Todd Felix

However, Todd Felix, a wildlife biologist for the US Department of Agriculture who witnessed the shooting while patrolling the grounds near the airport with two Massport officials when one of them shot the bird, said in a telephone interview Monday: "The swan was not in flight when it was shot.It was in the water."

He was quick to add: "I felt the shooting was justified because the bird had been flying toward the runway just prior to the shooting.The only reason it stopped was because of our presence.We drove out in front of it, and scared it.Our fear was that once we left the area, it would fly over the runway."

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Each year, collisions between airplanes and birds, or bird strikes, cost the nation's civil aviation industry roughly $400 million in damages to aircraft and compensation to passengers, Felix said.Bird strikes occur at virtually every major airport in the country, particularly those in coastal areas and especially at this time of year, when bird populations are at their highest levels in the wake of the summer mating season.

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, there were 33 bird strikes at Logan, records show.The most recent occurred Oct. 19, when United Airlines Flight 185 headed for San Francisco from Boston was forced to make an emergency landing after being hit by a flock of birds.The aircraft, carrying 119 passengers and seven crew members, suffered damage to at least one engine but landed safely.No one was injured.