http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-03/uoa-fda030206.php
Public release date: 2-Mar-2006
Falcon decoys and simulated rifle fire keep birds from oil
A fake peregrine and a radar-activated cannon work better at keeping
birds away from oil sands tailings than the current system, says new
research from the University of Alberta.
Oil sands mining is one of several industrial activities that produces
waste dangerous to waterfowl. The birds, such as ducks, geese and
swans, are attracted to freshwater ponds for foraging, roosting and
nesting, and as stopover sites during migration. Spring migration is a
particular problem in north-eastern Alberta, when the warm-water waste
forms tailing ponds from oil sands mines are the only open water--the
natural bodies are still frozen. When waterfowl land in these ponds,
they may ingest oil and their plumage may become oiled with waste
bitumen, potentially preventing birds from flying or leading to lost
insulation and death from hypothermia. Current deterrents being used
are not always successful because wildlife either ignore the stimuli or
habituate to them.
Dr. Colleen Cassady St. Clair and her former undergraduate student, Rob
Ronconi (now a Ph.D student at the University of Victoria), compared
the industry standard--randomly firing cannons and stationary human
effigies--to a radar-activated system which fires cannons and also
activates large peregrine falcon effigies only when birds approach.
The radar detects the birds and relays the information to a computer
that automatically deploys the deterrents. Ronconi led the fieldwork
and observed almost 8000 birds during the experiment, which took place
in northern Alberta near Fort McMurray. The research has just been
published in the "Journal of Applied Ecology."
They found the radar system more effective at deterring birds from
landing and then later learned the cannons were even more effective
than the peregrines. Part of the reason, says St. Clair may be that the
birds are less likely to habituate to the cannons because they are not
fired all the time but only when the birds approach. The radar system
is currently being used by Albian Sands, Energy.
"This system could be helpful in deterring birds from industrial ponds
and we have suggested some potential applications to oil spills at
sea," said St. Clair, who is from the Faculty of Science. "In the
oilsands, several hundred birds are probably oiled each year and that
number might reach into the thousands in some spring conditions."
The system was also able to detect four times as many birds as visual
sightings and could also detect the animals at night--particularly
critical for bird deterrence because shorebirds, ducks and geese are
nocturnal as well as diurnal migrants. But although the research shows
promise for radar-activated on-demand deterrents, bird deterrence is
not the long-term solution, says St. Clair. In addition to deterrence,
the oil sands industry is committed to the reclamation of mines and
tailings ponds post production and is also developing processes that
will negate the need for hazardous ponds. "The problem will be reduced
in time as the oilsands move to technologies that do not produce
tailings ponds but that technology is likely to be at least 10 years
away," said St. Clair. "In the meantime, on-demand cannon deterrent
systems offer the potential of better avian deterrence at industrial
sites."
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