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Birdstrike
 

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

8/2/13 9:45 PM

Birdstrike

Well, it finally happened. I've had a few close calls over the years as regards almost colliding with birds, but today I actually collided with one while descending - luckily, it was a not very large parrot (an Eastern Rosella), and both of us seemed to escape without injury. I struck the parrot, or it struck me, a glancing blow on the arm, and it continued to fly on after the collision.

I have had numerous contacts with birds over the years, but up to now that's always been deliberate attacks from Magpies during nesting season when I come into their territory, rather than an unintended collision.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv4F3W1th1U gives a good idea of what it's like to be under magpie attack.

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

8/3/13 5:06 AM

I have hit ground hogs (about the size of a young wombat) squirrels, morning doves, and snakes.

The ground hog was the sporting of it all. I stayed up but the ground hog crapped all over my bike and me. I did not see it in the road as I turned back but I can't imagine it lived. It hit the crank, chain stay and was run over by the back wheel at 65kph.

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Nick Payne
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 2625
Location: Canberra, Australia

8/3/13 5:51 AM

Are groundhogs that large? (I've never seen one.) Wombats average about three foot long and weigh up to 70 or 80 pounds. A cyclist would definitely come off second best if they hit one. And they're built like a tank - one of their nicknames is "the bulldozer of the bush". A wombat in a hurry can go straight through a fence.

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Dave B
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 4511
Location: Pittsburgh, PA

8/3/13 6:45 AM

No, groundhogs aren't that large. They typically range from about 5 pounds for young ones to as large as 40 or so. Say the size of a small to medium dog.

I've hit them twice with my bike. Both times I had just enough warning to pull the front wheel up to clear them and only the crank and back wheel hit. It was a respectable jolt but I didn't go down and, as far as I could see, the groundhogs survived. A direct hit would more than likely result in a crash.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/3/13 7:36 AM

Yikes

I think Erik and Dave must live around nuclear plants. I see groundhogs all the time, 10 lbs is a big one.

FWIW, wiki says they are typically 4-9 lbs, and in areas of "few natural predators and large amounts of alfalfa" may reach 31 lbs (14 kg). I have one natural predator, a Dalmatian.

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dddd
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 3345
Location: NorCal

8/3/13 9:11 AM

My biking strikes run the gamut from being peppered by a flock of apparently drunken, small birds, and being face-slapped by bats on the mtb, to a head-on with a medium-sized cow, which broke ribs and felt about like hitting an 800lb rock with but a single layer of carpet draped over it.

But it took a human in a car to ever put me in the hospital, once on the Stumpjumper in L.A., and once on a Yamaha back in NY.

And I had a fast-moving cat pass under my Yamaha's engine cradle, me going 30 and the cat going perhaps 20, with apparently no contact!

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

8/3/13 9:47 AM

"800lb rock with but a single layer of carpet draped over it. "

Glad I did not have a mouthful of coffee when I read that. LOL.

40lb Ground Hog, smokes!

I have come close to squirrels 10s of times. Including one going under, and another slamming into the side of my rear Zipp 404, thwack! Make you think a 32 spoke wheel is a good thing, or a wall that is a 404-808 or a Hed Deep etc.

Probably a dozen dear surprises, but nothing too too close. But close enough that a few seconds in time and my location may have had things end differently.

Nailed a snake, and a few almosts... And 3 turtle blow bys... One semi close as a surpreeeze after a fast turn...

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

8/3/13 11:51 AM

Friggin' geese!

The only wildlife contact I've had recently is with the damned Canadian geese that have become a plague around here. On our local rail trail:

-In the spring, irate adults attack you when protecting their hatchlings. Fortunately, the worst I got was a slap with a wing.

- In the early summer, they fly in front of you to get back to the water. Fortunately, that's caused nothing more than an adrenaline rush.

- Now, the adults and their recent spawn have crapped all over the trail to the point that it's a traction hazard and potential health hazard.

I with they would declare open season on these winged vermin...

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Pat Clancy
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 1353
Location: Manchester, CT

8/3/13 12:05 PM

Gooses

It wasn't that long ago that Canadian geese were pretty exotic in southern New England. We'd see the occasional migrating chevron, but almost never see any close up. Now they're a dime a dozen, pooping around most any pond or lake that has significant lawn space adjacent. Quite the nuisance.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

8/3/13 12:43 PM

"crapped all over the trail"

That reminded me of my first near miss in Central park in the 90s with a horse... well, with the product so to speak. it is like hitting a huge splosh of grease pretty much. Yet another time [presumably] my old Motocross days/balance? had me stay on the bike going sideways for a short stent....

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PLee
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 3712
Location: Brooklyn, NY

8/3/13 8:07 PM

This being New York City, squirrels and pigeons are about as much wildlife as we see on a regular basis. I've come close to a lot of squirrels. A pigeon got caught in my chain and chainring once. The scariest encounter, though, was when a red tailed hawk dive bombed me . . .

