> Researchers at Purdue University are studying the risk of injury to birds. Principal investigator Esteban Fernandez-Juricic says very little is known about whether lasers can harm the animals' retinas. "What we are trying to assess is whether different levels of energy output of these lasers and different levels of exposure time could cause any kind of retinal injury on the animal," Fernandez-Juricic says. "These retinal injuries could potentially be pretty serious and affect the ability of the animal to see and consequently to find food, mates or refuge."
> Attending seabirds (all species) showed little detectable response to the laser beam during daylight hours. At night however, Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) showed a transient and localized response at lower vessel speeds (3.5 kts) while feeding in the offal plume. In contrast, gulls in flight at nighttime in pursuit of the vessel showed a strong aversion at higher vessels speeds (11 kts). These results suggest that laser beam detection by birds may be more challenging at high light levels. The implication is that lasers might be modified to increase its visual contrast during the day. From these field trials, lasers appear more likely to scare birds from an abundant food source at low light levels and success may be species and condition specific.
In a separate study about seabirds and lasers, https://wsg.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/SBWG...
> Attending seabirds (all species) showed little detectable response to the laser beam during daylight hours. At night however, Northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) showed a transient and localized response at lower vessel speeds (3.5 kts) while feeding in the offal plume. In contrast, gulls in flight at nighttime in pursuit of the vessel showed a strong aversion at higher vessels speeds (11 kts). These results suggest that laser beam detection by birds may be more challenging at high light levels. The implication is that lasers might be modified to increase its visual contrast during the day. From these field trials, lasers appear more likely to scare birds from an abundant food source at low light levels and success may be species and condition specific.