When young raptors are born at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, they go to a rehab facility where they are raised and released.

When young raptors are born at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, they go to a rehab facility where they are raised and released.

BURLINGTON — The Bellair Airporter Shuttle is known for getting travelers to and from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The company transports feathered passengers, as well.

As part of the airport’s Raptor Strike Avoidance Program, Bellair began transporting birds of prey such as raptors and hawks away from the airport for relocation in Bow in 2011.

Sixteen species of raptors, including red-tailed and rough-legged hawks, American kestrels, bald eagles and a variety of owls, have been sighted at the airport.

“We’ve been involved for some time,” said Bellair Charters and Airporter Shuttle President Richard Johnson. “We just thought this was a good thing to do and we are pleased to have contributed to this program.

“While most airports have these programs, Sea-Tac’s is unique because they partnered with us.”

Bellair was recently recognized for its efforts, when it was awarded the 2022 Sustainable Century Award from the Port of Seattle for outstanding environmental accomplishments.

“The project started with red-tailed hawks,” said Airport Wildlife Biologist Steve Osmek. “Then we started having (airplane) strikes with other types of raptors including eagles and so on. So we started relocating other species as well.”

The airport uses what are called Swedish goshawk traps to capture the birds of prey.

These traps use bait — live pigeons — placed in the lower section of the trap, and a perch/trigger stick holds open trap doors.

When a bird of prey lands on the perch/trigger stick to investigate the bait, the perch gives way under the weight of the bird causing the trap door to close above, thereby capturing the bird.

No harm comes to the pigeons who are kept away from the birds of prey while having access to food and water.

“Right now we have traps working 24-7, 365 days a year and we hope to double that number in the next year or so,” Osmek said. “We get an alert by text or email that a trap has closed so we can get the bird out of the trap quickly, onto the bus and delivered.”

To date, about 1,520 birds have been trapped. Osmek said without the help of Bellair the process would be less smooth.

“Without it, our contractor would have had to drive back and forth and that would have taken a lot of time and effort,” he said. “The partnership has made a huge difference.”

Once captured, the birds are typically hooded to keep them calm, are placed in a covered kennel and put in the underside baggage compartment of the bus, the same area where pets go when being transported.

“The drivers and the agents in Burlington make all the difference,” Johnson said. “They are the ones who receive the bird in the cage and secure it, and once in Burlington, they bring the cage out and either give it to the agent there or take it inside until the agent arrives.”

Once at the Bellair office in Burlington, a Port of Seattle contractor picks up the raptor. It is weighed, measured, leg-banded and tagged with wing-markers before being released.

Osmek asked that if raptors with blue or yellow tags are sighted, that the sighting be reported to wingtaggedhawks@portseattle.org with the location of where it was seen.

He said yellow tags go on birds with a high probability of returning to the airport because they have nested and bred there.

“We have to keep those birds differently because almost 100% of the time, those birds come back,” Osmek said. “So we have to deal with them at the nest level. Three weeks after they lay their eggs in the spring, we have a tree climber remove the young from the nest and they go off to a rehab facility where they are raised and released. We have never had any of those birds come back.”

The Raptor Strike Avoidance Program at Sea-Tac began in 2001. It was one of the first such programs in the country.

“It all began with a study of whether or not we could move these birds and would they stay away,” Osmek said. “It has been successful and it continues today, seeing as how less than 10% of the birds we relocate come back.”

Since the partnership began, Bellair has transported about 800 birds of prey.

Johnson is glad his company can help.

“I mean, we are going that way anyway,” he said.

— Reporter Vince Richardson: 360-416-2181, vrichardson@skagitpublishing.com, Twitter:@goskagit, Facebook.com/VinceReports/

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