First, you can place the beaming stations on towers -- most birds stay within a few hundred feet of the ground (which is why skydivers don't have to worry about

First, you can place the beaming stations on towers -- most birds stay within a few hundred feet of the ground (which is why skydivers don't have to worry about smacking into them). That'll rule out the majority of bird conflicts. Second, put a high-definition video camera aimed down the barrel of the beam, with enough field-of-view that you get a second of warning before a bird crosses the beam. With automated image recognition you should be able to switch off the beam within a few hundred milliseconds of detecting a bird. Switch it back on again when the bird leaves the beam path. Because the plane isn't being directly powered by the beam -- it's just topping up its onboard batteries -- the disruption should not be consequential.