As if squirrels weren't bad enough...

[jthurow]

I'm on my way to work this morning, riding through the old Italian neighborhood in town. Minding my own business, trying to obey the traffic laws when... WHAM! I get smacked upside the head. ***!? I quickly look around... and see a bird trying to regain its composure after it bounced OFF MY HEAD! Little guy hit me pretty hard. I'm glad I had my lid on. That's one you don't see in the helmet statistics...

jimi

[flickwet]

are no bird brain. Keep a lid on it.

[Kevan]

Be glad it wasn't a pelican.

[girlie]

I'm on my way to work this morning, riding through the old Italian neighborhood in town. Minding my own business, trying to obey the traffic laws when... WHAM! I get smacked upside the head. ***!? I quickly look around... and see a bird trying to regain its composure after it bounced OFF MY HEAD! Little guy hit me pretty hard. I'm glad I had my lid on. That's one you don't see in the helmet statistics...

jimi

Isn't it good luck to be pooped on by a bird in Italian culture? SO you should play the lottery - cause surely being hit side the head by a bird is at least 10 times the luck:D

[barry1021]

If you heard this one before I apologize. A couple years ago i was riding in Boxford MA on a warm summer's day; great riding because of the canopy of trees and the shade. Then WHAM! on my helmet. I almost went down, but stayed up and saw two VERY large talons heading back to the canopy. A hawk thought i was going to be lunch...

b21

[soulspinner]

are no bird brain. Keep a lid on it.

:p

[Tom]

A guy in town here I ride with now and then has been riding for more years than I've been alive. Last year one time I saw him as I was headed back in, he asked me where I'd been. I told him. He said "Did you see the bird?" I said I saw a lot of birds. He said, "No, the bird. I won't ride there any more." I asked him what he was talking about. Apparently for the last two or three times he had headed down the road a blackbird came out and attacked him. He was completely spooked. He even bought a new helmet of a different color and tried different jerseys. He kept getting attacked. It was pretty funny. His wife kept yelling at him every time he told somebody because she didn't want people thinking he was going crazy.

[William]

Watch yourself, they can be vicious....

http://www.stiknstein.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/when_birds_attack_2.jpg

http://www.ravimontenegro.com/images/family_photos/BirdAttack.jpg


http://www.tensionnot.com/images/images/slideshow/Cute138.jpg


http://www.medaloffreedom.com/FredRogers_BigBird.jpg

[TAW]

Last week I almost hit a bird with my front wheel. Flew out from some brush along the side of the road, real low. Had to swerve to miss it. I think we all need some of those "deer whistle" things you used to mount on the bumper of your car. Put one on a helmet and market it with Excel or Nashbar.

[jthurow]

A guy in town here I ride with now and then has been riding for more years than I've been alive. Last year one time I saw him as I was headed back in, he asked me where I'd been. I told him. He said "Did you see the bird?" I said I saw a lot of birds. He said, "No, the bird. I won't ride there any more." I asked him what he was talking about. Apparently for the last two or three times he had headed down the road a blackbird came out and attacked him. He was completely spooked. He even bought a new helmet of a different color and tried different jerseys. He kept getting attacked. It was pretty funny. His wife kept yelling at him every time he told somebody because she didn't want people thinking he was going crazy.This has happened to me. The bird was probably nesting nearby and just trying to protect it's turf. A good excuse for a little sprinting drill.

jimi

[davyt]

This happened on a ride we participated in recently:

Collision with squirrel sends bicyclist to trauma center (http://www.register-pajaronian.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=4394&page=72)

[rwsaunders]

It must have been your mirrored helmet. :cool:

[rustychisel]

We have magpies - black and white birds about the size of a raven - and they're very territorial when nesting in the spring. September is D-Day if you know what I mean... most cyclists have been swooped and hit at some time or another... very disconcerting when you're JRA

[maunahaole]

Tangling with a wild turkey can be tricky as well.

[girlie]

Tangling with a wild turkey can be tricky as well.

opposed to just any turkey?

[flickwet]

Watch yourself, they can be vicious....

http://www.stiknstein.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/04/when_birds_attack_2.jpg

http://www.ravimontenegro.com/images/family_photos/BirdAttack.jpg


http://www.tensionnot.com/images/images/slideshow/Cute138.jpg


http://www.medaloffreedom.com/FredRogers_BigBird.jpg
Thank-you william, long day and you dude came through for me in a big way, that first pic rocks

[Tom]

Tangling with wild turkey can be tricky as well.

Yeah, that's why I couldn't get up in time to ride this morning.