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About that plane crash? It's part of a trend.
Another topical article found as part of putting together Science Saturday.

Wired: Birds, Humans Increasingly on Collision Course
By Alexis Madrigal

The number of collisions between birds and aircraft has rapidly increased over the last two decades, despite better technology to combat them.

The US Airways plane that improbably wound up floating in the Hudson River has drawn attention to bird strikes, but a U.S. Department of Agriculture and Federal Aviation Administration joint report (pdf), released in June of 2008, warned that the danger birds pose to both commercial and military airplanes was on the rise.

According to the report, from 1990 to 2007 there were 82,057 bird strikes. The trends in the collisions are disturbing as well: In 1990, the industry saw 1,738 bird strikes; in 2007, the number had increased to 7,666. Some of that trend is due to increased air travel, but the number of wildlife strikes has tripled from 0.527 to 1.751 per 10,000 flights.

Amazing what a disaster does to convince people to look for warning signs, isn't it?

ETA:  It's a problem in Antarctica, too.

Reuters: Runway-loving birds are risk to planes in Antarctica By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

ROTHERA BASE, Antarctica (Reuters) - The world's most southerly bird has become a threat to planes in Antarctica after developing a love for sitting on warm, snow-free airstrips.
 
Air traffic experts are seeking ways to scare off the south polar skuas, a large and aggressive brown seabird, but without harming them. The birds are protected by the 47-nation Antarctic Treaty, which declares the frozen continent a nature reserve.

At the British Rothera research station on the Antarctic Peninsula, about 100 skuas often sit on the 900 meter (3,000 ft) gravel runway. The odd penguin or seals can also be hazards.