Oh the times the birds flipped us

guest · 2018-06-27

Through the ages, let’s face it, birds have a lot to answer for. We recall their flights of fancy, mostly winging it:

In 2013, work on a $24-million bridge over the Jockvale Road was halted, then reconfigured, after evidence was found for nesting barn swallows, an endangered species. Though two nests were located in a section of the bridge to be demolished and replaced, a couple of Citizen writers and a bird expert couldn’t see a single swallow in flight. However, the Ministry of Natural Resources was satisfied the birds were “actively defending” their bridge habitat in early June, so work was halted or moved around. The vulnerable nesting period ended at the end of August and the heavy work continued.

Earlier in 2013, wild turkeys took to colonizing in the area of two busy Barrhaven streets — Strandherd and Longfields Drive. In a two-week period, police responded to more than 20 calls of the slow-moving animals poking their way along multi-lane roadways. Some well-intended motorists were known to stop their cars in traffic, exit their vehicles and attempt to shoo the big birds along while warning other harried commuters about the plucky pedestrians. Coun. Jan Harder, meanwhile, fretted that someone was going to get killed.

Birds, go figure, are everywhere. A contractor cutting down trees along Holmwood Avenue in advance of the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park in 2012 had his wings clipped. Environment Canada, no less, said there was documented evidence of migratory bird nesting in the area. After city staff and a biologist got involved, the cutting went ahead “in a manner that did not disturb” or destroy the nests, if such a thing is possible. Redblacks or red wing blackbirds? We’re still not sure.

In 2004, news broke that a man went to his grave frustrated he was unable to proceed with a minor severance of his 100 acres in Montague Township, outside Smiths Falls. The reason? The Ministry of Natural Resources was satisfied that a nesting pair of loggerhead shrikes was spotted on the property. The presence of the endangered birds — hotly disputed, never even seen for years — stopped development as a way to protect habitat.

Birds like to fly, airplanes like to fly and sometimes they fly into each other. In 2016, the Citizen reported 16 bird strikes had already occurred in the first three months of the year at Ottawa International Airport. In April, the pilot of an Air Canada Airbus A320 reported hitting a flock of migratory snow buntings during takeoff. Only days earlier, a WestJet Dash 8 turbo-collided with more snow buntings and five of the feathered migrants were found lifeless on the runway.

In 2007, three geese struck another Air Canada Airbus A321 just after takeoff from Ottawa International. Two struck the windshield and a third was “sucked into” the plane’s jet engine. The event was described as a “brief hiccup” — though probably not for the geese — but the plane did return to the airport as a precaution.