Human activity is indirectly adding large birds to skies near airports-
Don’t Blame Mother Nature for the Crash. The editors. 2 articles. New York Times
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He has been a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and also its President. For many years he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
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I heard and read a few accounts that ended up blaming the birds for being in the way. What a convoluted perspective. Even in an NPR report, where they interviewed someone who analyzes the bird remains that are pulled from the engine at the Smithsonian. That person made it sound like the birds shouldn’t have been in the air near the airport. Ever been to Laguardia? It’s right across the river from NYC and the only open spaces anywhere near that, except Central Park, is either paved over or dusty dirt parking/barren lots. And the river itself which is plagued with heavy watercraft traffic. And the Meadowlands, to the south, are marshy, highly polluted and not very suitable for anything to inhabit.
Damn those pesky flying rats…how dare they take to the air and get in the way of our flying machines.
I want to reiterate that the point of the New York Times article wasn’t about the pollution of the area or birds in general, but that suburban sprawl creates habitat for certain large birds that they get sucked into the jet engines — gulls, crows, Canada geese.
The sprawl does that increasingly. Bird collisions are up.
In the meantime, sprawl decimates birds like meadowlarks that are not a flight hazard.
Birds in the way or not, from what I’ve read the pilot did a remarkable job of bringing the plane down. It could of been a real disaster, we should all be thankful.
Indeed, the pilot(s) did a spectacular job given the few open places to put a fast moving and large object within a major metropolis. I don’t recall ever hearing about a plane crash of any kind where everyone survived and without critical injuries at that. I heard that the pilot is also a glider pilot. At least he was mentally prepared for it as soon as contact with the birds took place.