For the past two years, the airport's five-strong rescue fire brigade has been flying kites modelled on menacing black eagles to scare seagulls, plovers, magpies and other birds away from the airport's runway.
The six "eagles" were tied to the top of 3m steel rods, swooping and fluttering depending on the wind, and were moved to different locations around the airport's runway each week, Senior Firefighter Bruce Smaill said.
He had spotted the "eagles" for sale in Ashburton, where they were bought by Canterbury farmers to protect grain crops.
However, the results at Dunedin airport since showed the "eagles" were performing better than explosive "bird fright" shells used previously, at $5 each, or the more traditional method of bird removal - shooting them, Mr Smaill said.
Since the eagles were installed, instances of bird strike at the airport had dropped from 8 per 10,000 aircraft movements two years ago to just 1.9 per 10,000 this year, he said.
"It's come up pretty well. We are pretty rapt with the results."
The airport's brigade members were responsible for minimising bird strike at the airport, and also conducted a regular sweep of the runway in a vehicle to clear birds before each outbound flight was due for takeoff, Mr Smaill said.
The airport was not threatened by larger birds, like the Canada geese that forced a US Airways passenger jet to ditch in New York's Hudson River in January, but smaller birds could still cause problems by gathering around the airport's runway.
The birds were typically able to avoid smaller aircraft travelling slowly, but risked being sucked into the engines of larger, faster passenger jets and ATR aircraft, or could strike a wing's leading edge or other sensitive area, he said.
While aircraft were designed to withstand such strikes, they could still cause damage, leading to delays and expense for airlines, Mr Smaill said.
Airport chief executive John McCall said birds were attracted to the rural farming environment around the airport in "significant numbers".
"You have got to work hard to make a place they see as being attractive seem unattractive to them.
"It's very, very pleasing to be able to achieve results like that."
