What precautions are taken to avoid bird strikes?
Humans are more important than animals by "most" societal standards. Therefore, bird safety is secondary to human safety (pilots and passengers). However, there are certain areas (in US) that are designated as protected areas for certain types of birds, such as in California where I have seen protected areas for the California Condor which requires pilots to fly at a certain altitude above that area. On VFR Sectional Charts the special conservation areas are depicted as indicated here:

 

These conservation area restrictions are mostly to avoid disturbing the birds, but I assume it also reduces the risk of a bird strike by requiring the aircraft to fly higher over these areas.

One of the most important precautions is for pilots to remain vigilant and see and avoid, but that is not always possible when a flock of thousands of birds takes off near an airport when airplanes are landing and taking off.

Some airports use various methods (see links provided) to scare flocks of birds away such as using hawks, noise, and other methods.




I don't know of any aircraft that are designed for the safety of birds. I believe this is a very low priority in aircraft design.

Try checking the Audubon Society website, they have a lot of information on risk to birds and statistics on such risks.