Commuting - damn birds

I had a robin smack me in the helmet going full throttle this mornin....was going into work kinda groggy and bam!!!!! at first I thought it was a rock or something....I look around and see the bird in the street flapping around....amazing that I didn't crash. All the robins and sparrows are mating and flying around like crazy....just another thing to look out for.



kern

That's like the guy that hit a low-flying parrot, knocking it unconscious. He took it home and put it in a bird cage until it came to. When it woke up and found himself behind bars, the parrot said, "Oh my gosh, I killed that bicyclist!"

Turkey vultures are back in force hereabouts. There are a lot of empty roads out of town, and the vultures sometimes hang out at the roadkill. Now and then I'll come around a bend and almost roll into one of these guys. They are so big that it is alarming to see them take wing right in front of me-- it's like that bird from the Sinbad movies.

Couple weeks ago I got clipped by a Canadian goose. Came in low across the river right into my front wheel. I didn't actually hit it. I went down in my attempts to avoid the collision. The bruises on my hip and shoulder are just now starting to clear up. I won't even mention the skunk that caused a bit of a detour last week. :eek:

Do a search on the forum for "magpies". Birds about 3/4 the size of a raven that love attacking helmets in springtime out here. I actually had my right ear cut open twice in 2002. I had one chase me for 5km straight in 2000.

It's turkey hunting season up here in the North Country. We've got gaggles (flocks, herds, whatever we call a group) on em wandering about.

They're worse then deer, which we also have plenty of. They'll meander back and forth as you approach, trying to decide which way to go. At the last second, the leader will make a decision and they all follow. So those that may have been across the road will recross again. Occasionally they take flight, which is a joke, they have the flight ability of a large rock.

I took a direct hit from one last year while driving my truck down a road. That was one hell of an impact.

your talking about birds right......
last saturday, I was returning from a 4hr ride... It was dark, and I had no lights (didn't expect my ride to take that long), then suddenly something hit my helmet. I almost fell.. I stopped... looked back.... and it was a BAT!!!!

I was doing 38km/h.. and it was a head-on collision.. and the damn bat scatched my new helmet :(

BTW, my head didn't hurt.. but my neck did, for 2 days.

I was in the dark, too. Nearly ran over a rabbit which barely missed my wheels (I didn't even see it until it had passed).

your talking about birds right......
last saturday, I was returning from a 4hr ride... It was dark, and I had no lights (didn't expect my ride to take that long), then suddenly something hit my helmet. I almost fell.. I stopped... looked back.... and it was a BAT!!!!

I've had a few close calls with bats myself over the years, but no collisons yet. Aren't they supposed to perceive things by radar, and thus remain unaffected by darkness?

I had a robin smack me in the helmet going full throttle this mornin....was going into work kinda groggy and bam!!!!! at first I thought it was a rock or something....I look around and see the bird in the street flapping around....amazing that I didn't crash. All the robins and sparrows are mating and flying around like crazy....just another thing to look out for.
kern

Exactly how big is your head?! :p
http://www.anatomorphex.com/picts/hero_props/HP010_GIANT_HELMET.jpg