the sea.

Wildlife experts and members of the public are calling for more action to be taken to prevent more deaths.

Steve Race, community education and outreach officer at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, said that for anyone to have to witness an incident like this would be “horrific”.

Mr Race, who lives in Scarborough, said: “It’s more common to hear of birds flying into windows due to the reflection, but for large geese to fly into a wall like this is very unusual.

“I went to have a look myself and could see the imprints on the side of the building. What’s happened is terrible and if it’s recurring something really needs to be done. It’s very upsetting.”

It is believed the geese are struggling to differentiate between the sky and the building’s pale facade.

The birds died instantly after striking the building as they made their way out to sea, and their deaths follow that of another goose which was killed last month in the same way. There have also been previous incidents.

David Hooper, who runs the neighbouring Military Adventure Park in the former Atlantis site, made the latest grim discovery and said it was a distressing sight. He said: “It was quite upsetting to see the geese in that state.

“I believe the geese in Peasholm Park are fine, it is the ones coming from the Open Air Theatre that are having the problem.

“It looks like their direct route takes them straight into the building, it is such a shame to see them in that way.”

Linda Stather, of Scalby Road, contacted the Evening News after she saw a goose collide with the wall.

She said: “I would have thought that after all the killings of geese and swans last year that when this wall was repaired and painted, more thought would have been given to try to stop it.”

But Rachel Dean, director of Escape 2 The Sands, which manages the apartments, said the company was investigating a number of possible solutions to eliminate future incidents.

She added: “Over the last 18 months a number of geese have flown into the side of the apartments on their flight path from Peasholm Park to the North Sea.

“This first occurred at night so to solve this we have fitted LED lights to illuminate up the side of the building to act as a warning to the geese.

“However, the recent inclement weather has resulted in poor visibility for the geese so we are currently exploring all avenues with the RSPB to find a solution to this issue.”