Author Topic: Audobon's Curse!!!!  (Read 4878 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Okie Enfield

  • Grease Monkey
  • ****
  • Posts: 408
  • Karma: 0
  • RED 2010 C5
on: June 28, 2011, 11:49:02 pm
 ;D So, I'm riding in to work on Saturday, early morning and noone on the road. Is Beautifull! Just puttin along at 55 down a farm road that runs along side highway 75. It's nice and cool and I'm starting to really wake up, when I spot a small flock of starlings beside the road up ahead. No problem, birds can fly right? So as expected, as I come closer, the small flock takes to wing, but one bird decides he has had enough! No more will he take the interuptions, No more will he just move out of the way just so some motorist can speed past! NO MORE (tweet!)! and with that he turns from the safety of the fast retreating flock of friends, and dive bombs my face! I ducked my head just in time to avoid a beak in the eye and a mouth full of feathers and took the impact right on the crown of the helmet (yeah, they look stupid but provide very good protection against suicidal birds!)... You know how time slows down in stressfull situations? Well, in my mirror I saw a very blurry image of Mr. Starling flutter to the ground, flop once and then was still. Stupid bird.  :P


prof_stack

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,115
  • Karma: 0
  • Ride carefully - You are invisible.
Reply #1 on: June 29, 2011, 12:33:03 am
Well done getting through it without spilling.  It could have turned out much worse.
A Royal Enfield owner's cup is always half full.


GreenMachine

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 3,155
  • Karma: 0
Reply #2 on: June 29, 2011, 12:46:36 am
next time the birds will be watching him leave his premises and when the opportunity is just right...., well u seen the movie....so we won't be hearing from olde enfield again.....at least we'll be able to explain the missing eyeballs, etc to the proper authorities........ ;D
Oh Magoo you done it again


TWinOKC

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 619
  • Karma: 0
Reply #3 on: June 29, 2011, 01:00:45 am
Glad you're okay.  Should we call for a state wide bird alert?
2010  C5  Teal
2011 Triumph Bonneville T100
2015 Scrambler Ducati


Arizoni

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,412
  • Karma: 2
  • "But it's a dry heat here in Arizona
Reply #4 on: June 29, 2011, 01:44:09 am
Riding the Enfield, I haven't had a bird problem yet.
My K-75 Bimmer on the other hand seemed to cause birds even 20-30 feet to the side of the road to take wing and fly directly into my path.
I attributed it to the high pitched whistle like sound the engine made.

Many near misses but I was lucky.

Glad to hear you are all right.  That makes it Okie 1, Starlings 0.
Jim
2011 G5 Deluxe
1999 Miata 10th Anniversary


jartist

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 761
  • Karma: 0
Reply #5 on: June 29, 2011, 03:17:05 am
Close call!  Glad your not hurt.  It's a good thing it was a starling too or you'd be violating the migratory bird act!


olhogrider

  • Classic 350 Desert Sand
  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,882
  • Karma: 1
  • Blue Ridge Mountains of NC
Reply #6 on: June 29, 2011, 05:46:46 am
That bird was protesting helmet laws!

Many years ago I was doing triple digits on a Duc through the Mojave Desert. I saw something in the corner of my eye. Suddenly the world was in slow motion as a roadrunner with a snake in its beak made a path for my front wheel. BANG!! It must have gone airborne at the last second. It hit my helmet just above the eyeport. Made a mess and I had a sore neck but that was it.


SRL790

  • Grease Monkey
  • ****
  • Posts: 336
  • Karma: 0
  • 1954 350
Reply #7 on: June 29, 2011, 06:03:53 am
Got a friend who hit a buzzard one time crossing Alligator Alley.  He didn't come off too badly, however his wife who was riding several yards behind him, got splattered.  Apparently buzzard guts don't smell too good.

