Effects of Flight Disturbance on Bird Communities at Airports: Predatory Birds Rise to the Challenge

Abstract

Airports are special ecological environments. To study the effects of aircraft flight noise disturbance on airport bird communities, the composition and diversity of airport bird communities on flight and non-flight days were investigated using a line transect sampling method at the eastern airport of Hebei Province from June to August, 2019. In total, 36 species belonging to 11 orders and 22 families of birds were recorded. Disturbances such as noise from aircraft flights affected the number of species and the individual density and diversity of birds. However, different areas were affected to different extents, and three areas on the same side were the most affected. Additionally, we found that the numbers of 14 bird species increased on flight days compared to those on non-flight days. Three bird species, upland buzzard Buteo hemilasius, eastern buzzard Buteo japonicus, and black-crowned night heron Nycticorax nycticorax, were only observed on flight days. On flight days, the increase in the number of some raptors may be for hunting. Therefore, to prevent bird collisions, measures should be taken according to specific areas; in addition, bird repellent measures should be applied for bird species that increase during flight days.