One night last week, after a particularly long day at work, I was nearly assaulted on the way home. Well, let me explain: I was walking the few blocks from the subway to my apartment in Manhattan, minding my own business, kind of stumbling through my exhaustion, when I noticed a pigeon halfway down the block flying kind of low along the sidewalk, headed right towards me.

Now, there are plenty of pigeons and other birds in the city, and it’s easy enough to find them in large flocks covering the sidewalk, or flying off of the roofs of buildings. Usually they’re smart enough to avoid you if they’re flying alone, or you’re smart enough to avoid them, if they are in such a big group. But this single pigeon was weaving from side to side, not five feet off the ground, and it showed no signs of turning. At the last second I ducked and flung my hands and my briefcase in front of my face to protect myself, and I swear that the thing grazed me…

If I had remained standing, I would’ve gotten hit full in the face. Straightening back up, I heard a gasp and “holy cow, that thing almost hit you!” from a woman who had apparently been walking just behind me. I just tried to slow my breathing and calm down from the close call. I’m sure it wouldn’t have been pleasant to get hit in the face by a pigeon. But it got me thinking – what kind of damage can a flying bird do?

Apparently, a lot, if you’re in the right part of the world. Israel, because of its unique location as the only land bridge between Africa, Europe, and Asia, is the sight of the twice-yearly migration of more than 500 million birds. I’m sure that it’s a beautiful sight to see, and seems to be a garden of Eden for bird enthusiasts, but it’s also a problem for aviators in Israel. The bottleneck of birds from around the world converging on Israel from March-May and August-November has caused plane crashes resulting in millions of dollars in damages and even the loss of lives, not to mention the deaths of the birds themselves.

Fortunately, Israel has done better to throw its hands and briefcase in front of its face. Cooperation between Tel Aviv University and the Israeli Air Force led to some serious research on how to avoid the birds. Observers from the ground, light aircraft tailing flocks, even unmanned drones that flew among the birds were used to map migration routes, decipher when birds flew during the day, and even how much weather affected changes in their flight patterns. Since the results of the research were applied, aviators in Israel have clear maps of migration routes that detail ‘Bird Plagued Zones’ (BPZs), detailed radar of airborne flocks (thanks to special bird center at Ben Gurion International Airport), and have decreased collisions and damage by more than 80%.

Well, it sounds like a pretty good system to me. Still with 500 million birds twice a year, they better keep their eyes open. In any case, at least one thing is for sure: Israel is going to the birds.