The Bird Scarers | Honolulu Magazine

Matt and I had an awesome time photographing and riding along with the 'bird scarers' at the Honolulu International Airport for Honolulu Magazine. It was so interesting learning about the different techniques the wildlife biologists and technicians Erik Rutka, Darren Phelps, and John Cody use to get rid of birds on the runway and safeguard aviation at the airport.




Erik Rutka uses a net gun on an empty runway

Bird Decoys

Erik calls to the airport control tower on his radio

John Cody tries to scare a bird with a laser gun

Erik Rutka, Darren Phelps, and John Cody with a shot gun, net gun, and talon - devices they regularly use on the job

Using a shotgun to scare birds

View from inside a live decoy trap

Erik drives the runway searching for birds

Setting up the net gun







a remote control car used to scare birds




A live mouse inside the swedish goshawk trap for owls