Kamikaze birds....

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Drum Pro
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Kamikaze birds....

Post by Drum Pro »

Today I got hit in the helmet by a dive bombing wee sparrow. I didn't drop the bike but I felt empathy for the bird as it must have been ill to hit me in the head. It hit me in the left side then kinda bounced up and hit the ground and was a bit dazed. R.I.P. tweety's cousin...
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Post by Raiderfn311 »

Kinda funny you should mention this. Last week I had to "duck" because a bird crossed my path. Flew across the road at the wrong moment. Good job keeping your wits about you. These things that happen help in the long run, as it will make you a better rider.
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Tocsik
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Re: Kamikaze birds....

Post by Tocsik »

Drum Pro wrote:Today I got hit in the helmet by a dive bombing wee sparrow. I didn't drop the bike but I felt empathy for the bird as it must have been ill to hit me in the head. It hit me in the left side then kinda bounced up and hit the ground and was a bit dazed. R.I.P. tweety's cousin...
Yeah, nest-building season. They get territorial.
.::I know the voices in my head aren't real, but man do they come up with some great ideas::.
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Post by Raiderfn311 »

I have a wreath on my front door that has a nest. 5 baby birds in there. Kinda cool.

Edit- The mother gets very territorial.
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Post by PeteH »

At least it wasn't one of Luna's hawks. That'd leave a mark.
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Post by gr8dog »

I am convinced birds are huge thrill seekers. Over the weekend I came close to a duck. It just flew up out of the ditch.
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Post by AWinn6889 »

I had a bat hit me in the head on the way home from work last Wednesday. So glad it didn't get stuck in my hair, I would have freaked.
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Post by k1dude »

A bird juuuust missed me a couple days ago. Lucky I saw it coming out of my peripheral vision and ducked.

Once, a giant turkey flying across the highway at dusk almost hit the windshield of my truck. I was doing about 70 and the turkey probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds. If I was on my scooter I would've been toast.
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Post by viney266 »

Killed a crow once with the visor of my FF shoei. Thank God for the helmet. I was going about 70 MPH on an RZ350. It felt like you hit me in the head with a baseball bat. Managed not to crash, but wow! what an impact...Yeah, I actually went back to make sure the bird wasn't suffering.
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Post by KABarash »

Hit a bat one night last summer riding home, it was still stuck in my helmet when I got home.
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Post by TVB »

k1dude wrote:Once, a giant turkey flying across the highway at dusk almost hit the windshield of my truck. I was doing about 70 and the turkey probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds. If I was on my scooter I would've been toast.
You do not want to hit a turkey on a scooter. We used to have a family of wild turkeys in my 'hood, and I kept a careful eye out for them, even in my car.

On a roadtrip to Hell (it's near Brighton MI) three years ago, I had a close encounter with probably either a great blue heron or a sandhill crane. It was early morning, and the dirt road I'd been on had just turned to pavement, so I hit the throttle. Suddenly a bird with a 4-5 foot wingspan bursts into the air out of the reeds on the side of the road, just a few meters ahead of me. I'm not sure which of us was more startled. Between the lighting and the fact that I was going maybe 20 mph and immediately passed it, I didn't get a good look at it to figure out which kind of bird it was. Which is probably for the best, since neither one of us would've been happy if I'd gotten closer.
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Post by AlleyOops »

Yikes! One more thing to look out for on the roads... suicidal dive bombing birds.

