Digital Commons Network^™

Cowbird Behavioral Responses To Lights Tuned To Their Visual System: Implications For Bird-Aircraft Collisions, Megan S. Doppler

Open Access Theses

Collisions between birds and aircraft cause extensive monetary expenses and are a risk to human lives, as well as the lives of endangered and threatened birds. Birds are highly visual organisms with visual system substantially different from humans. Previously, studies show that the use of white broad-spectrum lights have the potential to enhance bird avoidance behavior; however, no study has investigated the effects of light colors that would be more salient from the avian perspective. The purpose of this project was to assess detection and avoidance responses of brown-headed cowbirds exposed to a radio-controlled (RC) aircraft with a lighting system …