Displaced egrets pose hazard to planes at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines –  Egrets displaced from mangroves near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport are causing headaches for the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), which operates the NAIA.

MIAA general manager Jose Angel Honrado ordered operations personnel to remove the egrets, locally known as “tagak,” from the grassy portion of Runway 06, where they search for insects, lizards and frogs coming from the runway drainage system.

The Airline Operators Council has asked the MIAA last week to do something about the birds, which Honrado said could cause accidents if they collide with aircraft flying in and out of NAIA. The AOC is worried that bird strikes at NAIA might increase, citing that there were 23 bird strikes at NAIA last year, up from nine in 2009.

Honrado said steps are being taken to get the birds out of NAIA. Alex Cariaga of the MIAA’s airport ground operations safety division said the birds come mostly from lagoons and ponds near the airport.

Cariaga said a vacant lot near the runway used to be part of the salt beds and ponds of Parañaque, but warehouses of large department stores, a convention center, and condominium buildings have displaced the birds from their sanctuary. Reclamation activities have forced the birds to find other places to search for food, he added.

Honrado said they just found out that NAIA’s avian avoidance equipment, which emits ultrasound noise designed to drive birds away, malfunctioned and they are installing new ones. He also said the birds have become used to other noisemakers and balloons painted with the eyes of birds of prey.

“We have to upgrade our system, because they (birds) are no longer responding, and it appears that they develop a kind of adaptation to the various sounds,” he said.

Honrado has allowed the use of air guns to eliminate birds in the vicinity of NAIA.