Looks like it is the season for news articles on bird strikes!
Here is another news story detailing efforts at KSEA.
It seems that had I followed through with my one-time major of Wildlife Ecology that I may well have ended up working in aviation in any case
This particular article hits on some of the aspects other posters have highlighted from the earlier post. Efforts at controlling the grasses, shrubs, and other plants around the airport - sepcifically in dealing with birds.
http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/ne...ote=1&p=549266
Inside the airfield, pavement alternates with patches of grass, kept short to discourage rodents or insects that attract birds looking for food. The topsoil is low in nutrition, to prevent grass from growing tall in the first place. And the grass seeds themselves were chosen because they contain a fungus whose taste drives away waterfowl.
Around the airfield is a buffer zone of 2,646 acres. Plants with berries, nuts and seeds that attract birds are kept to a minimum. Instead, Sea-Tac plants shrubs with dense cover that discourages nesting. Goats were brought in to mow down the especially pervasive blackberries in 2008, but they were a little too good at their job; they ate all the desirable plants, too. Now the landscaping is done by humans.