Wile E. Canis latrans

Friday, March 6, 2015

Wile E. Canis latrans

And what do we have here?

Uh huh, like I can't see you out there...

Now the fun part, trying to keep him off the runway.

.... I did say "try" right?

Of course what you do not see is me getting permission to cross the runway and then getting set up with the pyrotechnics. Welcome to the wonderful world of wildlife management on an airport!
My tactic for dealing with coyotes has evolved since my first encounters. Back then there was this huge adrenaline filled rush to get that coyote off the runway, which often resulted in chasing the darn thing all over the airport which in turn sent it across the runway(s) multiple times. This was no good. So then I started to apply some logic to the problem. Coyotes are members of the family Canidae and one of the traits of that family is exceptional hearing. We use pyrotechnic abatement rounds fired from what is for intense purposes -- a starter pistol and those rounds make either a loud "bang" or a loud "whistle" that ends with a lesser "bang" to scare birds. My tactic is actually quite simple, I turn the coyote's acute hearing against it and drive it away from the runway I am protecting. This one I stumbled upon a little late in the game, as he was already practically on the runway before I could get in position, but in the end I was successful.

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The Airport Environment

Words like, "ecosystem" and "biodiversity" aren't exactly things that one would associate with airports, but the truth is they are very attractive areas for wildlife. Airports tend to have vast open areas of grass, intermittent areas of little to no direct contact with humans, and because of both of those factors they are capable of supporting a good deal of wildlife. My airport alone has over 340 acres of grassland.
My goal here is to open your eyes to the nature, both fauna and flora but mostly fauna, that your plane is taxing past. Some of which is small and relatively insignificant in terms of affecting the safety of your flight, while others are much more serious -- all of them are beautiful. It is my charge and the charge of others at airports all across the country to attempt to mitigate this hazard when it poses a potential threat to your flight. Welcome to the nature I witness everyday. Welcome to The Wild Airport.

The Camera

Nikon D3200, with a AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm (as of 28JUL17, I've upgraded to a 18-300mm)

And honestly that's about as technical as I get. I've never taken a photography class; I have a tripod (at home) that I've never used for this stuff; and my photography is really just glorified snap shot shooting. It all boils down to the nature of my work. My job is not to take pictures all day. I do not get to spent hours setting up for the ideal shot. I operate on dumb luck and taking several quick photos that sometime later (sometimes days later) I end up editing in Google Picasa.
The only other thing that I've got going for me is that my camera is pretty much always with me, in the same way a camera was by my dad's side through much of his time in the war in Vietnam. I use it as a tool to analyze, capture, and report with. It also keeps me mentally engaged during long boring assignments by causing me to think of different angles and just how a composure looks through the lens.

TWA | The Wild Airport

Friday, March 6, 2015