Southwest Florida - Just in time for the fall migrations, Southwest Florida International Airport unleashed its newest tool for keeping birds and aircraft apart.

She's Sky, a year-old border collie less than two months into her job of shooing birds off the airfield.

"She's not aggressive at all, but to the birds, she looks like a predator - a wolf or a coyote," said James Hess, airport operations agent and Sky's handler.

Operators of Southwest Florida International Airport claim to be among the first U.S. commercial airports to employ a bird dog, beginning in 1999.

"This is the time of year when some of the largest birds create the biggest problems for airports," said Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society. Freezing temperatures and dwindling food sources send birds south, with the biggest North American migrations between October and late December, Butcher said.

Flocks on the move include sparrows, kinglets and blue jays and such bigger birds as bald eagles and snow geese, according to Butcher.

Each airport has its own problem species.

Cattle egrets, little blue heron, great egrets and grackles are among the species of concern year-round at Southwest Florida International, Hess said.

Stakes are high for keeping birds at bay. In June, the Federal Aviation Administration released a report on wildlife strikes to nonmilitary aircraft between 1990 and 2007. Among its findings:

• More than 82,000 aircraft-animal collisions were reported to the FAA, with birds involved more than 97 percent of the time.

  At Southwest Florida International, wildlife strikes reported to the FAA fell from a total of 44 in 1998, the year before the first bird dog reported for duty, to 35 in 2007. Total reported bird strikes at the local airport have ranged from the mid-20s to mid-30s since 1999. Altogether, the airport had 517 wildlife strikes reported between 1990 and 2007.

• Big birds or big flocks of small birds can disable wing tips, dent the fuselage, foul the motor or break an aircraft's windshield.
• Eight wildlife strikes caused 11 human deaths. Seven involved unidentified species of birds. Four fatalities were attributed to Canada geese, white-tailed deer and brown pelicans.
• Reported losses totaled $291.1 million and 362,073 hours in aircraft down time.

Among the most common are habitat management including mowing grass and limiting water wherever possible, as well as scaring off critters by firing pistols and shotguns that shoot blanks and propane cannons that emit loud booms, Hess said.

"Birds get used to almost anything mechanical. That's why falcons and border collies can be more effective," said Butcher of Audubon.

The costs of training, handling and maintaining collie or falcon teams can be steep. A "turnkey" solution of one trained dog and handler or a falconry team from a private service can run $80,000 to $100,000 annually, according to Eugene LeBoeuf, chief of the U.S. Air Force's Bird/Wildlife Aircraft Strike Hazard (BASH) Team.

No one seems to know exactly how many airports use bird dogs. Chadbourn, N.C.-based, Flyaway Farm and Kennels has provided dogs to military and civil airfields. Rebecca Ryan, owner and executive director, believes the number of U.S. airports employing such dogs to be in the low 20s.

Despite airports' increased efforts, the risk of wildlife strikes shows no sign of slackening, said Richard Dolbeer, who recently retired as a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was co-author of the FAA-issued report.

Over the past 30 years, "we've seen a tremendous increase in populations of bird species," said Dolbeer, crediting pesticide bans, the Endangered Species Act and other state and federal controls among other factors.

Birds have learned to adapt to more urban environments, Dolbeer said.

Today's faster and quieter jets also make it more difficult for birds to detect and avoid avian-aircraft collisions, according to Dolbeer.

New canine recruit enlisted for Florida airfield patrol...........

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