Structures Near Airports Increase Risk of Airplane-Goose Collisions
“I think the geese are on the rooftops because they don’t want to be disturbed,” Ward said. “No one’s jogging past them, no cars are honking at them. They can sit up there and conserve energy and not move. I think their whole behavior is to conserve energy, since there isn’t much for them to eat in Chicago in the winter.”
The canal doesn’t freeze and is a bit warmer than other open water, so it offers another opportunity for the geese to avoid expending too much energy, Ward said.
What little sustenance is available to them might be found in the rail yard, the researchers said. Photos taken by Dorak revealed what look like piles of moldy grain in one section of the rail yard.
“They won’t let us in there, but it looks like these rail cars haul grain and then they don’t get all of the grain out,” Ward said. “They take the rail cars to one end of the yard and somebody brushes them all out and it makes these mountains of moldy grain.”
Some of the study geese regularly visited the rail yard and were likely eating the grain, Ward said.
“These geese are using clever behaviors to find whatever resources they can get,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense physiologically that they are going to make it through the winter eating dead grass, and so they’ve got to be creative.”
While the study focused on geese near Midway Airport, Ward said he thinks the findings are broadly relevant.
“The behavior of the geese at Chicago is going to be similar to the geese around airports in Toronto, Minneapolis, Madison or Des Moines – any airport in the upper temperate region,” he said. “Wherever you go, these geese are adapting to humans and changing their behaviors to take advantage of any opportunities they have.”
The researchers suggest that owners of buildings near the airport set up devices to dissuade geese from using rooftops. They hope that rail yard managers will find another way to dispose of grain, and that those managing lands near the canal will find ways to scare off the geese.
“Make it so it’s not a hospitable place for the geese,” Ward said. “I realize the geese will probably cause a problem somewhere else, but they won’t be causing a problem for airplanes.”
The researchers are working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services program to alter goose habitats to reduce the risk to air traffic.
