As multi-ton garbage trucks roll in and out 24 hours a day to unload the never-ending detritus of modern life and mammoth forklifts rumble over the I-95 landfill at Lorton, just over the hill, a very different kind of life abounds.

Some landfill owners have installed methane gas burners to reduce the amount of methane entering the atmosphere. However, the downside to methane flaring is that the flame is colorless and fatal for birds flying in the area, especially birds of prey.