Don’t birds pose the same kind of aviation danger as toy drones?
And aren’t there a lot more birds?
Yes, and yes.
Migratory waterfowl include several different goose and swan varieties. The last Tundra swan I shot had his feed drag the ground with me holding his head over my shoulder (I stand 5’ 10”).
These birds fly up at cruise altitudes for jets, both day and night. Plus, they love wetland areas near coastal airports.
Birds are a continuous threat to civil and military aviation and flocks of birds must be cleared away from runways before any flight can be cleared for takeoff by the tower.
An AWACS plane in Alaska was destroyed by Canada Geese taking out two engines on one side.
Terrorists could reverse engineer a similar crash with a swarm of drones.