Taipei, May 31 (CNA) The bird strike incident involving a China Airlines flight at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport April 16 was caused by a crested serpent eagle, according to a report released last week by the Flight Safety Foundation-Taiwan.

The report said that an examination of a small amount of flesh and feathers from what was left of the shredded bird showed that the CAL flight collided with the medium-large raptor known scientifically as Spilornis cheela, a reptile eater that hunts over woodland mainly for snakes and lizards.

Flight safety experts at the foundation noted that the airport authorities had launched a drive to eliminate rodents around the airport shortly before the incident. They said in the report that the eagle was probably attracted by rat carcasses or slow-moving rodents under the influence of rat poison.

A bird strike at the Taoyuan airport caused by a bird of prey of such a large size is a rare occurrence, as previous incidents involved only small birds, the report said.

The CAL jetliner involved in the strike was taxiing on the runway at the time and did not suffer serious damage, it added.

Bird strikes are a perennial problem for aircraft at Taiwan’s 27 airports for civilian and military aircraft.

The Flight Safety Foundation recorded six such incidents in April and May at airports in Taoyuan, Taipei, Tainan, Chiayi, Gangshan and Hualien — caused by a variety of birds, including red turtle doves, barn swallows and large Indian pratincoles.

The air force has lost four expensive jet fighters to bird strikes since 1991, but there have been not crashes of civilian aircraft attributed to bird strikes.

According to statistics compiled by the foundation, there were 841 bird strike incidents involving military and civilian aircraft in Taiwan between 2002 and 2005, 108 of which resulted in damage and causing 22 planes to abandon their scheduled takeoffs. (By Han Nai-kuo)