Actually, at our old house when we had a riding mower, we used to get dive bombed by the birds whenever we were mowing the lawn.
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Post by heatherkay »

TVB wrote:
k1dude wrote:On a roadtrip to Hell (it's near Brighton MI) three years ago, I had a close encounter with probably either a great blue heron or a sandhill crane. It was early morning, and the dirt road I'd been on had just turned to pavement, so I hit the throttle. Suddenly a bird with a 4-5 foot wingspan bursts into the air out of the reeds on the side of the road, just a few meters ahead of me. I'm not sure which of us was more startled. Between the lighting and the fact that I was going maybe 20 mph and immediately passed it, I didn't get a good look at it to figure out which kind of bird it was. Which is probably for the best, since neither one of us would've been happy if I'd gotten closer.
I actually hit a great blue heron that way one time. It flew up out of some reeds by the road and hit the side of my car when I was doing about 35. By the time I found a safe place to stop, the bird was already gone.
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Post by NathanielSalzman »

I was on my morning commute once a couple years ago and a group of 2-3 pigeons flew across the road in front of me. The last one in the group was a bit behind, actually saw me coming, and tried to turn away. He didn't quite turn sharp enough and bounced off the upper left quadrant of my FF helmet. It didn't rack my neck too bad, but it DID make the most hilarious "DOINK!" noise. I was doing maybe 25 mph. Didn't see where/if the bird came to land. Kamikaze pigeon!
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Post by Tom »

Almost hit a turkey vulture once. I had slowed down to see three of them eating a skunk and must have spooked them- the flew off across my path (they can't go vertical fast) and I had to dodge with my body.

The other day I watched a man at a greenhouse take a woodpecker out of the grill of his truck though, we were pretty sad for it- but then it popped back to life and flew away. Hope he makes it!
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Post by PeteH »

Here in the STL area, alongside the Mississippi, lies the wintering grounds for loads of Bald Eagles. In the cooler months you'll see them alongside the highways, either in trees or atop light poles. Mostly they fly high between the wooded areas and the rivers, but every so often one flies low to the ground. I haven't hit one, but one flew low across the road between a couple of cornfields, and had I been a couple of seconds faster, it would have been right in the path of our car.

Kill one of those bad boys, accident or no, and the Feds will take you to the slammer.
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Post by heatherkay »

I think you're probably kidding, but you will not be put in the slammer by the Feds if you accidentially hit a bald eagle with your car while you are not otherwise breaking the law. First, the bald eagle has actually been delisted by the Feds, so it's no longer an endangered species. So good news there! And most "accidental taking" of endangered species is not illegal or prosecuted. Now, if you or traffic in general are "accidentally" hitting an endangered species on a regular basis, then you or whoever is responsible for the road might be getting a knock on the door.
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Post by PeteH »

Despite the endangered-status delisting, the laws specifically to the eagles remain in force:

http://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/protect/laws.html
"Take" includes pursue, shoot, shoot at, poison, wound, kill, capture, trap, collect, molest or disturb (16 U.S.C. 668c; 50 CFR 22.3). The 1972 amendments increased civil penalties for violating provisions of the Act to a maximum fine of $5,000 or one year imprisonment with $10,000 or not more than two years in prison for a second conviction. Felony convictions carry a maximum fine of $250,000 or two years of imprisonment. The fine doubles for an organization.
Heh, with my luck, the burden would probably be on me to prove I wasn't trying to inflict vehicular homicide.
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Post by heatherkay »

Ah -- I didn't realize the Bald Eagle Act was still intact after the delisting. But you're still not going to be thrown in jail. Eagles eat roadkill on a semi-regular basis, and they get hit by cars on a pretty regular basis. If you do a quick google search on "bald eagle hit by car," you'll come up with a lot of results. I'll eat my hat if any of the drivers were prosecuted.
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Post by PeteH »

Yeah, I'm speaking a bit tongue-in-cheek here, but I was at an interpretive session once where they had an injured/flightless/recovering bald eagle who had been hit by a car, and the docent was spewing much venom about how she felt the driver was at fault / should have swerved, or something.

I've been out duck hunting and have seen some other hunters shoot (and later hide) the wrong types of birds, then spend the rest of the day looking over their shoulder for the warden.
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Post by Mutt the Hoople »

Oof... Not a bird BUT...

