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I'm Calvin Duane I'm manager of environment for Canadian Natural
I look after all the environmental aspects of our operations which includes wildlife on
the peripheral of our site.
One of the ways we manage wildlife is this system here
This system our LRAD or long-range acoustic device is here to keep the
birds away from our tailings pond.
The tailings pond is the place were we deposited ore after it's been processed,
and the bitumen has been removed.
The problem with this deposit is the small amount of bitumen that's still left over
after processing.
The birds if they land on it can cause them problems. So this is why the LRAD System
is here to keep the birds off of this area so they don't get that problem.
So the bird deterrent system is composed of various parts. First of all there is a radar system
which detects birds coming in
two to three kilometers out
and it responds to those birds by emanating sounds.
Large sounds coming out of these speakers here,
each one positioned to be in the
direction where birds might come from.
The sounds start off with first of all being
birds of prey sort of sounds: hawks, eagles, those sort of things that scare
ducks and geese away. If that doesn't work then it moves into more of a louder,
shocking sound like a shotgun blast or something along that line.
Then finally if the bird is not deterred from that point
it goes into a distress call of a bird of a similar species so that the birds will
actually think that there's a
very serious thing they need to avoid.
Then at night
we have this is well, this spreads out a pattern of green laser light across the
pond to give a very eerie effect to it so that the birds coming in
are very surprised to see this large
shimmering surface of the tailings pond and they'll try and avoid that, because that is
something that they don't like. That assures that in low light
this system comes on does provide that extra layer of protection to keep the birds away from the tailings pond.
I really enjoy my job because it gives me the chance to make a difference
we find ways of doing things better to protect the environment