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/4/13 5:03 PM

Close one

I haven't had many encounters with wildlife on my bike, though I think I took out a chipmunk years ago. But today, I was rollin' pretty good, and a chipmunk darted right in front of me. I cut the wheel left, and just missed it. If I had gone dead straight, I think I would have nailed it. I was on my refurbished Crosshairs, and man I would have hated to stack it.

On a related note, I got a nice compliment. I was riding on a dirt road, and a guy came riding by in the opposite direction. We nodded as we passed, and then I heard "nice bike." I guess he liked my poppy (orange) with vanilla shake panel Crosshairs :) I think that's the first time I've had a compliment on my bike from a guy riding the opposite direction.

When I rolled into my driveway there was a deer standing there looking at me, but I wasn't going very fast. Later when I was walking my dogs a big deer bolted across right in front of my gate and into the woods. He as so fast I didn't even see his head.

Birds, not on the bike, but a few years ago we had a nesting Goshawk in the woods
behind the house. She didn't care for me and took me to the ground several times, accompanied by a terrifying screeching.

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henoch
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 1690

8/4/13 5:23 PM

I almost got taken out by a wild turkey today while I was flying down a descent.. man that was scary.

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

8/4/13 6:21 PM

3 days or so ago, a flock of 14 flew up at the last second and barely missed me. All hens and polts who were new flyers.

In a populated area no less.

I know walter sees them often too.

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KerryIrons
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 3234
Location: Midland, MI

8/4/13 7:09 PM

Lions, tigers, and bears

We have the full complement: geese, ducks, turkeys, turkey buzzards, rabbits, squirrels, deer, woodchucks, all sorts of smaller birds (Cardinals, Red Wing Black Birds, Robbins, Woodcock, etc.). Last week I had a bobcat and her kit cross the road right in front of me (the kit got scared and turned around). That was pretty cool.

The geese will threaten you at certain times but the deer and the squirrels are the only real hazards. A riding buddy was out on his tandem in a group ride and a deer t-boned them.

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JohnC
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 1939
Location: Glastonbury, Ct

8/4/13 8:24 PM

Turkeys

I've seen them on the road often, but never had a real close call, though one took off from the side of the road just a few feet away and startled the hell out of me. Went almost straight up, 50 or 60 feet in a second or so.

We see turkeys around the house almost every fall, starting late summer. Today they showed up for the first time this year, a hen and 7 or 8 little ones.

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Brian Nystrom
Joined: 26 Jan 2004
Posts: 5096
Location: Nashua, NH

8/5/13 4:59 AM

Turkeys are common here, too...

...but although I've seen them when riding, I've never had a close encounter with one. They seem to be smarter and more wary of people than other species, like geese.

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ErikS
Joined: 19 May 2005
Posts: 8337
Location: Slowing boiling over in the steamy south, Global Warming is real

8/5/13 5:07 AM

Turkeys are noted by hunters as the most wary game in North America. They are very smart.

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/5/13 5:56 AM

turkeys

I see flocks (if that's the right term) of them wandering around here, I think I counted 22 once. A big Tom got inside my fence once and I chased it around until it finally flew back over. They get pretty damn big, and as said are fast and can lift off quick.

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LeeW
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 453
Location: near Baltimore, MD

8/5/13 12:44 PM

heron

Two weeks ago, I was riding along a riverside trail and had a Blue Heron take off and clear my head by about 10 ft. The motion and the wingspan scared the daylights out of me. Reminded me of one of those teradactyls from Johny Quest.

Also had a near encounter years back with a deer who leaped an embankment along a rural road I was climbing on the fly and passed within 10 ft of my front tire. Scared me that time too.

missed me!
Lee

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dan emery
Joined: 11 Jan 2004
Posts: 6884
Location: Maine

8/5/13 1:13 PM

Blue Heron are cool

I have a pond behind the house that a Blue Heron lands on and fishes (for delicious Hornpout). He does pretty well, you can see them go down his skinny throat. Great to watch them lift off, I've also had people compare them to Pterodactyls.

Used to have Greyhounds that liked to run to the pond and bark at the birds. One time a Heron saw my 'Hound Bernie coming, and casually lifted off and drifted to the other side of the pond. Only problem, Bernie was there waiting for him. No violence, but the Heron got outta there pronto.

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JohnC
Joined: 10 Jan 2004
Posts: 1939
Location: Glastonbury, Ct

8/5/13 1:18 PM

Great Blue herons in flight are cool. Like heavy bombers with those broad wings. At rthe other end of the bird/plane analogy spectrum are the peregrine falcons that nest on one of our company's buildings here in downtown Hartford, and which I frequently see out the window. I only see them going slow (probably 60-70 mph tops) in this confined space. I frequently see feathers floating down from a ledge on the building across the street as one of them rips apart a pigeon it has just caught.

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