Bad week for birds, both mechanical and natural.

Two planes nearly collided at O’Hare on Sunday — the fifth “runway incursion” of 2006. Great.

Northwest Airlines and Air Canada are responsible for the deaths of 11,000 turkey chicks. Investigations underway.

And now, this “news” from the Onion: “Sparrow Aviation Administration Blames Collision On Failure To Detect Pane Of Glass”

Howard R. Trojanowski, a Pierre-bound, 2-year-old field sparrow who had been licensed to fly since two weeks after he was hatched and had logged over 60,000 flying hours, departed from a ledge near Sioux Falls Regional Airport at 11:04 a.m. CST. Trojanowski never reached his intended tree branch, instead striking a tempered-glass picture window 2.5 miles northwest of Mitchell 74 minutes after takeoff at an estimated speed of 39 mph.

There were no survivors.

SAA Commissioner Vincent Stivolo said the crash was likely due to glass, a “common, yet not fully understood phenomenon” in which an area normally blocked by such barriers as curtains, blinds, or shutters suddenly appears to be an open passage to an indoor facility or an unobstructed extension of the outdoor environment.

Conclusive explanations have historically eluded sparrow-crash investigators, some of whom have themselves apparently fallen victim to the phenomenon. Three investigators dispatched to the Mitchell site failed to show up and have since been reported missing.

Rest in peace, Howard R. Trojanowski.