The feathered flying squad that helps keep flight traffic at Malaga Airport safe

Malaga Airport is experiencing its busiest days of the year. This summer it has already exceeded the psychological barrier of 600 daily flight operations - both take-offs and landings - on several occasions. To handle so many thousands of passengers smoothly nothing must go wrong, starting with ensuring that there is no interference on the airfield itself, neither in the sky nor on the ground, on the two runways or in the approach zone.

The main threat to this scenario is wildlife, especially birds that can sneak into this space and present a danger to the aircraft. Funnily enough, for this the best tool is nature itself. Malaga Airport has a long-standing wildlife control service, which answers to Aena, Spain's national airports authority. The service is responsible for the breeding, training and employment of almost fifty birds. Above all, falcons of various subspecies (peregrines, saker falcons, gyrfalcons and crossbreeds), which have a proven ability to put to flight anything that enters their territory.

Gabriel Pérez Fernández has been the coordinator of this service for just over a year, although he has extensive experience in other facilities. As soon as the service starts up for the day, the technicians have to perform an inspection of the two runways, that is only the first round of reconnaissance. "At dawn, the territorial-marking flights begin, in which the falcons are released around the runways, with the aim of scaring away any birds in the area." This is a preventive and dissuasive measure because, after these raids, other birds do not dare to approach the area. "The airport is their territory and anything that tries to enter is chased away just by their presence."

It should be noted that the falcons do not actually hunt, but only generate the necessary level of intimidation to prevent wildlife from entering the airfield. To achieve this requires a long training period, especially given the challenge of getting such a predator to fly specifically over the airport environment. It takes two to three months for the young bird to understand what it has to do, always with positive reinforcement: every time it does something well, it is rewarded with a good helping of food. "They understand that quickly," he says with a smile. Added to this are the difficulties inherent in the environment: "We have to manage the falcon's flight well, and also evaluate the areas so that it doesn't intercept air traffic either."

The main threat that most often needs to be removed from the area is seagulls. They tend to take refuge from stormy seas within the vicinity of the airport. For this reason, specific measures are taken to chase them away.

In addition to this, there is a period of exceptional activity during the bird migrations between Africa and Europe, when storks, booted eagles, bee-eaters and kites, among others, pass through in their thousands. The falcon, from a flight altitude of up to 600 metres, is also effective in preventing them from approaching.

The team has 46 birds of prey, all of which have names that refer to the territory, the world of the Vikings or popular expressions. At their headquarters, located in the technical support area of the airport, live Jara, Guadalhorce, Fuerte, Ragnar, Tagarote, Valkiria, and "the chonis": Puri, Vane and Jessi, three sisters who arrived at the same time. They were acquired when still chicks, from official breeders who raise such birds in captivity, to teach them from an early age how to work in this complex environment.

The service life of these birds of prey is around 12 years, although they can live up to 20 years or more in captivity (nine when in the wild). So, when they are older, they move on to a second activity: they continue to fly but in a more relaxed way and their job is not as demanding. Their keepers keep them for life. The veteran of the team is a Harris's hawk called Pepa, who has specialised in welcoming visits from schools, as pupils often come to see her at work. There are also goshawks, which are mainly used to scare off rabbits, hares and any ground-nesting birds.

They are animals, yes, but there is also a component of the latest aerial technology in their work. For example, Fuerte is a crossbred falcon, a mixture of gyrfalcon and peregrine, making him more reliable for certain tasks than a purebreed. Well, on his last flight, this bird swooped down at a maximum speed of 130 km/h. Meanwhile, Mediterranea climbed to 500 metres in order to better control 'its' territory. How do we know this?

All this is made possible by the fact that the birds are fitted with tiny GPS devices with solar panels, which are attached to their backs between the wings with the help of a harness. Using a mobile app, the falconer can track their position, flight time, altitude and speed at all times.

"From 200 metres upwards they are hard to see, they become invisible. In addition, falcons are so fast that they can reach vertical plummeting speeds of more than 300 km/h. Not for nothing is it the fastest bird in the world, especially the females, which are considerably larger than the males (for breeding and nest protection)." This is explained by another member of the team of professionals, Adriano Puente, who introduces himself as a "falconer".

Thanks to these tools, falconers can now more accurately calibrate their rewards to the birds, which are key to their performance. These devices are pure Andalusian technology, developed by the company Microsensory from Cordoba.

The birds of prey live under the best of care for their well-being. Their food is measured and they are weighed daily, so that we know what size and level of fitness they are at so they perform at their best. In addition, their facilities are cleaned every day, their baths are replenished with cold water and they are refreshed every few days. "They are the most important and valuable asset," says the team leader. Weight monitoring is also used to find out in good time if any of them have fallen ill, otherwise they could die within a few days. The service receives advice from specialised vets.

In addition to birds of prey, dogs are also used to manage the wildlife, especially to prevent the presence of hares and rabbits around the perimeter. Turning to unnatural means of scaring off the unwanted presence of nature on the airfield, artificial "mechanical means" such as sound, laser and pyrotechnics are used. "This is mainly used when the danger is already here, the birds are close by and there is not enough time to prepare the falcon to fly and take altitude, which takes about ten minutes." So there are times when the quickest response to a threat such as a flock of gulls would be a rocket or a flare, especially when the gulls appear at a time when there are no feathered guardians already on patrol up in the air.

But these cases are the fewest. Invisible to passengers, at hundreds of metres above the ground, the falcons watch over the airspace of Malaga every day so that planes can land and take off without fear of colliding with any bird.