Gents,
You can see the birds in time, in my opinion, if you are looking for them in the right spot. Admitted, I'm a tactical jet aviator, not a big iron one, but if I can get my aircraft AND my wingman's aircraft over a cluster of buzzards while flying in towards the airfield at 250+ knots, you can get your big iron bird over the top too. Perhaps when everything is down and dirty, we both don't have a lot of options, but the key is acting positively and early.
As I mentioned early in this thread, the spot that you have to scan for birds is small and is directly ahead of your aircraft. You have to continually be giving this spot the close eye in bird country. You should take the effort to get your glasses prescription tweaked to better than 20/20. The big birds can usually be seen in time unless they are flying IFR or at night. Hitting the smaller, less visible birds, has fewer consequences, normally just need to clean the red streak off the airframe.
