From Bird Strikes to Bird Droppings: Why Proactive Bird Control Matters
For millions of people, the words “bird strike” still bring to mind one event: the Miracle on the Hudson.
On January 15, 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 encountered a flock of large birds shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport. Birds were ingested into both engines, causing an almost complete loss of thrust. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles successfully ditched the aircraft in the Hudson River, and all 155 people aboard survived.[1]
It was an extraordinary outcome.
But bird strikes didn’t end with the Miracle on the Hudson.
In April 2025, a sightseeing helicopter carrying a pilot and a family of five crashed into the Hudson River near Jersey City, killing all six people aboard. In July 2026, the National Transportation Safety Board released a 45-item public docket containing factual material gathered in the investigation.[2] Reporting on those records described evidence consistent with the helicopter having encountered multiple large birds before it broke apart and descended into the river.
The NTSB investigation remains open, so it is important not to describe a bird strike as the agency’s final probable-cause determination.[3] But the newly released evidence has made a possible bird encounter an important part of the investigation into another devastating aviation accident over the Hudson.
That puts the Miracle on the Hudson in a very different perspective.
Seventeen years after birds disabled both engines of Flight 1549, investigators are again examining a catastrophic Hudson River aviation accident in which birds may have played a critical role.
And those aren’t the only recent reminders.
In August 2026, an American Airlines flight taking off from Myrtle Beach reportedly struck birds, with witnesses and video showing flames coming from an engine. The crew declared an emergency and returned safely to the airport.[4]
Meanwhile, investigators are examining a July 2026 incident involving Malta Air Flight 1879, operating for Ryanair. A fan blade failed during climb, engine debris damaged the aircraft and shattered a cabin window, and a passenger was seriously injured. Investigators subsequently found bird remains in the engine, although the exact cause of the blade failure remains under investigation.[5]
The point isn’t that flying has suddenly become unsafe.
It’s that bird strikes are not relics of one famous 2009 emergency landing. They remain a real and continuing aviation hazard. The FAA says wildlife-aircraft strikes have caused hundreds of deaths worldwide and billions of dollars in aircraft damage over the past century.[6]
Birds Can Become an Operational Problem Long Before They Reach a Runway
There is an important distinction here.
Bell Bird Control does not provide airfield wildlife management or bird-strike mitigation on runways, tarmacs or flight paths.
That specialized work belongs to aviation wildlife-management professionals.
Bell does, however, have extensive experience inside aviation facilities, including hangars and facilities on military installations, where smaller birds can make themselves at home in rafters, beams and other protected areas.
And once birds decide that a hangar is a good place to live, they can create very different — but still serious — problems.
Bird droppings can land on aircraft, vehicles, equipment and work areas. Accumulations on floors can create slip hazards, while nests, feathers and droppings can create sanitation concerns and employee exposure issues. Bird waste can also soil and damage valuable surfaces and equipment.
Nobody maintaining an expensive aircraft wants to discover that birds have been living in the rafters above it.
And employees shouldn’t have to work beneath nesting birds, dodge droppings or continually clean up the mess they leave behind.
That is where structural bird exclusion comes in.
Bell Bird Control designs bird-control systems to prevent birds from nesting and roosting in buildings and other structures. Depending on the bird species, architecture and conditions, solutions can include exclusionary netting, electric-track deterrents and other customized systems that make the structure unavailable to the birds without harming them.
The goal isn’t endlessly chasing birds away.
It’s preventing them from moving in.
Canada Geese Present a Different Bird-Control Challenge
Canada geese create another version of the same problem.
They don’t need rafters. Give them open turf, easy access to water and a comfortable place to feed and congregate, and they can quickly make a property part of their routine.
The result can be damaged landscaping, large quantities of droppings on lawns and walkways, slip hazards, contamination concerns and an unpleasant environment for employees, tenants, customers and visitors.
For appropriate non-airport properties, Bell can use a professional liquid goose repellent on turf as part of a goose-control program.
