Battling bird strikes at Westchester airport  Matt Palumbo, a
Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist Matt Palumbo, a
Department of Agriculture wildlife biologist at Westchester
County Airport, shoots a pyrotechnic launcher on the airport
grounds to try to prevent birds from being struck by airplanes.
(June 4, 2012) Photo Credit: Nancy Siesel  advertisement |
advertise on newsday  The enemy is perched atop a camera
security pole on the outer edge of a rain-soaked runway at
Westchester County Airport.  Matthew Palumbo spies him and
within seconds fires off a single round from a tiny gun. The
red-tailed hawk atop the pole flies off into the distance,
scared off by a whistling pyrotechnic flare Palumbo just shot
into the sky.  "That should spook him off," Palumbo says.
Palumbo, 29, is part of a team of 350 wildlife biologists
deployed at the nation's airports by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to make sure planes taking off or landing don't have
catastrophic encounters with their winged predecessors.  D