Border collies at Schiphol Amsterdam airport
John was the subject of the Dutch national press,
with the daily papers "De Telegraaf" and "Algemeen Dagblad",
TV broadcasting companies as Veronica, SBS 6, RTL 4 & 5, Net 5,
and NOS news and children news.
Al this when Schiphol Airport decided to start with a test
to employ border collies to chase away the birds on the large area of Schiphol.
The lapwing likes to spend the winter on the green areas of Schiphol.
But their presence gives much inconvenience and danger at the runways at Schiphol.
The dogs together with the handler have a very responsible job.
Errors can not be made with this work, after all human lives are at stake here.
Chad,
Toss,
Lad and
Gael
are well trained dogs who earned their share in sheep heerding.
This in the daily work with the herd as well as during the trials.
They react on the verbal commands and on the sheep wishle commands.
To do a good job, you also need to know a bit more of the bird behaviour.
Its scientific name is: Vanellus vanellus
The lapwing is recognisable by its call, slow wingmovement
and slappy groupshape.
In western Europe the bird is a yearbird,
who likes to stay on moistures grassland.
Outside the breeding season, the birds look for food on grassland and ploughed fields.
With firm pulling movements the prey - a rainworm, mosquito larva -
get pulled out of the roots of the grass. This also explains why sudden large movements
are made by the birds when cold wetter is expected.
The fields get frozen and collecting food gets difficult.