R44 helicopter pilot reported striking a bird during a sightseeing flight.

Attributes
ACN	822927
Time
Date	200902
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Robinson R44
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 60 Flight Crew Total 6000 Flight Crew Type 8000
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal

Narrative:

On a local sightseeing flight over a lake; we encountered hundreds of birds flying over the lake at and higher altitude than our cruising altitude; based on my prior experience of avoiding the flock of birds. By going higher and banking away; which we ended up hitting one; I abruptly lowered my altitude and tried to not hit them. We ended up at an altitude of 50 ft over the west end of the lake area; and flying low altitude approximately 50 ft over and 200 ft radius of a few hikers. At no time did this action pose any danger either to us or to the people on the ground. I believe that with a cooperation of all the aircraft flying in the vicinity of the airport and more reporting of the bird's activity; would be safer skies. We will fly at higher altitudes over this lake; report the bird's activity to the tower and other aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: R44 helicopter pilot reported striking a bird during a sightseeing flight.

Narrative: On a local sightseeing flight over a lake; we encountered hundreds of birds flying over the lake at and higher altitude than our cruising altitude; based on my prior experience of avoiding the flock of birds. By going higher and banking away; which we ended up hitting one; I abruptly lowered my altitude and tried to not hit them. We ended up at an altitude of 50 FT over the west end of the lake area; and flying low altitude approximately 50 FT over and 200 FT radius of a few hikers. At no time did this action pose any danger either to us or to the people on the ground. I believe that with a cooperation of all the aircraft flying in the vicinity of the airport and more reporting of the bird's activity; would be safer skies. We will fly at higher altitudes over this lake; report the bird's activity to the Tower and other aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.