This is going to be a buggy year because it has been so warm, thus far, in the last two weeks I have chalked up:
3 junebugs
A few things that look like mayflies
And two lightening bug... That's right... Lightening bugs in April :shock:
All death by visor
Another junebugs that bit it, so to speak, on my two front teeth, (not very tasty... Thank goodness I had gum in my pocket)
And a number of six legged creatures that were not identifiable since committing suicide on my helmet... And headlight. And some gooey yellow fellow on my nice white armored jacket.... Thanks buddy, ya left a stain.

Glad it's not a 17 year cicada year.

And the mother of all bird turds... A crow nailed and whitewashed my helmet... I felt it. When I saw it I don't even know how that bird managed to get airborn... It looked like I got hit in the head with an ostrich egg!!!!
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TVB

Post by TVB »

Even when it isn't spelled out in a specific piece of legislation, US law still recognizes a difference between "did it on purpose" and "did it accidentally" and especially "did it despite trying not to". That doesn't mean the law is always applied reasonably (see Luna's defense-against-birds-of-prey dilemma), but if they don't put someone in jail for accidentally hitting a person who leaps in front of them, it's not likely to happen for accidentally hitting an eagle that does. :)
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Post by 50CC Cape Cod »

I had as T-shirt with a pocket. A bee once hit me and then bounced into the pocket still buzzing. Can't do much till can pull over.
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Post by k1dude »

k1dude wrote:A bird juuuust missed me a couple days ago. Lucky I saw it coming out of my peripheral vision and ducked.

Once, a giant turkey flying across the highway at dusk almost hit the windshield of my truck. I was doing about 70 and the turkey probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds. If I was on my scooter I would've been toast.
Well, I JUST missed another airborn turkey a few minutes ago!!! This time I WAS on my scooter!

I was driving downhill doing 65 bmph on a 2 lane with an SUV coming the opposite direction. Suddenly, a turkey that was on the edge of the road on the SUV's side took flight. I hadn't even noticed it because it was in the tall grass on the edge of the roadside. It passed in front of the SUV and right into my path. Since it was struggling to get altitude, it was only about 5 feet off the ground. I had to immediately duck down and to one side to miss it. I missed it by a foot. Had I not ducked, I would have been hit smack in the face by a 15 pound turkey at 65 bmph.

The last time it happened when I was in my truck was in the 1970's. Hopefully the next time around won't be for another 40 years.
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Post by Mutt the Hoople »

Not exactly Kamikaze birds but.... SLU students. Riding down Lindell..l students in the middle of the street, standing in the middle of the street, inthe middle of th e block, you let one across... They stare at you, the. Another one just darts out... OMG, is that what you learn in college these days? Not birds, but they do remind me of Pheasants.... I spent a lot of time in the UK and I can say that SLUmstudents cross the street just like pheasants... Not too swift. Yikes.
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Post by k1dude »

Mutt the Hoople wrote:Not exactly Kamikaze birds but.... SLU students. Riding down Lindell..l students in the middle of the street, standing in the middle of the street, inthe middle of th e block, you let one across... They stare at you, the. Another one just darts out... OMG, is that what you learn in college these days? Not birds, but they do remind me of Pheasants.... I spent a lot of time in the UK and I can say that SLUmstudents cross the street just like pheasants... Not too swift. Yikes.
Trust me, it's not only the SLU students, but Wash U students too on Skinker, Big Bend, and Forsyth. Zombies I tell you!
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Post by Mutt the Hoople »

k1dude wrote:
Mutt the Hoople wrote:Not exactly Kamikaze birds but.... SLU students. Riding down Lindell..l students in the middle of the street, standing in the middle of the street, inthe middle of th e block, you let one across... They stare at you, the. Another one just darts out... OMG, is that what you learn in college these days? Not birds, but they do remind me of Pheasants.... I spent a lot of time in the UK and I can say that SLUmstudents cross the street just like pheasants... Not too swift. Yikes.
Trust me, it's not only the SLU students, but Wash U students too on Skinker, Big Bend, and Forsyth. Zombies I tell you!
Lol, true. I had a bunch decide to cross against the light all at once... Not one of them looked, and I ad to really lay on the breaks.... And the still never looked. A car blew right through. Zombies? Maybe. When I see them in a big single minded group like that I think they are more like The Borg
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Post by Swordsman »

