Don’t kill our national bird: Dutch object to new Lisbon airport

Wednesday, 19 Feb 2020 10:21 AM MYT

LISBON, Feb 19 — Thousands of people in the Netherlands have signed a petition objecting to the construction of an airport in Portugal that could threaten the black-tailed godwit, the Dutch national bird.

The new airport will be located on the south bank of Lisbon’s Tagus estuary, a nature reserve where the godwits, a threatened species, stop off on their way from Africa to the Netherlands.

“What is the point of protecting the godwits in the Netherlands if they are weakened or even die in Portugal?” says the petition, which has so far been signed by 26,000 people.

Portugal’s environment agency gave the green light for the airport in Montijo last month but said it must take steps to protect wildlife. The project has been heavily criticised by environmentalists at home and now abroad.

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Flamingo holds up easyJet flight

12/04/2019

An easyJet flight was held up upon arrival at Palma, Mallorca, after a Greater Flamingo was discovered strutting around the runway. The aircraft had to slowly follow the bird which flew off, only to land again a few metres away. Eventually, however, it left for good and, according to the airport, the flamingo caused no problems or severe delays.

The plane had only just arrived and was taxiing to its bay when the alert was raised about the flamingo very close by. While ground staff contacted pilots, the bird simply kept pace with the aircraft, at one stage deciding to fly off itself but then changing its mind. EasyJet spokesperson Andy Cockburn said: "At no point was any flight delayed or safety compromised in any way."

One of the Palma airport workers commented: "We have a pink flamingo and, it's not a joke, it's walking around Terminal A. An EasyJet plane has had to slow down."

Ground staff beeped their horns to try to dislodge the bird, to no avail. Spanish air traffic control tweeted that a flamingo had welcomed passengers into Palma, and that the bird was "very elegant, walking on the tarmac".

Greater Flamingos are typically seen on the Spanish holiday island during the winter, with April a usual departure time, though normally they don't require a runway to take off.

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Raptors guarding Mexico City’s airport to ward off ‘bird strikes’

AFP-JIJI

FEB 2, 2018

MEXICO CITY – Far from the crowds of passengers, lines and passport control, Madison spreads his wings on the side of a runway at Mexico City’s international airport, the busiest in Latin America.

He is one of several peregrine falcons deployed to prevent “bird strikes” — a hazardous collision between birds and planes that can have dangerous and even catastrophic consequences.

In 2009, for instance, a U.S. Airways jet had to ditch in the Hudson River in New York after a flock of birds took out its engines. In January this year, a Mexico-bound KLM flight made an emergency landing after hitting birds on takeoff in the Netherlands.

“It’s dangerous. Birds don’t mix with planes. They can hit a turbine,” Oscar Chavez, a 26-year-old who is one of the biologists handling the falcons, told AFP.

Each day, Madison and another peregrine falcon named Ilse are on duty at the airport, which sees 44 million passengers pass through it each year.

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Victory for wildlife as Thames Estuary airport idea rejected

The much-debated decision on whether to build a new airport on the Thames Estuary has concluded with the Airports Commission ruling that the development will not go ahead, spelling relief for some, but leaving tensions high for supporters of the expansion.

The Thames Estuary was seen as a wholly unsuitable location for airport expansion by those opposing the proposal, who called the plans ‘environmental vandalism’. Wildlife organisations RSPB, Kent Wildlife Trust, and Friends of the North Kent Marshes were vocal in their criticism, arguing that the Estuary is an important location for wildlife, and in particular for migratory bird species. The Estuary, they argue is so large and unique that it would be impossible to create it anywhere else in Europe, spelling disaster for migrating birds. In addition, they state that a massive increase in aviation capacity cannot fit within the UK Government targets to reduce emissions.

In light of this, the RSPB called the decision to shelve the plans in the area ‘common sense’, believing that no further expansion of aviation capacity should take place in the UK until the Government can demonstrate that any such plans would fit within the country’s legally binding climate targets.

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Boris Island birds: how will they fare if airport goes ahead?

Wednesday, August 13, 2014 

11:35 AM

Report by British Trust for Ornithology highlights scale of the issue

The proposal to build an airport on the Isle of Grain would cause a significant loss of coastal wetland habitat, according to a report published by the British Trust of Ornithology (BTO).

This would largely be within the Thames Estuary and Marshes Special Protection Area (SPA), but would also affect the Medway Estuary and Marshes.

Because these areas support more than 140,000 waterbirds, they are protected under international law.

Development at these sites would have significant negative impactson the bird populations that live there.

This would occur due to habitat loss within the footprint of the airport and disturbance or habitat change affecting other areas near the airport.

Over 21,000 waterbirds currently use the area proposed for development, which represents around 25% of the current total bird population on the two affected SPAs, and 37% of the current bird population on the Thames Estuary and Marshes SPA.

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