Fuglefaren er der hver dag

New method to help reduce bird-aircraft collisions Washington: Scientists have found that customisation of aircraft and runway lights to birds' visual systems can reduce costly bird-aircraft collisions. Collision with birds is one of the most common hazards to aircraft, causing USD 700 million in damage annually in the US, scientists said. Megan Doppler and Esteban Fernandez-Juricic of Purdue University and Bradley Blackwell and Travis DeVault of the National Wildlife Research Center's Ohio Field Station have conducted experiments involving captive cowbirds and remote-controlled aircraft to test how the birds reacted to a variety of lights. Birds' eyes are different from human eyes in several key ways, and Doppler and her colleagues determined that blue light would be most conspicuous to the Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater) used in their study. Outfitting a remote-controlled model airplane with lights in this colour, they tested how the captive flock reacted to continuous versus pulsing lights and to a stationary versus approaching aircraft.