I was riding in a remote location yesterday evening. Saw a buzzard standing over his meal in the middle of the road some distance ahead. Knowing the unpredictable nature of animals I slowed way WAY down. Sure enough, when I got just about on top of him, he flew away right in front of me.
I swerved slightly and I hit him in flight. Fortunately, (as best I can tell) his feet clipped my rearview mirror. I knew I had struck him but it took me a moment to discover just where the contact was. It was when I looked in the rearview mirror to see my back tire I realized what actually hit.
BTW, for those that may not know, buzzards in North Louisiana can get pretty large. This one standing up on the pavement would probably come up to about the middle of my thigh.
Thankfully I had a heads-up on his presence and there was no one else on the road. Merely adjusted the mirror and none the worse for the experience.
I have creamed a few small birds. Came VERY close to a few buzzards out here on Texas' roads. The small birds scare the crap out of you but are mostly harmless they kinda crunch when they hit you. A buzzard could very well put you down on the ground.
When I was working at a convenience store when I was in High School these people pulled up in their car. The passenger side of the windshield had been smashed in like in a movie when a car hits a person. They had hit a buzzard at 75 MPH on 180 heading west.
Couldn't tell you how large the turkey vultures in our neck of the woods are compared to your buzzards, but they sure aren't small birds. Came across one feasting on roadkill at the apex of a turn on Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah mountains a few years ago -- I had to duck to keep myself from getting a faceful of vulture. Quite an adventure, especially when leaned over pretty far....
edit: just did a quick google search -- apparently turkey vultures and buzzards are the same bird....
when on the road I tie wrap a small airhorn right by the cluster on the right handgrip to warn them of my approach. Interesting because you can get a real sense of the speed of sound. It usually causes them to fly away well before I arrive.
A friend on a goldwing lost his right side mirror from one on Tx 36
'09 SchwarzeBlanche DuBois Well, don't do that-Hippocrates
Dr. Strangelove wrote: Interesting because you can get a real sense of the speed of sound. It usually causes them to fly away well before I arrive.
1130 feet per second at 70 degrees around sea level... pretty close elesewhere depending on atmospheric conditions and temperature.
That calcs out to about 775 miles an hour.
I hope you aren't keeping up with that!
Cool tip on the airhorn. Came around the corner and had to tweak my line a bit to avoid an elk not too long ago. The elk seemed completely unconcerned. I, on the other hand, was momentarily petrified.
I clipped a pigeon with my left shoulder while cruising at 110. If I wouldn't of had on a jacket with armor it could of been real bad for both of us. As it was, the bird spun off my shoulder into oncoming traffic. I guess that was just his day.
Before the "love letters" start....I lived in Germany for 9 years and I was just keeping up with the flow of traffic.
