Officials trying to prevent deadly bird strikes might ask recreational shooters for help.
Airports were often surrounded by land owned by people who wanted rid of pest birds as much as the airports did, Dunedin International Airport operations manager Richard Roberts said.
"So what I want to know is, is there anything to stop me going to farmers and putting a bounty on the head of the likes of the spur-winged plover?" Mr Roberts asked.
"This is something that needs to be discussed while we look at ways to manage the potential for bird strike.
If we do it the right way, might it work?"Mr Roberts is part of the Civil Aviation Authority-led Wildlife Hazard Committee, which is looking at ways to improve bird control and hazard reporting.
When looking for solutions, nothing practical should be discounted, he said.
"We need to look at our airports as being part of a wider area.
"Who knows - if farmers want to control pest birds as much as we do, then maybe we should be talking."
Strikes are reported by pilots and the information is used to help airports control bird hazards.
The most recent CAA figures show Dunedin's 12-month moving average bird strike rate was 4.3 strikes per 100,000 aircraft movements for the March quarter.
That was less than in December (4.5) but still the second-highest moving average in three years.
The CAA considers the rate "low risk".
Rates were lower in Queenstown (1.8), Christchurch (1.8), Wellington (1.3) and Auckland (2.4), while the national average was 3.1Mr Roberts said months of sometimes wet weather, which turned farmland surrounding the airport into worm-filled feeding grounds, may have affected the Dunedin strike rate.
Traps, hawk-shaped kites, distress signals and guns were used to scare birds before aircraft used Dunedin's runway.
Worms, which wriggle to high ground after rain, were routinely washed off the bitumen.
Small birds, including spur-winged plovers and starlings, were some of the most frequent visitors to the airport.
However, jet engines were made to withstand much bigger birds, Mr Roberts said.
Pilots reported what kind of birds struck their aircraft.
Airports were lobbying to improve the reporting process to ensure strikes that happened away from airports were not reported as "on-aerodrome strikes".
CAA spokesman Bill Sommer said airports were responsible for controlling birds but the authority was working with them to ensure the reporting process helped their work.
