CFS Robird
If you travel through Edmonton Airport there’s a good chance you’ll see a peregrine falcon speeding through the skies, chasing a flock of birds away the runway.
What you wouldn’t be able to tell is that falcon is actually a robotic drone; a sort of airborne ‘Terminator’ that chases birds away from the runways.
In the first project of its kind in North America, Calgary’s Aerium Analytics is using the ‘Robird’ drones to keep birds away from the runway, and thus prevent a potentially disastrous bird strike on an aircraft.
“It’s a way to increase the safety of passengers in a manner that does not hurt or kill the birds, but definitely clears them out of the area,” says Tim Bibby, Managing Director of Aerium Analytics.
Now, Aerium is planning to expand the Robird program to orchards in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley.
“We understand there is a pretty serious problem with starlings particularly in these orchards,” says Bibby. “We create a predator presence in the orchard, with high density flights of the Robird chasing the birds away.
“In our experience it is very unlikely birds will come back if they know a predator is nesting in the area.”
The orchard program is new to Aerium. Most of their business to this point involves using drones aerial mapping given their GIS background and infrastructure inspections in many industries.
Bibby says the company’s experience in Edmonton suggests it can be a cost effective way to keep birds out of the orchards without killing the birds themselves, or irritating neighbours with air cannons.
As well, Bibby says the Robird has a huge advantage, because birds never seem to get used to it.
“Birds are smart, they figure things out, and over time they’ll figure out that many of the things used to frighten them off are not a real threat to them, and at that point the deterrence is no longer effective,” Bibby explains. “We’ve seen pictures of birds literally sitting on air cannons, and when they hear the click before it fires, they’ll take off, and then come back after the cannon goes off.
“The Ornithopter is a unique tool in that we have not seen any birds become habituated to it yet, and that’s because the Robird mimics the behaviour of an actual predator.”
The Robird has a three foot wingspan and weighs 750 grams. It’s designed to look like a female Peregrine falcon, and is ‘piloted’ by a human operator using remote control.
For that reason, the human operator can continually chase off birds and adapt to their tactics.
If you’re interested in learning more or even taking part in a trial, go to aeriumanalytics.com for more information.