Slightly puzzled as to why my last post was moderated away? One anecdote too many?
Anyway, to answer torquelink's bird ingestion comment. An engine could probably tolerate a goose size strike. But it's doubtful you can make an engine that would survive several geese. You have to remember too that the Ryanair in Rome was brought down by starlings, lots of them. It's quantity not size. In any case a hit in the right place can stop an engine. I've seen the results of a birdstrike on the innards of an engine. It's not pretty.
Protecthehornet, in the now lost post, I made the point that to avoid birds you have to see them and anything on a collision course will be in a fixed position on the windscreen with no relative movement. Plus being a bird, it's a lot smaller than an airliner or a balloon or a thunderstorm. Which just adds to the difficulty.
I'll leave it at that.