Pilot reported hitting a bird while on downwind.

Attributes
ACN	1757310
Time
Date	202008
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Engine
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Multiengine
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 72 Flight Crew Total 330 Flight Crew Type 288
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal

Narrative:

Upon entering the downwind for runway xxr at ZZZ at xa:57 local time. We were at 1;000 ft. And we saw a white flash and a loud bang on the front of the engine. I immediately noticed a 100 RPM drop in my engine and me and my copilot who happens to be a CFI began to declare a mayday on the CTAF frequency. There was a plane taking off and they advised that they will circle south to allow us to land. We felt that the best decision would be to land immediately. So I decided to declare a mayday and to head straight to xyl. We landed a little bit long but we were not sure how much power we would have and for how long. But when we were clear of xyl at taxiway right. We advised the aircraft in the pattern and taxied to the hanger. Once we shut down we discovered that there was a bird sticking out of the front nacelle of the engine compartment.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot reported hitting a bird while on downwind.

Narrative: Upon entering the downwind for Runway XXR at ZZZ at XA:57 local time. We were at 1;000 ft. and we saw a white flash and a loud bang on the front of the engine. I immediately noticed a 100 RPM drop in my engine and me and my copilot who happens to be a CFI began to declare a mayday on the CTAF frequency. There was a plane taking off and they advised that they will circle south to allow us to land. We felt that the best decision would be to land immediately. So I decided to declare a mayday and to head straight to XYL. We landed a little bit long but we were not sure how much power we would have and for how long. But when we were clear of XYL at Taxiway R. We advised the aircraft in the pattern and taxied to the hanger. Once we shut down we discovered that there was a bird sticking out of the front nacelle of the engine compartment.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.