Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon
Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion US dollars annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is l...
Published in: | Journal of The Royal Society Interface |
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2022
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/252249527/rsif.2022.0497_1_.pdf |
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ftunigroningenpu:oai:pure.rug.nl:publications/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c 2024-09-15T18:29:16+00:00 Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon Storms, Rolf F Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert van Gasteren, Hans Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K 2022-10-26 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11370/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/252249527/rsif.2022.0497_1_.pdf eng eng https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Storms , R F , Carere , C , Musters , R , van Gasteren , H , Verhulst , S & Hemelrijk , C K 2022 , ' Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon ' , Journal of the Royal Society Interface , vol. 19 , no. 195 , pp. 20220497 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 Animals Predatory Behavior Birds Charadriiformes Fear article 2022 ftunigroningenpu https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 2024-07-01T14:49:24Z Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion US dollars annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is limited. Live avian predators can be an effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled entirely. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. We developed the RobotFalcon, a device modelled after the peregrine falcon, and tested its effectiveness to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. The RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best conventional method at the airbase (distress calls). Importantly, there was no evidence that bird flocks habituated to the RobotFalcon over the course of the fieldwork. We conclude that the RobotFalcon is a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations. Article in Journal/Newspaper peregrine falcon University of Groningen research database Journal of The Royal Society Interface 19 195 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Groningen research database |
op_collection_id |
ftunigroningenpu |
language |
English |
topic |
Animals Predatory Behavior Birds Charadriiformes Fear |
spellingShingle |
Animals Predatory Behavior Birds Charadriiformes Fear Storms, Rolf F Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert van Gasteren, Hans Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon |
topic_facet |
Animals Predatory Behavior Birds Charadriiformes Fear |
description |
Collisions between birds and airplanes can damage aircrafts, resulting in delays and cancellation of flights, costing the international civil aviation industry more than 1.4 billion US dollars annually. Driving away birds is therefore crucial, but the effectiveness of current deterrence methods is limited. Live avian predators can be an effective deterrent, because potential prey will not habituate to them, but live predators cannot be controlled entirely. Thus, there is an urgent need for new deterrence methods. We developed the RobotFalcon, a device modelled after the peregrine falcon, and tested its effectiveness to deter flocks of corvids, gulls, starlings and lapwings. We compared its effectiveness with that of a drone, and of conventional methods routinely applied at a military airbase. The RobotFalcon scared away bird flocks from fields immediately, and these fields subsequently remained free of bird flocks for hours. The RobotFalcon outperformed the drone and the best conventional method at the airbase (distress calls). Importantly, there was no evidence that bird flocks habituated to the RobotFalcon over the course of the fieldwork. We conclude that the RobotFalcon is a practical and ethical solution to drive away bird flocks with all advantages of live predators but without their limitations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Storms, Rolf F Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert van Gasteren, Hans Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K |
author_facet |
Storms, Rolf F Carere, Claudio Musters, Robert van Gasteren, Hans Verhulst, Simon Hemelrijk, Charlotte K |
author_sort |
Storms, Rolf F |
title |
Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon |
title_short |
Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon |
title_full |
Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon |
title_fullStr |
Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon |
title_sort |
deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the robotfalcon |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11370/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 https://pure.rug.nl/ws/files/252249527/rsif.2022.0497_1_.pdf |
genre |
peregrine falcon |
genre_facet |
peregrine falcon |
op_source |
Storms , R F , Carere , C , Musters , R , van Gasteren , H , Verhulst , S & Hemelrijk , C K 2022 , ' Deterrence of birds with an artificial predator, the RobotFalcon ' , Journal of the Royal Society Interface , vol. 19 , no. 195 , pp. 20220497 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 |
op_relation |
https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/09416b93-618a-41b6-ad86-74c3ccfc3c0c |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2022.0497 |
container_title |
Journal of The Royal Society Interface |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
195 |
_version_ |
1810470682756120576 |