During the launch countdown for STS-70, scheduled to lift off on Memorial Day 1995, the launch team discovered that a pair of Northern Flicker woodpeckers (Colaptes auratus) were trying to burrow a nesting hole in the spray-on foam insulation (SOFI) of the shuttle External Tank (ET) on pad LC39-B. Flickers generally construct their nests in the soft wood of palm trees or dead trees, and initially found the SOFI to their liking. However, upon striking the aluminum skin of the ET beneath the SOFI layer, they would stop and move to another spot to try again. The birds were quite persistent, and continued to peck holes until there were at least 71 spots on the nose of the ET that could not be repaired at the pad. As a result, the launch management team decided that the stack had to be rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for repairs to the damaged insulation.

Rolling the shuttle back to the VAB is a difficult problem, but one NASA knows how to handle. The other problem of keeping the Flickers from returning and doing further damage to the ET SOFI is a little more complex. The Northern Flicker is a protected species, so we couldn't do anything that would physically harm the birds. In true NASA style, shuttle management formed the Bird Investigation Review and Deterrent (BIRD) team to research the Flicker problem and come up with a plan for keeping the birds away from the pads. After studying Flicker behavior and consulting ornithologists and wildlife experts the world over, the BIRD team devised a three-phase long-term plan.

Phase 1 of the plan established "... an aggressive habitat management program to make the pads more unattractive to Flickers and to disperse the resident population of Flickers." Palm trees, old telephone poles, and dead trees were removed from the area around the pads. The grass around the pad was allowed to grow long to hide ants and other insects, the Flickers´ favorite food. Phase 2 implemented "scare and deterrent tactics at the pads." Plastic owls, water sprays, and "scary eye" balloons were used to make the area inhospitable to the birds and frighten them away without injuring them. Phase 3 involved the "implementation of bird sighting response procedures."

With the BIRD team plans in place and the Flickers successfully relocated, STS-70 was able to launch at 9:41 A.M. on July 13, 1995.