Chattanooga resident Glen Kahana missed three connecting flights to Honolulu after his first flight from Chattanooga to Memphis was delayed when the plane struck a flock of mourning doves Friday morning.

"After takeoff, we hit birds and had to turn around and come back in," said Mr. Kahana, who is the husband of Leslie Kahana, advertising director at the Chattanooga Times Free Press. "We were delayed 45 minutes to an hour while they inspected the aircraft."

Airport spokeswoman Christina Siebold confirmed that a Northwest flight bound for Memphis struck about 10 mourning doves after it took off Friday morning. The plane returned to the terminal, where the crew and a maintenance team performed inspections.

The flight took off again about 9:52 a.m., Ms. Siebold said.

In data released in April by the Federal Aviation Administration, Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport registered the biggest increase in wildlife strikes nationally since 2000. The airport went from four reported incidents in 2000 to 55 in 2008, or up 1,275 percent, the FAA information showed, according to Times Free Press archives.

Officials took more notice of wildlife strikes after January, when a U.S. Airways plane bound for Charlotte, N.C., from New York's LaGuardia Airport aborted its takeoff and crashed into the Hudson River. A flock of Canada geese extensively damaged both of the plane's engines, but the pilot made an emergency landing in the Hudson with few serious injuries reported.