SMF has long had a repuation for a large number of bird strikes because of all the wet lands, rivers, and rice fields around the airport, altho most amatuer travelers did not know about it until after the "Miracle on the Hudson."

Saturday morning, we were about 500 feet into the air on a 757. As the wheels were retracting (I was sitting in 2A, I assume right over the area where the wheel well is located), a tremendous noise and vibration shuddered the plane for about 3 minutes and a terrible stank permeated the cabin for about 5 mins. Several of us assumed the something had happened to the landing gear and we were smelling some real bad buring rubber.

F/A advised us over the PA that they had told the cockpit crew about the noise and smell, in case either was not obvious up front.

A few minutes later, the captain told us that he thinks we hit a flock of birds .... obviously not enough to damage the engines or bad enough to cause us to turn around again. As the birds were pureed and sizzled by the engine(s), the smell was brought into the cabin via the ventilation system.

Let me tell you .... .... it's a pretty disgusting smell. LOL....too bad they could not roll down the windows to freshen up the cabin!