I work in the GOM for a small operator. And in the last 3 years we have had 2 bird strikes. One on a 206L4 in cruise flight around 800 feet agl inshore in which the bird came down thru the rotor system and smacked dead center into the servo cowling and left a hell of a dent and mess and cracked some of the underlying support structure of the cowl. To those not familiar with the 206 series, the servo cowling is the forward most cowling on the aircraft that hinges up and forward. Its right above the pilots head.
Second was to one of our Bell 407's. Again in cruise flight around 800-1000 feet. Bird went into the area above the transmission cowling and the rotor head impacting somewhere on the pitch change links. No damage to the aircraft, but I found dark bird feathers and lots of guts all over the p/c links, mast, main rotor head, transmission, transmission deck all the way back to the vertical stabilizer. From the size of what was left, I figured it was either a large crow or a turkey buzzard. Imagine throwing a bird into a food processor and then chucking the contents down the transmission cowling. Stunk to high heaven.
I had a close encounter with an American Bald Eagle in the area near NAS New Orleans. I was riding copilot seat doing track and balance work with a RADS system and we were in a high traffic area near the Air Station heading back to base around 700 ft agl with some readings. I looked up from my rads box and saw this rather large bird @ 12:00 and close in same altitude. The pilot was looking for military traffic advised to us from Navy tower out his side window. If we stayed on course and altitude this bird would have been in our laps. I yelled "break right right now!" over the icom and the pilot yanked it hard over. I watched this large white headed brown bird cruise past my window pretty close aboard. He didn't dive away like most birds do. Eagles are top predators and don't seem to scared of bigger birds like us. If that bird which averages between 7 and 15 lbs had hit us in the windscreen, I don't think I would be writing this right now. Birds in south Louisiana are a constant hazard. Stay safe.