DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH: A flock of six-ounce starlings injested into its engine is enough to bring down a 250-ton Boeing 747. JFK's busiest runway sits 300 feet from Jo Co Marsh, a migratory nesting ground. PHOTO: Mark Valenta

fter 10 years as a Delta Airlines pilot, first officer Jonathan Reynolds, 52, remembers very few close calls.
But there's one he'll never forget — a run in with a hawk and a flock of sparrows at 2,000 feet four years ago above JFK International Airport.

"When the birds flew into the jet engine, it coughed and the plane shuddered," says Reynolds, who was flying a Boeing 727 at the time. "The engine surged and then spit like a back fire." The plane digested the birds and quickly stopped shaking, but not without rattling Reynolds and the 148 passengers on board. The flight continued without incident.

Not every pilot has been as lucky.

ast year over 4,000 bird strikes were reported to the Federal Aviation Administration's Wildlife Strike Database. Worldwide, birds have caused 77 deaths since 1995. "People don't realize it, but a single bird can take a plane down," says Laura Francoeur, a wildlife biologist at JFK.

TRAFFIC COP: Laura Francoeur has made a career out of harrasing birds. Gulls and geese are the worst offenders. PHOTO: Mark Valenta

In the wake of expanding air travel, quieter planes and a burgeoning wildlife community, birds are posing an increasing safety hazard to air travelers. Collisions between airplanes and birds — called bird strikes — have increased by 56 percent in the last five years worldwide, and are on the rise nationally and at New York's JFK.