Andy
Andy Wiltshire
54 350 Bullet, 62 Jaguar MK II, 68 BSA Spitfire, 69 BSA Starfire
70 Bonneville, 71 Bonneville, 71 BSA B25T, 74 Jensen Healey
74 Honda XR75, 81 Yamaha MX80, 82 Suzuki GS1100G


Okie Enfield

  • Grease Monkey
  • ****
  • Posts: 408
  • Karma: 0
  • RED 2010 C5
Reply #8 on: June 29, 2011, 06:15:27 am
Got a friend who hit a buzzard one time crossing Alligator Alley.  He didn't come off too badly, however his wife who was riding several yards behind him, got splattered.  Apparently buzzard guts don't smell too good.

Andy
eww yucky!  :P

Glad you're okay.  Should we call for a state wide bird alert?
Nah, it just made me think about getting a full face. Funny thing about it was, I really did know what that bird was thinking. Second I saw him turn around I thought, That little pecker head is gonna dive bomb me! LOL  ;D
Close call!  Glad your not hurt.  It's a good thing it was a starling too or you'd be violating the migratory bird act!
We have a bald eagle sanctuary right on the Arkansas River. I could have had a hefty fine for smacking into one of those plus some serious medical bills.

lol... did you hear the one about the okie who had to go to the emergency room after hitting a bird?   Wasnt the wreck that got him, was the bill.   Lol Bird humor.  :D


Andy

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 575
  • Karma: 0
Reply #9 on: June 29, 2011, 08:33:14 am
I'm surprised bird strikes aren't more common.  Hardly a ride goes by that I don't duck my head to avoid one.  And I've had them do the dive-bomb thing, too, when they get ticked off.
2010 C5 Military - "The Slug"


Land Surveyor

  • Bulleteer
  • ***
  • Posts: 184
  • Karma: 0
Reply #10 on: June 29, 2011, 05:16:31 pm
Glad you weren't hurt.

I worked with a guy once who road to work on a Yamaha 400 twin.  He came to work one morning still shaking.  Seems he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and ducked down on the tank just in time for a wild turkey to graze him across his back.  Thankfully, he didn't wipe out.

I ride that road almost daily and see turkeys in the adjoining pastures about as often as not.

I will not go without a full face on asphalt for the rest of my life, if I can help it.  It's a pain down here where it stays so hot but I'd rather try to keep my face.


boggy

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,841
  • Karma: 0
  • Karma Ultra: 7
Reply #11 on: June 29, 2011, 05:59:09 pm
Yah, pretty amazing you didn't crash.  Can you imagine if that thing hit your face? A BEE feels like a rock.

Tooling down from Vermont to Mass in my Jeep, a crow was sitting ahead on the guard rail.  JUST as we approached it hopped off and flew RIGHT into my grill!  So strange. He seemed so calm.  Just hopped off and did himself in.

Maybe old birds have a way of doing themselves in if they sense the end is near?  Better a quick neck-break than have a predator get ya?

Wasnt the wreck that got him, was the bill.

Slow clap.
2007 AVL
2006 DRZ400SM


Desi Bike

  • Grand Gearhead
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,176
  • Karma: 2
Reply #12 on: June 29, 2011, 06:39:49 pm
Most of the turkeys I see are driving cars.      I had a hawk nail the top corner of my windshield frame on a pickup truck many years ago. I think I interupted his dive to kill some hapless animal on the roadside. Left a huge dent. One of the locals was a wild bird painter and we had a standing order for fresh ones. I dutifully scooped it up and put it in the freezer when I got home. I had to use the 'spatula of life'. He was using the carcasses for study of feathers and colours.
میں نہیں چاہتا کہ ایک اچار
میں صرف اپنی موٹر سائیکل پر سوار کرنا چاہتے ہیں


Sub

  • Bob's Your Uncle
  • Grease Monkey
  • ****
  • Posts: 435
  • Karma: 0
  • 2010 Black Bullet C5
Reply #13 on: June 29, 2011, 06:45:20 pm
MURDERER!!


Okie Enfield

  • Grease Monkey
  • ****
  • Posts: 408
  • Karma: 0
  • RED 2010 C5
Reply #14 on: June 29, 2011, 07:06:50 pm
MURDERER!!

BIRDERER!  ::)
FINCHOCIDE!  :o
AVIAN ASSAULT!  :'(
VEHICULAR BIRDSLAUGHTER!  :P