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When the FAA published statistics on the number of collisions between birds and jetliner engines, both ABC's Lisa Stark and CBS' Jim Axelrod quoted the questionable claim that there are more birds in the United States now than there were 20 years ago. During those two decades, Axelrod reported, the incidence of bird strikes has "more than quadrupled." He added that "quieter airplane engines do not scare them away like they used to."
I asked Jonathan Alderfer, chief consultant at National Geographic's bird program. "I certainly would not make the broad generalization that the bird population in the country as a whole is growing," he warned. He granted that it is probably true that airports have more Canada geese, starlings and city pigeons--correct name "rock doves"--than they used to have. Canada geese no longer migrate and they like the grass around runways.
Anyway, the reason Axelrod and Stark were assigned to report on the collisions was not because of the bird population but to relive that much-celebrated crash landing of USAirlines Flight 1549 in the Hudson River after geese were sucked into its engines. "The majority of bird strikes do not result in near catastrophe," ABC's Stark reassured us. That did not stop CBS anchor Katie Couric using the hair-raising introduction "a very real danger in the skies" before citing the completely calm statistic that such collisions have resulted in 11 deaths in 19 years.
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