As cabin crew I naturally work with a lot of pilots as you can imagine. I have to say that I don't think I have ever come across one who has lied to passengers. Of course you have the odd white lie like saying theres a little bit of turbulence predicted when you were thrown about a fair bit on the way there but that is more reassurance to nervous pax. There are ego-istic pilots out there but very few seem to mind admitting the real reason for a particular event.
As for birds....wouldn't it have been safer to have continued the landing if the main gear had already touched down?