A small plane struck a flock of birds on take off - leaving the body of the aircraft covered in blood splashes.

Mark Schwantes, 48, was on board a bush plane travelling from a remote area in Alaska to Anchorage when the bird strike occurred (Sept 26).

The plane was accelerating to take off when Mark spotted a flock of willow ptarmigan, Alaska's state bird, on the runway.

But instead of flying away, the birds waited too long to take flight and were hit by one of the plane's propellers.

Mark, a big game guide and commercial fishing captain from Dillingham, Alaska, said: "We were leaving hunting camp and as usual the ptarmigan were gathered on the runway."

"Typically, they scatter when a plane starts up, but this time, they lingered a bit too long."

"Just as we were going airborne, about half a dozen flew up in front of us and hit the propeller."

Schwantes, who has flown in and out of the Alaskan bush countless times, was taken aback by the incident.

He said: "I was very surprised this has never happened to me before on all the bush takeoffs I've done."

Despite the impact, which the pilot treated as a routine occurrence, the flight continued without delay and landed safely in Anchorage.

Schwantes said: "There was no visible damage to the plane, as far as I know."

"The pilot acted as if it was a no big deal, he was confident in his aircraft and reassured everyone on board."

"Everyone remained calm and we continued the flight as planned."

"It's just one of those things you might see out here."