Fastest bird alive and owls caught by wildlife specialists at Pittsburgh International Airport - TribLIVE

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Catching the fastest bird alive, the peregrine falcon, is another day at office for bird control experts at the Pittsburgh International Airport and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A peregrine falcon would not leave the airport grounds earlier this month after biologists tried to shoo away the state-threatened raptor. Then, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services set up traps to catch the peregrine, previously catching two state-endangered short-eared owls and a great-horned owl late last year.

These birds could pose a danger to the public if they hit a plane. The peregrine falcon has been clocked at more than 240 mph in a dive.

Bird and other wildlife strikes are a big deal, causing more than $650 million in damage to U.S. civil and military aviation annually, according to Boeing and the Bird Strike Committee USA.

Bird strikes to aircraft have caused more than 200 deaths since 1988. A number of lives were saved with the successful crash landing of a USAirways flight on the Hudson River in 2009 after it lost engine power after hitting a flock of Canada geese.

Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services division and the Pittsburgh International Airport safely trapped and relocated a peregrine falcon that had been hanging around the airfield as well as two short-eared owls late last year.

Both birds are large enough – up to 23 inches and 17 inches in length, respectively — to cause problems with aircraft hits.

The airport’s Wildlife Administrator, Ben Shertzer has seen peregrines on the airfield before, but said they usually move on. Staff tried to scare off the peregrine, but it stayed.

USDA located several Swedish goshawk traps with a live pigeon, luring the raptor into the open top of the cage with a trigger to close the cage door. The pigeon was spared as it was safely located in the bottom of the cage.

After the falcon was secured, it was measured and given a health assessment, with all the collected data recorded for state and federal wildlife management agencies, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“When anybody looks at that band, they can track the bird back to PIT,” Shertzer said, adding that he believes it was the first peregrine falcon ever caught at the airport.

Surprisingly, birds do hit into planes much the same way that cars hit deer.

“There’s a large object coming fast, it confuses them and they don’t get out of the way,” said Craig Hicks, a district supervisor for USDA Wildlife Services in Bolivar, Westmoreland County.

“At the end of the day, you have planes and birds sharing the same airspace,” he said.

Shertzer and USDA are most concerned with flocks of birds, birds of prey and geese.

The birds are attracted to the airfield because of food, primarily the presence of meadow voles, “a delicacy for coyotes, red-tailed hawks, and other wildlife,” Hicks said.

Efforts to keep away wildlife include habitat management to make the airfield less attractive for wildlife to feed. But once the birds are onsite, wildlife experts will then harass them into leaving, setting off low-light fireworks such as screamers and bangers.

If they have to capture and release the birds, they are banded. The USDA team works with a national research program that determines how far to relocate, say a peregrine falcon, to keep it from returning.

The FAA requires many airports to have a wildlife management plan, Hicks added.

Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary at 724-226-4691, mthomas@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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