30 June 2009 The bird strike hazard team at 3 Wing Bagotville, Que., now has its own air support squadron “staffed” by two birds of prey: a Saker Falcon and a Harris’s Hawk.

The two raptors arrived in Bagotville on April 18 and needed time to get used to their new environment, especially to the noise from aircrafts. They were ready to start training around the airfield at the end of April.

“The presence of these birds adds to the means we already have at our disposal,” says Gilles Dassylva, head of bird strike hazards at 3 Wing. “For example, when we use distress calls or sounds of birds of prey, and then back up these sounds with real falcons, the result is more effective and long-lasting. We really take control of the territory.

“Some [bird] species only move around a little, and we constantly have to drive them away. The falcons help expand our area of operations.”

To stay in shape, the two new 3 Wing members have to fly every day. Despite their daily training, they remain wild birds controlled by instinct.

“The control we have over these birds is through their stomachs,” says Mr. Dassylva. “When they have to work, we reduce the amount of food we give them to create the desire to hunt. They’re weighed every day to maintain a certain balance.”

The use of birds of prey around airfields is not new. This method has been put to the test all over the world. In the Canadian Forces, for example, birds of prey are used at Trenton, where subcontractors provide the service. The two birds in Bagotville are the first, though, to become National Defence “employees”.

The project to add falconry to help control bird strike hazards has been in the works for some time. “I’ve been talking about it for eight years, but I’ve really only been working on the project for three,” says Mr. Dassylva. “I went to the Beauce [region, south of Quebec City] for two years to train as a hawker-apprentice and then a hawker to use birds of prey for my work.”

The Saker Falcon is native to Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa, and can live more than 20 years. It can reach the height of 55 cm and a wing span of 120 cm. It rarely weighs more than a kilogram.

The Harris’s Hawk can live up to 14 years and attain a height of 60 cm. Its wing span varies between 100 and 125 cm, and its weight rarely exceeds one kilogram. Its natural habitat is South America and the United States.

The hawk, a male, and the falcon, a female, are still nameless. Mr. Dassylva wants to organize a contest in the following months to officially name them.