Physiological Response of Birds to Approaching Aircraft

Abstract

The laboratory study exposed birds to video scenes of aircraft during the take off roll. Equipment to monitor the heart rate of the bird included a harness fitted with an Electrocardiogram (ECG) transmitter. The test birds were gulls (Larus atricilla) and feral pigeons (Columba livia domestica) captured on or adjacent to Corpus Christi and San Antonio International Airports. Pigeons acclimated to airport sights and sounds were compared with pigeons not acclimated to airports. The video scenes of approaching aircraft caused heart rate increase in the unacclimated pigeons several seconds sooner than the acclimated birds, and the unacclimated pigeons were more responsive to the sound, as well as the sight, of approaching aircraft. Gulls and pigeons acclimated to airports used sight first, then sight-and-sound, and sound last as an indication of approaching aircraft during the video test.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1991
Accession Number
ADA245730

Entities

People

  • B. Carpenter
  • J. Buckingham
  • R. Erwin
  • S. Tomlinson
  • S. Wilhoite

Organizations

  • Southwest Research Institute

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Airframes
  • Analysis Of Variance
  • Animal Structures
  • Birds
  • Data Acquisition
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Science
  • Databases
  • Electrocardiography
  • Field Tests
  • Information Science
  • Measurement
  • Physiological Monitoring
  • Statistical Analysis
  • Test Equipment
  • Transport Aircraft

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Exercise and Sports Science.