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It's a bird? It's a drone: 'Ro-birds' deployed to scare birds near Grand Forks airport

Every year, the city of Grand Forks has to remove one unusual contaminant from its wastewater supplies--birds. "We don't want them to roost and stay on the pond," City Water Works Director Melanie Parvey said. "Or really settle in, because then t...

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Andries Altenburg launches a Ro-bird drone near the Grand Forks Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Grand Forks airport while Brian Hamilton of Aerium Analytics operates the transmitter as they test the falcon lookalike drone that is used to keep birds out of the city lagoons and away from the flight path of planes. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

Every year, the city of Grand Forks has to remove one unusual contaminant from its wastewater supplies-birds.

"We don't want them to roost and stay on the pond," City Water Works Director Melanie Parvey said. "Or really settle in, because then they'll claim it as their home, and have their young."

And with the wastewater treatment facility so close to the airport, Parvey said any birds the facility's six ponds attract are safety hazards. That's why her department has traditionally resorted to efforts like hazing and pyrotechnics to scare the birds away.

This year, the city is trying something new by working with Aerium Analytics and Clear Flight Solutions, a partnership that flies unmanned aircraft disguised as peregrine falcons, among other devices.

"I really like the fact you can fly and it can act as a predator, but you don't have to kill the birds," Parvey said.

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The group keeps five "ro-birds" in Grand Forks at a time, according to Aerium Vice President of Operations Jordan Cicoria. Only one ro-bird flies at a time, and after 15 hours of flight pilots will replace the ro-bird's parts.

For the last four weeks, Parvey said the ro-bird has been out almost every day, chasing smaller birds away from the facility's six lagoons, totaling 1,300 acres of water.

"It looks just like a falcon, it flies just like a falcon-flapping wings, no propellers," Cicoria said. "But it's a drone, it flies with a crew."

On Monday, the city agreed to pay the company for another four weeks of service. Once the city's renewed contract has ended, it will have paid a little more than $89,000 for working with Aerium Analytics and Clear Flight Solutions.

"The reason it works so well is because of that biomimicry. It's basically the silhouette and the wing flapping that really startles the bird," Cicoria said. "Peregrines are on six of the seven continents in the world. It's the most feared aerial predator."

"As it continues to get colder we have more and more of this going on," Parvey said, adding she hopes the company's work will last until the ponds freeze up.

Because it's the company's first year in Grand Forks, Parvey doesn't have much data to show how effective the robo-bird has been compared with other methods.

"It's supposed to be as effective if not more," she said.

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As the city is working on adding onto the wastewater facility so it can become less dependent on the ponds that attract so many birds, Parvey added she hopes the ro-bird is making a real impact on how many birds are in the area. For the last several years, the city water works department has been watching Grand Forks airport data on bird strikes to assess how effective their methods have been and how many birds are still in the area.

The airport reported striking 34 birds in 2016 and 27 birds in 2017. Damage to the aircraft depends on the size and type of the bird, according to Ryan Riesinger, executive director of the Grand Forks airport.

"Certainly a gull, that size of a bird or typically larger, they will cause a dent potentially in the wing or fuselage of the aircraft, and that's why we try to minimize those types of birds," Riesinger said.

"There have been, historically, strikes in the past that can cause damage, and that hasn't happened for some time now. But certainly, for airports across the country it's an ongoing challenge."

So far, the airport reported it has found 13 dead birds this year that were likely struck by an aircraft. That's less than previous years, Riesinger said.

This is the first time Aerium Analytics and Clear Flight Solutions has conducted a full operation in the U.S., after working in countries like Kazakhstan and Canada.

"Now that I understand how much UAS and drones are a part of North Dakota, in and around Grand Forks, it definitely feels fitting this is the first operation in the U.S," Cicoria.

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Brian Hamilton, left, of Aerium Analytics and Andries Altenburg of Clear Flight Solutions prepare to test Ro-bird drones near the Grand Forks Wastewater Treatment Plant and Grand Forks Airport Wednesday. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

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