Emily Fleming, a raptor biologist and YVR site manager, poses with Hercules, a juvenile bald eagle. Photo credit: Howard Slutsken.

Last month, the Vancouver Airport Authority spoke about its innovative wildlife program and how it keeps wild birds as far away as possible from aircraft.

"Safety is first and paramount for everybody - passengers on the plane, the flight crew and also we want to protect the birds as well," said Vancouver Airport Authority Airside Operations Director Brett Patterson in an interview with Global News. "So, we developed a program here that will keep the feathered birds away from the metalled birds."

YVR's wildlife management program has evolved through the years and employs a variety of methods.

"We've used everything from standard pyrotechnics to lasers, sirens on our cars," said Vancouver Airport Authority Wildlife Program Specialist David Bradbeer. "We've expanded our program to include animal stimulus, and we have our Border Collie program."

To help bolster the program, the Vancouver airport brought on two new recruits: Hercules and Goliath.

"We've used everything from standard pyrotechnics to lasers, sirens on our cars," said Vancouver Airport Authority Wildlife Program Specialist David Bradbeer in an interview with Global News. "We've expanded our program to include animal stimulus, and we have our Border Collie program."

Goliath - or Golly, as he's known to his friends - takes a break to pose with Emil. Golly is a harris hawk and responsible for keeping away smaller birds.

The wildlife specialists at YVR say the hawks and falcons, such as Goliath, do a good job of scaring away the flocks of little shore birds.

But, they don't do as well with the bigger birds. To address this issue, YVR introduced Hercules to their feathered ranks in October 2013.

Hercules, a two-year-old bald eagle, was hatched in captivity and raised specifically for this purpose - to chase bigger shore birds.

For more information about the airport's wildlife management program, check out YVR's Connection blog post featuring Wildlife Program Specialist, David Bradbeer.

Global passenger traffic ended 2013 strong with year-over-year growth of over 6% for the month of December. This represents the month with the highest growth over a twelve month period. Both international and domestic traffic performed above the annualized average achieving growth rates of 6.6% and 6.2% respectively.

For the year as a whole, 2013 saw passenger traffic increase by 4%. This growth in air travel occurs in a year that was riddled with economic challenges ranging from the cyclical slowdown in emerging markets to the lingering economic uncertainties in the euro area and the United States.

North America remains at relatively modest levels, but it was a banner month for passenger traffic with a growth of 6.6% for the month of December. This represents an above average month for North America since year-over-year growth for 2013 was 1.3%.

Air freight volumes increased by over 3% for the month of December. Despite a global economy that remained sluggish for most of 2013, air freight markets still inched up by 1% in 2013 as compared to 2012. On an annualized basis, international freight traffic increased by 0.9% whereas domestic freight increased by 1.2% on the year. With an overall rise in business confidence coupled with the recent improvements in international trade, the recent rise in air freight volumes signals a potential revival.

The higher growth in North America for the last quarter points towards a recovery. Air freight volumes grew by 2.9% in December. This is above the 2013 annualized growth, which was almost flat at 0.5% over 2012.

Two of North America's leading air freight hubs posted gains in freight volumes for 2013. Memphis (MEM) and Louisville (SDF), home of FedEx and UPS, increased by 3% and 2.5% respectively.