I am working on a system to distract birds using ultrasonics and acoustics for avoiding bird hits on aircaft...
Since birds see at least some ultraviolet light, there's been some work lately showing they avoid window strikes when ultraviolet markings have been applied to the glass. Perhaps ultraviolet flashing lights would be even more effective than regular strobe lights--plus they wouldn't be as unnerving to human observers.
Most of bird species can't hear ultrasounds. I personally tested gulls response to several distracting methods and ultrasound resulted uneffective. As recommended by several good practice reports, the best option to distract birds from aerodromes is a mixture of several measures. Habitat management is the most important measure, then the alternation of different distractive measures (sounds, fake guns, fake hawks and so on). You may want to check on the International Birdstrike Committee web site (http://www.int-birdstrike.org/). I'm personally against the use of falconry, as a falcon to be active needs preys, and an airport where a falconer work can't be without birds... further more the falcon is as hazardous as any other bird present in the area.
As Bill wrote, there is a lot of research on birds visual cues and ultraviolet lights resulted to be effective (http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1077&context=icwdm_usdanwrc )
If turkey buzzards hear ultrasounds it might be worth it. Seems to be the biggest threat at mil bases. I've seen the whites of the eyes of many buzzards. They've also take out several A/C. Gulls and other large birds (geese, ducks) also present problems, but seem to be less of a problem. I don't think falcons will deter the birds that are dangerous to most A/C. I will add that it seems most prey birds have a higher sense of what is around them. I've seen many prey birds in the vicinity of airfields, but they seem to avoid airplanes more than non prey and scavengers. Seems like shot guns (and fake gun shots) work well on the field, but does not do much for the pattern and the approach corridor. Something that could clear the approach corridor would be nice.
As far as I am aware, ultrasonic sounds can only be heard by hummingbirds, although this has been rarely tested in other species. Noise is deterrent for many birds. Ruffed Grouse, for example, will move from an area that received too much ATV traffic. Many birds, however, are also used to living in noisy environments (e.g., seabird and penguin rookeries, large flocks of starlings or cockatoos) and so depending on the type of noise and species of bird, a system like this might or might not work. It's also worth noting that ultraviolet light can be perceived by some species, but not all, so that this too might be a useful deterrent in some cases and not others.
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