Sacramento may not be the busiest airport in the country, but
when it comes to the problem of bird strikes, birds flying into
planes on takeoff and landing, Sacramento is right up there with
Kennedy International Airport.
That's because the airport is situated along the pacific
flyway, a wildlife area used by millions of geese, raptors and
other birds.
Standing outside the just completed terminal in a new nine
acre park, lead architect John Mares explained how the new terminal
is designed inside and out to discourage just those kind of
birds.
MARES: "Well we use all kinds of plantings that are not
attractive to wildlife. The rats don't like deer grass. So when you
don't have the rats, you don't have the raptors that are chasing
the rats. None of the trees have fruit on them, so you don't get
the birds that are attracted by that."
There are also touches on the outside of the new terminal
designed to make the building less attractive to two legged flying
creatures.
MARES: "If you look at the building we have these solar
shades which are part of the sustainability aspect of the building.
But those solar shades are designed so birds can't perch on the
them. There is perforations in them that are just slightly smaller
than a bird needs to hook on there."
Before the opening of the new terminal B, according to the
FAA, there have been eighty bird strikes so far this year in
Sacramento.