A guy at work said years ago he was driving down the interstate behind a guy on a cruiser. A bird came out of nowhere and beaned the guy in the forehead. The impact knocked the guy over backwards across his seat, yanking his hands from the controls. The bike weaved all over the place as the guy tried to sit back up, but he managed to pull it off and was able to get the bike over to the side of the road without losing it. My coworker stopped to check on him. Poor guy didn't even know what had happened, never saw the bird.

LUCKY SOB! :shock:

~SM
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Post by k1dude »

Swordsman wrote:A guy at work said years ago he was driving down the interstate behind a guy on a cruiser. A bird came out of nowhere and beaned the guy in the forehead. The impact knocked the guy over backwards across his seat, yanking his hands from the controls. The bike weaved all over the place as the guy tried to sit back up, but he managed to pull it off and was able to get the bike over to the side of the road without losing it. My coworker stopped to check on him. Poor guy didn't even know what had happened, never saw the bird.

LUCKY SOB! :shock:

~SM
Holy woodpecker batman!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Post by Raiderfn311 »

Today, leaving my complex of several warehouses, a daddy Canada goose flew straight for my head. I ve been hit before by them while I was standing, on the back/neck area. They weight 30ish so that hurt. This time I speed up and avoided the mean bastard. He was protecting a nest next to the building with the mother sitting on eggs. :) Glad it ended well, as It would have hurt and possibly knocked me off, but a 10mph hopefully not. I have no ill will with these Canada geese with their nest. My only question is why is the mother coming here and laying eggs totally exposed, although its next to a building so I see the shelter thing. Its the same mother, but the male has changed, since the first one caught the front of a semi on the highway, 50 feet away. This happened today, so the fact that this thread was reborn leads me to believe that maybe someone was sending me a messege. Or maybe it was totally random stuff. Maybe, JUST maybe, I am just high right now, and babbling. I vote for the latter.
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Post by Beamster »

We have flocks of unpredictable bird brained Turkeys around here that are a constant threat for collision.
I used to love hearing the coyotes but the locals don't understand their function and kill them, so we are overrun with Turkeys.
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Post by rsrider »

Turkey Vultures here in CA. They'll be all over the road scavenging the road kill, and you can only hope they fly in the direction they're pointed. I had a hawk attack my pony tail (that was before my hair follicles betrayed me). And I took a quail in the shoulder at 90. That fricking hurt and left a nasty bruise. I've gathered up a few with the MC as well.
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Cpequin
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Bees

Post by Cpequin »

I've now got just over 1100 miles on PKETO, (my commute is about 28 miles one way), and got stung by my first bee: I was almost pulling in the gate at work, when i got hit by what i thought was a kicked up pebble, right in the neck (the only exposed part between my flak jacket and helmet). I thought, "man that rock stings!", but didn't realize it was a bee until i parked in the garage and was removing my helmet...That little guy was jammed under my helmet strap, and when i loosened it, he buzzed like mad, and I freaked out trying to brush him away. First sting in 25 years, thankfully not allergic.

What does freak me out a bit is that in the 7 years I've been in AZ, I've hit 3 swarms of bees in my car. Once was on the 17 up near the 69/Prescott exit, it sounded like hard rain, and had the effect of 100 paint balls exploding on the windshield...going 75 mph. Lucky I was able to pull over before crashing. Lots of bees here. While I think that because of the much slower speed, it wouldn't be a paintball effect on my visor, I do worry where they would all end up if say my jacket was unzipped halfway.

Also, I have been at red lights, and have seen swarms buzz their way slowly across the street. Both times I saw that, my windows were up, but i think i would really freak out if I was sitting on my scoot and saw a swarm go by...
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