Siauliai Military Aerodrome was the first in Lithuania to purchase a bio-acoustic bird dispersal device. A small hand-held device will be used for bird dispersal above the territory of the aerodrome in order to avoid birdstrike during take-off and landing of the aircraft.

The modern device was supplied by electronic engineering solutions company “Fima” by order of the Lithuanian Air Force Base.

“Although the bird dispersal equipment is intended to create safer environment for aircraft during its take-off and landing, it will also protect birds from fatal encounters,” says Andrius Gradeckas, Head of “Fima” Department of Solutions.

According to him, the bio-acoustic bird dispersal device received by Siauliai Aerodrome was made by the British company “Scarecrow Bio-Acoustic Systems”. This company is the only one in the world that produces equipment broadcasting distress calls of certain species (pigeons, terns, crows etc) instead of predator (hawk, eagle) cries.

“Research has shown that predator cries scare away the birds only temporarily and they return as soon as the intimidation is over. Besides, the birds soon get used to ‘false’ danger and do not respond to it at all. When each species of birds is scared away with its own stress call, the birds stay away from that place for a long time and they cannot get used to the broadcasted sound and ignore it. Therefore, the new equipment is especially effective,” says Andrius Gradeckas.

The bio-acoustic bird dispersal device purchased by Siauliai Aerodrome is one of the simplest products manufactured by “Scarecrow Bio-Acoustic Systems”. It is quite small and scares away birds with a range of approximately 350 metres.

“The British company also offers more advanced and powerful products. These are stationary devices that can be installed close to aircraft runways and operate in automatically fixed mode. Some models can be installed in airport vehicles that scare away the birds while driving around the territory of the airport,” says “Fima” expert.

He claims that calls emitted by the bio-acoustic device have no effect on humans because the sounds are similar to natural bird calls.

Having supplied the first bio-acoustic device to Siauliai Military Aerodrome, “Fima” is expecting that other Lithuanian airports or enterprises that encounter similar problems with birds will also be interested in such equipment. “Klaipeda Seaport, wharfs, bus stations, railway stations, stadiums, landfills and other places may also need such solutions,” says Andrius Gradeckas.