Study of Iraqi birds to help reduce aircraft mishaps

Tech. Sgt. David Young takes aim at a group of gulls to reduce the number of birds at Balad Air Base, Iraq. Collisions between flying birds and aircraft can severely damage aircraft and endanger the lives of pilots. To reduce the number of collisions, members of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Safety Office depredate the birds on the base. On May 3, the remains of whole, depredated birds were shipped from the base to the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Feather Identification Laboratory in Washington, D.C., to be analyzed by scientists there. This marks the first shipment of whole bird remains to be sent from Iraq to the Smithsonian. Sergeant Young is the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing noncommissioned officer in charge of flight safety deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Julianne Showalter)