New experience today
 

Good morning this morning I was commuting to work and an OWL swooped at my head. I have commuted quite a bit and this was a first. He was eye level and coming straight at me. I actually ducked.

In other news I had some work done on my bike. (a new chain, cables, housing, and rear brake pads, and bar tape) It seems to shift better but I thought i heard rubbing sometimes. I almost turned around this morning but it seemed to go away. hope it is not a big deal and not really dragging on the disk.


at least 6 people driving with high beams and did not dim them for me or the people before or after me. (epitome of rudeness/ selfishness)

no... that would be new for me also... I have had a deer just pop out in front of me and scared the dickens out of me. It is also interesting how camouflaged they are in the woods. The only reason I knew he was there was because he obviously got startled by me riding near him.

I have a tiny bit of falconry experience with feeding owls...
Just by chance, were you wearing a knitted ski cap with a fuzzy ball on top? The owl may have looked at that fuzzy ball and interpreted it to be a small fuzzy rodent. To an owl that means lunch is served.

No fuzzy ball just a white bike helmet.
I saw a deer as well this morning. It must have crossed the road right after a car went the other direction. They do blend in well.

I had a hawk about take my head off one time. I literally thought it was a bullet wizzing over my head. It was witnessed by a guy who came up and ask if I was ok. I said what the hell happened and he said a hawk swooped down at mach speed and just missed my head. he thought it hit me. I was wearing a cap and it knocked my hat off.

Harry Potter, you have mail.

That's the reason I carry a BB pistol. I've had birds, and a lot of dogs, come at me. Usually when they hear the CO2 they turn the other way.

I got hit in the forehead by a bat, once -- the furry kind, not the wooden. I guess his echolocator needed calibration, or he thought I was a really huge mouse. I barely saw it before impact, but when I retrieved my glasses from the ground, some of his fur was still on them.

Once, leaving work I had a magpie attack my bike helmet while I was walking my bike out to the parking lot.

And once, long before I started running a helmet cam I had a bird of some sort hit me in the face at speed. I just remember a soft smack and a wing against my glasses.

I haven't had a bird come at me straight on like O.P.

I have been almost sideswiped by something big crossing just in front of my face. I suspect it was a hawk or kestrel intent on catching something on the other side of the road (why did the bird cross the road?) But the angle and speed of the encounter were such that I never got a good look at it. Kind of funny, most of my frustration as an untrained bird watcher is trying to guess what that 3-4" long bird in the bush is; but my closest approach I can only describe as a "big, white or light gray wing that looked like it was as broad as my face is high."

I have actually had that happen twice. Both times, I had a steady front light (not a blinkie) and it was early in the morning - pre-dawn. I assume that the owl(s) thought it was eye-shine, and they decided at the last second that I was too big. Both times, I could feel their body heat due to the fact that they passed so close.

What was most unsettling to me was how silent each event was.