Bird Strikes

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

· Over 195 people have been killed world-wide as a result of bird strikes since 1988.

· Bird and other wildlife strikes cost USA civil aviation over $500 million/year, 1990-2005.

· Over 5,000 bird strikes were reported by the U.S. Air Force in 2006.

· Over 7,100 bird and other wildlife strikes were reported for USA civil aircraft in 2005.

· An estimated 80% of bird strikes to civil aircraft in USA go unreported.

· From 1990-2004, USA airlines reported 31 incidents in which pilots had to dump fuel to lighten load during a precautionary or emergency landing after striking birds on takeoff or climb. An average of 11,600 gallons of jet fuel was released in each of these dumps.

· Waterfowl (32%), gulls (28%), and raptors (17%) represented 77% of the reported bird strikes causing damage to USA civil aircraft, 1990-2005.

· Over 700 civil aircraft collisions with deer were reported in the USA, 1990-2006.

· A 12-lb Canada goose struck by a 150-mph aircraft at lift-off generates the force of a 1,000-lb weight dropped from a height of 10 feet.

· In 1890, 60 European starlings were released in Central Park, New York City. Starlings are now the second most abundant bird in North America with a late-summer population of over 150 million birds. Starlings are "feathered bullets", having a body density 27% higher than herring gulls.

· The North American non-migratory Canada goose population increased 3.6 fold from 1 million birds in 1990 to
3.5 million in 2005.

· The nesting population of American bald eagles in the contiguous USA increased from fewer than 400 pairs in 1970 (2 years before DDT and similar chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides were banned) to over 7,000 pairs in 2007.

· The North American population of greater snow geese increased from about 50,000 birds in 1966 to over
1,000,000 birds in 2006.

· The Great Lakes cormorant population increased from only about 200 nesting adults in 1970 to over 260,000 nesting adults in 2006, a 1,000+-fold increase.

· The North American white and brown pelican populations grew at average annual rates of 2.9% and 2.1%, respectively, 1966- 2005.

· At least 15,000 gulls were counted nesting on roofs in USA cities on the Great Lakes during a survey in 1994

· About 90% of all bird strikes in the U.S. are by species federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

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Meeting Information (Bird Strike Committee)

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