Snow brings snowy owl to Grissom Published Jan. 7, 2012 By Tech. Sgt. Mark R. W. Orders-Woempner 434th ARW Public Affairs GRISSOM AIR RESERVE BASE, Ind. -- As the first snow fell on Grissom in early December, it brought with it a rare snowy owl and a week-long adventure that could have ended in tragedy. The owl first made his appearance at Grissom Dec. 1, said Maj. Douglas Perry, 434th Air Refueling Wing chief of safety. At the recommendation of Col. Christopher Amend, the 434th Operations Group commander, the white owl, with a 4-foot wingspan, was dubbed Hedwig after famed literary character Harry Potter's snowy owl. Despite the white owl's whimsical nickname, large birds like him pose a major danger to aircraft flying out of Grissom every day. It wasn't too long ago the dangers of bird strikes on aircraft became front-page news as Air Force Academy graduate Capt. Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger landed U.S. Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River after his aircraft hit a flock of birds. That event was one Grissom personnel didn't want to repeat with their new winged resident. According to Perry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has recently seen an abundance of births of snowy owls, which reside in the cooler climates of the Arctic and normally migrate south into Canada during the winter. "They normally don't come this far south," said Perry. "The biologists think the older, more mature birds are running the younger ones out and forcing them south." While Hedwig had been flying around Grissom for a few days, he didn't affect airfield operations until Dec. 5 when safety and airfield personnel were informed of a large white owl on the taxi way. "The safety team immediately went out to shoot scare rounds and pyrotechnics," explained Perry. "They're designed to make loud noises that scare birds away." Many times these scare tactics stress the bird and force it to move off the airfield for good. However, that wasn't the case for Hedwig, as the situation grew more and more dangerous for both Airmen and bird. "On Dec. 6, I went out with Steve (Bailey) from airfield management to try our scare rounds again," said Perry. "You could tell we were stressing it, but you could also tell it was starting to get used to them, so we made the bird condition moderate." Bird condition levels are a way of letting aircrew and airfield personnel know about bird-strike risks to flights. When a bird condition level is raised to moderate, flight operations are significantly impacted as local pattern operations, such as approaches and touch-and-goes, are no longer authorized "You get one takeoff and one landing per mission," said Perry, who is also a KC-135 pilot. "That could significantly affect your ability to train." Wanting guidance on how to proceed, Jerry Skiles, 434th ARW weapons safety manager, placed a call with the Air Force Safety Center's biology department for advice. "AFSC bio said that based on Hedwig's behavior he might be making the base a home instead of just using it as hunting grounds for a few days," said the major. "I also placed calls with the USDA wildlife division and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to get a better understanding of what our options were. "Our goal at this point was to learn about his behavior to be able to get rid of him without taking him," he added. The word taking is used to describe the last resort of ending a bird's life to protect aircraft and human life. "When it comes down to it, the mission has to continue and we have to protect human lives," elaborated Perry. The danger was made all the more apparent after one very close call with a KC-135 returning from a night mission Dec. 7. As the aircraft was clearing the runway, Hedwig flew right past the cockpit, startling the crew. "Our suspicion was he was more active at night, and that confirmed it," said Perry. "It also told us that he's not afraid of airplanes." The situation went from bad to worse, but Grissom's personnel continued to have hope. "When I talked to the USDA state director, she said the longer we waited to get rid of it, the harder it would be, but she gave me more aggressive techniques to use," said Perry, who then called an emergency bird-wildlife aircraft strike hazard, or BASH, team meeting. The BASH team decided to implement the UDSA's recommended techniques, which included increased constant pressure with airfield personnel assigned to follow the bird 24 hours-a-day and switching from screamers, a scare round that whistles through the air, to bangers, a scare round fired from a shotgun like a missile that explodes after hitting the ground. The BASH team also decided to eliminate Hedwig's favorite places to lessen the appeal for him to stay here. "We were able to determine his known perching locations, one on a dirt mound and one on an electrical box," recalled Perry. "Airfield management put in work orders to get the dirt mound removed and to put spikes on the box." Despite all of these efforts, the BASH team was told by the USDA if the owl didn't leave in four or five days, they would probably have to take the animal. Not wanting to accept that as an option, Perry placed a call Dec. 8 with a raptor rehab facility in Rochester, Ind., which referred him to Adam Speicher, a local falconer, who told Perry he thought they might be able to trap the bird. They arranged for him to come out Dec. 9. Shortly after his conversation with Speicher, Perry got a call saying the bird was flying around Grissom's aircraft hangars. Wanting to seize the opportunity, Perry called the falconer back who agreed to come out that day. "He said he could be there in 45 min, so we had (Bailey) follow it for an hour, until it ended up at the peak of Dock 1," recalled the major. "The falconer unloaded his trap with two rats as bait, and you could tell (Hedwig) was getting pretty excited about the potential food." The trap was a wire cage device about four inches tall, 1 foot deep and two feet wide, which holds a rat inside and has several microfilament nooses on top designed to snag the talons of a raptor on the hunt. "The falconer told us 'If this birds hungry he'll be down in a minute or two,'" recalled Perry. "We stayed out to monitor the situation, because you have to watch the traps so the bird doesn't hurt itself trying to get free after it's caught." They first put the trap on the Bldg. 592 ramp, but their operation was almost compromised. "An aircrew was getting ready to head out for a flight and saw us out there, so they started to drive our way in their van," said Perry. "What they didn't know was this was a sting operation, but I eventually got them to move away from the trap and explained the situation to them." While the unassuming aircrew didn't spook the bird, the first attempt at the operation was far from a success. The owl swooped down on top of the trap, and in a state of panic, the rat was able to wiggle himself free of the device but not from the owl's sight or grasp. Much to the team's dismay, Hedwig nabbed his prey and flew off full. As the falconer prepared to leave, they spotted their second chance. "The falconer was going to come back the next day, but then we saw him on top of (Bldg.) 592, and you could see the owl was still hungry," Perry recalled. Wanting to seize the opportunity without repeating the mistakes of the first episode, Perry rushed the falconer over to aircrew flight equipment where they got parachute chord to secure their last remaining rat inside the trap. They headed back out with one last chance and one final hope. "The falconer setup the trap on top of a snow mound, and we only had to wait a minute before he swooped down next to the trap," Perry explained. "He was checking out the rat, and then started to play with the cage. "All of the sudden you saw him flinch, and the falconer said we got him," he added. "One noose snagged only one-quarter inch of one talon; that's how close it was." The falconer then rushed out to Hedwig to secure him and make sure he didn't injure himself. After the bird was determined to be in good health, they took the owl to meet Amend, the man who named him. The next day Hedwig was taken to a vet at the Fort Wayne falcon rehab center, where he was more closely examined for injuries and lung disease. Hedwig came out with a clean bill of health, and it was determined he was a young male about 6-7 months old, said Perry. Perry also said the falconer has since put Hedwig on his falconer's license and will take care of him until the spring, when he will be released back into the wild, far away from Grissom's flightline. In the end of a week-long journey, the mission continued, an airfield was made safe and a rare bird's life was spared. "This was really a good example of everyone working together," concluded Perry. "It was a win for flight safety and a win Hedwig." The 434th ARW is the largest KC-135R Stratotanker unit in the Air Force Reserve Command. Stay connected with the 434th ARW on Twitter and Facebook.
