The FJR Bird Strike Poll

[allrider]

A little bird hit just under the front windscreen and got stuck in there. It was seeing stars for a few moments while i pulled over. I was just about to try to get it out when it took off on its own. Best part was no bird shit left behind. (Pun intended)

 

[ElliottM]

I hit a pigeon on the FJR, which resulted in an impressive burst of feathers going everywhere.

 

[RsvlFeej]

OWL on a group ride. 'OW' is underlined because as it made its last flight out of the forest, the big, fluffy bastich caught me on the knee, making my hip so sore I limped for 3 days. Uberkul was directly behind and reported he had to drive through quite the cloud o' feathers.

 

[user 6393]

grouse.......they ain't the schmartest

and to be honest, it hit me

 

[Nikk]

Grouse. Confirmed by co-rider following. We both saw two of them shooting across the road, for me they disappeared beneath the front fairing. Following rider saw two go in, and one come out, along with a cloud of feathers. Like 'barb' said, "it hit me".

 

[Harald]

No birds were harmed in the riding of my FJR for the last 8 and 1/2 years and 110,000 miles. Well, at least none that I know of.

I must be lucky, because in about 35 years of riding at least 250,000 miles I only recall once hitting a bird and that was a glancing blow on my lower leg. I did however kill a couple babies this past weekend when I cut down a tree and found the resultant carnage on my driveway.

And there was that one time a little lizard ran up onto the tank of my GS1100ESD on I95 in Florida. He didn't make out too well because he wasn't ATGATT and I brushed him off at 70mph.

 

[kbuicker]

I think so.. not sure, I hit something so hard it made my head/helmet smack backwards. Happened twice in the same area at two different times.. never saw anything!!!!

 

[bgross]

Third question...have you ever hit a bird on another type of motorcycle: Yes.

Yup.

 

[NTXFJR]

So, does being hit by bird defecation count as a bird strike?

 

[user 6393]

So, does being hit by bird defecation count as a bird strike?

for the bird, not YOU

 

[Goodman4]

I took out a vulture with my right mirror. It had weird white hairs in the mounting hardware for quite a while.

The drummer for the Black Crowes is back in Hopkinsville doing a seminar this week. Guess this is a timely thread.

 

[FJReady]

I hit a Canadian Goose once, leaving the parking lot at work. Fortunately I was just pulling away from a stop going maybe 15 mph. The goose was struggling to gain altitude. Pretty sure he hit full afterburner when he realized my headlights were coming right at him, but it wurnt enough. He bounced off my fairing and we both went on our intended path without further incident.

I did take out a starling or grackle (don't know the difference) once. Made a feathery mess of my left front fork and radiator.

The bird world got revenge on me, though. I got 'bombed' with a full load of Great Blue heron excrement one day last summer. I swear he timed his release just for me. Stinky fishy smelling mess all over my bike and me. As luck would have it my faceshield was open at the time. Yuck!

 

[Goodman4]

I hit a Canadian Goose once, leaving the parking lot at work.

Wow, where was the goose working?

 

[ERS]

In 2014 I was in southern Ohio enjoying some of the local roads and came upon 3 big black birds, Turkey Buzzards I think in the middle of the road so I slowed down and they took off but one turned back and hit me on my shoulder at about 15-20mph. That was a solid hit but neither of us was hurt.

Last week had a yellow jacket up my left sleeve and it stung 3or4 times before I killed it, That was way worse than the buzzard!

 

[eflyguy]

Eeek.. reminds me of when I had a wasp hit the inside of my thigh, and decided to sting me.

 

[CA G-Man]

...I did however kill a couple babies this past weekend when I cut down a tree and found the resultant carnage on my driveway.

Just in an effort to keep you out of the radar of law enforcement (or to put you in it, depending on your answer)... You're talking about baby birds, right?

 

[CA G-Man]

Reading this thread I have to conclude that the biggest threat to our safety on the FJR is not forest rats, but wild turkeys!

Last September while riding through the BC interior, my wife on the back was confused to hear me exclaim "Oh... turkey, turkey, turkey, turkey!" (you have to imagine the pitch of my voice rising with each "turkey"). I was cruising at 90 kph when a string of 5 of them waddled out of the right ditch straight across my path. Fortunately I managed to thread the needle between Turkey No. 1 and Turkey No. 2, but it was close!

 

[rocketdoc]

I tagged a swallow years ago on my first Yamaha, a 250cc Big Bear. Got me in the shoulder..like getting hit with a line drive baseball. Heading east across the US on hwy#2 mid morning following a riding buddy on his Goldthing. In a span of 20 minutes he hit two birds flying out of the grass at road side. I was shitting myself laughing after the second one exploded on his windscreen into a cloud of feathers. Then a couple of minutes later I got one with my right mirror. Hit a skunk once going to a WFO in Moscow Idaho. Warchild was about half an hour behind me and complained of the stink.

 

[bigjohnsd]

While headed to CFR a couple of weeks ago I caught a Meadowlark with my right elbow at about 80 mph. The impact pulled my hand off the throttle. The impact pulled feathers, the bird departed normal flight and appeared to expire. My elbow hurt for a few hours until the discovery of my lost wallet took my mind off the elbow.

 

[NTXFJR]

Never heard of a pick pocket bird before