Man, I thought drivers were bad, but now I've encountered a new one. A bird has decided that I'm a good target, and it's coming after me.

I think it's a blackbird with a red chest. It's swooped by me in the past, but today I actually saw its claws as it tried to get my helmet. I managed to scare it off by waving my hand, but this isn't the first time he came around (and he seems to be getting bolder).

I know if it hits me I'll probably just get scratches and stuff. Maybe I'd lose my balance and hit the ground. What really concerns me is that this is in an area where there's some traffic, and I worry I might go down when a cars coming (which might hurt a tad more then a talon).

Any ideas what I can do to discourage this lil bugger? No gun suggestions either, I'd probably shoot my own darn foot

Thanks
Jon

PS Someone told me I'm probably riding near a nest, but I can't see anything obvious (farm fields on either side), so I can't easily 'ride away' from it.....

Considering what the bird seems to be attacking, I'd be worried about shooting myself in the head...

Sorry, I can't think of any good suggestions. Maybe carry a badminton racket?

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...on/6688087.stm

They had a rather larger bird preying on cyclists over the pond. Maybe if you wore some sort of covering over your hair, or even over your helmet that might discourage it if it is going for your hair for nesting material. My mother-in-law had this problem in her garden for a while a few years back. They just wanted some gray hair for their nests.

Get a scary helmet cover... like this:



It works for Pepe Le Pew!

But seriously, maybe a plain white helmet cover with a pair of big eyes painted on it might work.

Yah, I'd go out and buy a ......oh.....

In that case, nope, sorry. I got nothin'.

Red winged blackbirds are known for attacking near their nests.

Youtube attack

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to try the eyeball thing, maybe swing by a craft store and see if they have any good size stickers.
If that fails I'll see about a small tennis racket

I was attacked by a bird once while riding to work, but it was a bomb run.

LOL! Been there, but as a pedestrian. Bomb-free on the bike so far.

Any chance you have a blinking light on the bike? When my "flasher" is ON, on my motorcycle, I get quite a few birds dive bombing me.

They usually lose the war - but the biggest (a Bald Eagle) caused me to need to launder my shorts..... You just haven't lived until you've seen a Bald Eagle, at full wing spread, right in front of your face....... LOL

Get some safety glasses to wear, a BOTTLE of Tylenol (just in case) and ride like hell.

Huh, I have some problems at the moment with Canada Geese, but they're more into mines......

Possibly protecting their young. I got too close to a baby crow (fell out of his nest I guess) once and both mom and pop relentlessly dive-bombed me until I was at least a block away

Pepper spray it. In mid flight. If you can, ofc, without spraying yourself full of that, possibly in your head Seriously, don't know really. Tough call, but I must admit it to you - never got that complaint before from anyone, I mean about a bird.

It's a probably a red winged blackbird and this is a somewhat seasonal response and not all that uncommon. I like the idea of creepy eye like stickers on the helmet, though that may just give the bird a target. If you're wearing a helmet and sunglasses there's little chance the bird will do you any real harm. I'd relax and enjoy the attention and it certainly gives you a good story to tell.

Catch some video of it and post it on youtube- I'm sure lots of people would delight in your suffering.

can you bike with a broom?

That sound like fun. I have never had a bird attack. I saw a bunch of them trying to eat the snails on trail this mornining .

Put a chicken drumstick in your mouth and chew on it "hungrily".

My Aussie buddy assures me this is a serious problem for some variety of bird there (is there anything in Australia that isn't venomous?), and indeed people put eye-markings on their helmets to discourage it. You could get those fun "googly eyes" from a craft store.

Some years ago we used to have to regularly ride past a stand of trees with 2 very territorial hawks nesting in it. They'd dive-bomb cyclists and pedestrians going past.
My husband remembered stories about people in Africa or maybe India who'd put masks on the backs of their heads when walking through jungles where large carnivorous cats lived. The idea was, the lion/tiger didn't know which side of the native was the front and which was the back and so wouldn't pounce. We drew simple faces on circles of paper about 8" diameter and taped them to the back of our helmets. It seemed to work, the hawks never got as close again.

Yep - for about 6 weeks of the year the Magpies here are quite vicious.

Just let it hit your helmet and get a few claw marks as a cool conversational piece, or put zip ties on top of your helmet (maybe poking up through the airvents) - the bird hits them instead of you!

Get one of those plastic Owls people use to discourage birds away from their garden and put it a top your rack. Should do the trick.

I like that idea!

I surprised a family of Canada Goose a few years ago. One of the parents took off and attacked me from the air. It didn't actually make contact, but definitely gave me a good scare. Another time, in nearly the same place (but a different year) a goose attacked by flying into me from the right side. Fortunately it hit my leg, and just bounced off my jeans. Had it put its little head through the spokes, that would have been ugly.