People traveling to and from Boston Logan International Airport this holiday season join the 122 million Americans AAA expects to travel over Christmas and New Year’s. While all those planes are in the sky, there is a cohort of people on the ground working to make sure you make it to your destination safely.Among them is the Logan Wildlife Management Team, responsible for keeping animals off the active airfield. “We’re not worried about the single, small bird that may be flying around the airport,” said Jeff Turner, the airport facilities supervisor. “We’re looking at the bigger picture.”Birds pose a hazard to aircraft, whether it’s a huge flock of small birds or a small flock of huge birds. Among them are the predatory snowy owls that migrate south from the Arctic. “Snowy owls are a raptor, they’re a deterrent, they eat other birds that are there, which is a good thing,” said Norman Smith, raptor specialist for Mass. Audubon. “But they’re also a very large bird. They can weigh up to six, seven pounds. They have a wingspan up to 60 inches. So if one of those was hit by a jet or sucked by an engine, it would be catastrophic for that engine.”Smith said the airfield looks much like their native arctic habitat, minus the jumbo jets screaming across the tarmac. Since 1981, he has been catching snowy owls at Boston Logan and releasing them on nearby beaches. WATCH: Arctic snowy owls draw crowds to Duxbury Beach: “These are a unique creature that is a species that’s declining,” Smith said. “And we want to protect as many as we can.”Bird mitigation efforts at Logan were kicked into high gear after a deadly and devastating crash in 1960. A new book by Boston author Chris Sweeney highlights the changes made, thanks in large part to an overlooked little old lady at the Smithsonian. “When these Starling remains landed on her desk, it marked this huge turning point in her career,” said Sweeney, who recently published “The Feather Detective,” a book on the “mystery, mayhem and magnificent life” of Roxie Laybourne.WATCH: Boston crash and feather detective led to safer skies:

MILTON, Mass. —

People traveling to and from Boston Logan International Airport this holiday season join the 122 million Americans AAA expects to travel over Christmas and New Year’s. While all those planes are in the sky, there is a cohort of people on the ground working to make sure you make it to your destination safely.

Among them is the Logan Wildlife Management Team, responsible for keeping animals off the active airfield.

“We’re not worried about the single, small bird that may be flying around the airport,” said Jeff Turner, the airport facilities supervisor. “We’re looking at the bigger picture.”

Birds pose a hazard to aircraft, whether it’s a huge flock of small birds or a small flock of huge birds. Among them are the predatory snowy owls that migrate south from the Arctic.

“Snowy owls are a raptor, they’re a deterrent, they eat other birds that are there, which is a good thing,” said Norman Smith, raptor specialist for Mass. Audubon. “But they’re also a very large bird. They can weigh up to six, seven pounds. They have a wingspan up to 60 inches. So if one of those was hit by a jet or sucked by an engine, it would be catastrophic for that engine.”

Smith said the airfield looks much like their native arctic habitat, minus the jumbo jets screaming across the tarmac. Since 1981, he has been catching snowy owls at Boston Logan and releasing them on nearby beaches.

WATCH: Arctic snowy owls draw crowds to Duxbury Beach:

“These are a unique creature that is a species that’s declining,” Smith said. “And we want to protect as many as we can.”

Bird mitigation efforts at Logan were kicked into high gear after a deadly and devastating crash in 1960. A new book by Boston author Chris Sweeney highlights the changes made, thanks in large part to an overlooked little old lady at the Smithsonian.

“When these Starling remains landed on her desk, it marked this huge turning point in her career,” said Sweeney, who recently published “The Feather Detective,” a book on the “mystery, mayhem and magnificent life” of Roxie Laybourne.

WATCH: Boston crash and feather detective led to safer skies: