Habitat use by birds in airports: a case study and its implications for bird management in South American airports

Abstract

The concentration of birds around airports has significantly increased the occurrence of aeronautical accidents worldwide. One of the main techniques to modify the avian habitat in airports, and therefore exert controls over bird population density, is to regulate the height of surrounding grasslands. The objective of this work was to record the seasonal use of habitat by birds in an airfield in Argentina, and to evaluate the effect of grassland height in the abundance of different components of the avian community. A total of 44 sampling events were carried out between October 2005 and July 2011, comprising all seasons. Short grassland areas (≤ 30 cm), registered 53 % of the total bird abundance, and were consistently for all seasons the most utilized habitat by those species that registered the highest abundances (e.g. Milvago chimango and Vanellus chilensis) and that pose a highest risk to aerial operations. In general, the species Patagioenas picazuro, Zenaida auriculata, Myiopsitta monachus and Sturnus vulgaris also made preferential use of short grassland areas rather than tall grasslands. Maintaining grassland areas at heights > 30 cm, might be a successful habitat manipulation strategy and represent a tool to control birds in South American airports. In turn, this would be a relatively simple and economic management strategy.