(Above: Video of a bird strike and subsequent crash of an BAE Hawk airplane. The bird strike can be seen at the 0:06-0:07 mark. The training pilot and the instructor ejected safely.)
The crash several weeks ago of the US Airways jet into the Hudson River off Manhattan reminded me of the necessity of a rather obscure part of the bird-related world: forensic ornithology.
Forensic ornithology is the field of study that identifies bird species involved in accidents, crimes, and the like from scraps of tissue or feathers. Incidents such as an airliner being brought down by a flock of birds really point to the need for this specialized expertise. If we cannot identify the kind of bird that caused the accident, then there is nothing that can be done to prevent it in the future.
Although DNA recovered from tissue samples from an accident can be helpful, most bird species have very different microscopic feather structures that can positively identify the species of bird involved. (A very nice overview of this process can be found here.)
(I have a personal connection to forensic ornithology since I studied bird skinning with the person who pioneered the field — Roxie Laybourne — many years ago when I was in high school.)
Bird strikes on airplanes are actually fairly common, and virtually every airport in the country has some kind of plan to manage habitat and bird populations around runways to reduce this hazard. Fortunately, most strikes are by small birds and are not enough to bring down large airplanes.
But as the Hudson River crash points out, birds can still pose problems for airlines in some areas. With proper and creative habitat and bird management, though, the chances of a major accident can be greatly reduced.
This crash also points out the need to conserve natural areas and other habitats away from our cities, so that we can avoid these conflicts as much as possible.
Tags: Birds, forensic ornithology, US Air
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What is meant by “bird management?” Usually this means killing the animal causing problems.