Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 122; Flight Crew Total 27163; Flight Crew Type 247
Situational Awareness
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action; Flight Crew Returned To Clearance
Environment - Non Weather Related; Human Factors
While flying at 11;000 feet on an IFR flight plan on V23 approximately 30 miles south of BTG VOR; I found myself converging on a very large area of many flocks of migrating geese. I made a turn to the left keeping my eye out and on the flocks watching all of them as they passed off the right side of the aircraft inadvertently turning 30 degrees as ATC indicated. I was contacted by ATC of the deviation and realized in my attempt to divert from the geese; I inadvertently flew off course resulting in a deviation of the flight planned clearance route. Upon notification from ATC; I resumed navigation back to V23 keeping an eye to the sky for more geese. The rest of the flight was uneventful.
BE-99 pilot reported a track heading deviation after an evasive maneuver to avoid a flock of birds near BTG VOR.