Modification of habitat use by Patagioenas picazuro due to food resource management at Brasília airport, Brazil

The presence of animals in aerodromes puts the airport safety at risk and causes potential costs to airlines. In 2016, 84 bird strikes were recorded in Brasília Airport, of which 8% happened with Patagioenas picazuro (Columbiformes, Columbidae). With the purpose of mapping this bird’s spatial distribution and identifying attractive situations, 302 transects of 18 km each were conducted around the two airstrips from January/2016 to March/2017. We divided the area in quadrants of 22.500 m² and calculated the average local densities (number of sightings/number of transects). We inferred the patterns of spatial distribution from Kernel maps. The airstrip 1 was the most used by the birds, and they showed a preference to the lateral band of brachiaria grass, a resource widely consumed by those birds (confirmation from field observations and identification of stomach contents). Therefore, in December 2016, all brachiaria grass was replaced by a seedless species. The result of the management was a modification of habitat use by the picazuro pigeon, which started to use surrounding fragments of Cerrado more frequently. The density of the picazuro pigeon reduced drastically and interventions at the airstrip were no longer necessary. Therefore, we expect to see a notable reduction in the number of strikes in the next years, and thereby show that environment management aimed at reducing attractive situations can be an efficient long-term strategy.