Saturday, January 10, 2015

Oilsands Tailings Ponds Hotspots for Waterfowl

Periodically bird deaths in oilsands tailings ponds will pop up in the news. Recently several dozens of birds died at a site in Alberta, Canada. The companies operating these oil facilities are required to have deterrent systems in place, ranging from scarecrows (visual deterrents) to various auditory deterrents. 
One new solution might be to use some type of laser-based deterrent system. Laser system have shown some promise in bird control recently. 

A combination of deterrent methods must be utilized for any system to be effective. This includes varying exposure and frequency of use, physical location changes and periodically introducing new deterrent types while reducing (or temporarily halting) use of others. Introduction of a laser system may possibly be an effective addition to an oilsands tailings pond waterfowl deterrent program.

3 comments:

  1. Whenever we have a huge problem with any animal, we usually just call the animal control to come take care of the issue. I am pretty sure you could do the same for birds. They don't do anything inhumane to the animals and either find homes for them, or they find a safe place for them to live away from humans. I have never had a bird problem but I am sure that they would help in that situation. http://www.cal-rid.com/en/birds.html

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    1. Good advice Zach. Large facilities like those discussed in the blog post require lots of attention and may even need an individual who is employed on a full-time basis to deal with bird control.

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