Products such as Flight Control Max use anthraquinone. Treated turf absorbs ultraviolet light in a way geese can perceive, giving them a visual signal that the grass is different. If geese eat the treated turf, they experience temporary digestive irritation. The combination creates a learned association between the appearance of the turf and an unpleasant feeding experience.[7]
Over time, they learn that the treated property isn’t a desirable place to eat.
In other words, effective goose management doesn’t necessarily mean continually chasing geese from one end of a property to another.
It can mean changing the decision the goose makes about whether your property is a good place to be.
The Property-Management Lesson: Don’t Wait for the Dramatic Event
An aircraft bird strike is an extreme example of birds and human activity colliding in the wrong place.
Most property managers will never confront anything remotely comparable.
But there is a lesson in these aviation stories that applies to every facility:
A bird problem is easier to address before it becomes an operational problem.
A few birds in the rafters can become nesting, droppings and contamination.
A few geese feeding on a lawn can become a flock returning to the same property.
Droppings on a walkway can become a slip-and-fall concern.
Bird waste on equipment and building surfaces can become an ongoing cleaning and maintenance expense.
And allowing birds to become established can make the eventual solution more complicated than preventing them from settling there in the first place.
That’s why professional bird control starts with more than asking, How do we get rid of these birds?
The better questions are:
Why are the birds here?
What are they using the property for?
Where are they roosting, nesting or feeding?
And how can we change those conditions so they choose somewhere else?
Different birds require different answers. A flock of Canada geese on a corporate lawn isn’t the same problem as sparrows nesting over an aircraft inside a hangar, pigeons occupying a parking garage or gulls congregating on a commercial rooftop.
Good bird control matches the solution to the species, the structure and the way the property is actually being used.
Prevent the Problem Before You Need a Miracle
The Miracle on the Hudson showed the world what extraordinary preparation, judgment and skill can accomplish after a bird strike.
The 2025 Hudson River helicopter tragedy is a far more sobering reminder: sometimes there is no miracle.
Recent incidents involving commercial aircraft reinforce the same point. Birds sharing space with aircraft remain a genuine aviation hazard.
Bell doesn’t manage wildlife on runways or in flight paths. But we see another side of the bird problem every day — birds living where people work, where equipment is stored, where aircraft are maintained and where customers, tenants and employees need to move safely.
Keep birds from living in the rafters over valuable equipment.
Keep pest birds from nesting on buildings.
Make properties less attractive places for Canada geese to feed and congregate.
Address droppings, contamination and safety concerns before they become bigger problems.
Most good bird control isn’t about producing a miracle. It’s about preventing a manageable bird problem from ever becoming one that needs one.
Need Help With Birds or Geese on Your Property?
If birds are nesting, roosting or creating droppings problems at your facility — or if Canada geese are taking over lawns, walkways or other outdoor areas — Bell Bird Control can help evaluate the problem and recommend an appropriate control strategy.
Bell provides commercial bird-exclusion, deterrent and goose-control solutions designed around the species, structure and conditions at your property.
Learn more about Bell Bird Control and contact our team.
Sources
[1] National Transportation Safety Board — US Airways Flight 1549 investigation
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/DCA09MA026.aspx
[2] National Transportation Safety Board — Public docket, Bell 206L-4 Hudson River accident, ERA25MA171
https://data.ntsb.gov/Docket?ProjectID=199991
[3] National Transportation Safety Board — Bell 206L-4 Helicopter Air Tour Accident, ERA25MA171
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/Pages/ERA25MA171.aspx
[4] ABC7 New York — American Airlines flight makes emergency landing after bird strike
https://abc7ny.com/post/american-airlines-flight-makes-emergency-landing-bird-strike-sparks-engine-flames/19667462/
[5] New York Post — Bird strike examined in Ryanair/Malta Air Flight 1879 investigation
https://nypost.com/2026/08/14/world-news/bird-strike-may-have-caused-ryanair-passenger-to-be-partially-sucked-out-of-window/
[6] Federal Aviation Administration — Wildlife Hazard Mitigation
https://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_safety/wildlife
[7] Flight Control Max — How Flight Control Max Works
https://flightcontrol.com/learn-more/about-flight-control-max/
