The number of reports of collisions or near collisions between airplanes and birds has risen at half of Canada's major airports in recent years, according to CBC News analysis of Transport Canada data.

A couple of international airports — in Edmonton and Fredericton — saw so-called bird strikes triple over the five-year period, rising from 12 to 36 for the former and three to nine for the latter. The figures are based on CBC analysis of data obtained through access to information requests from Transport Canada's Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS).

Ontario's London International Airport and Quebec City's Jean Lesage airport experienced a doubling of such incidents, rising to 15 and 16 respectively.

There have also been incremental rises at some of the country's busiest airports, including Ottawa, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

The rise can be blamed partly on a growing bird population, but also ever-increasing traffic at airports, according to Richard Sowden, a bird and wildlife hazard specialist for the Air Canada Pilots Association.

"It's generally getting worse," says Sowden. "We are seeing the number of strikes going up."