Subject: [Tweeters] Seatac's 2007 bird strike list
Date: Jan 17 21:30:40 2009
From: Kelly McAllister - mcallisters4 at comcast.net


Interesting list. I read in this morning's paper that airports (at least on
the east coast?) send bird remains/tissues salvage from strikes to the
Smithsonian where DNA assessment provides identification to species. It
doesn't appear that SEATAC takes advantage of science capabilities to this
degree as many of the birds are unidentified (I suppose those could also be
visual reports of a bird struck without any remains being found).

The Horned Lark caught my eye. I've never seen SEATAC on the list of
documented breeding localities for Streaked Horned Larks. It's probably an
attractive habitat the draws migrating larks. Maybe that accounts for the
one strike between a plane and a lark.

Kelly McAllister
Olympia, Washington