Author Topic: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???  (Read 6926 times)

oldbike54

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Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« on: July 04, 2016, 08:39:40 PM »
 WOW ! Just took a short ride in crepuscular light , had a very LARGE owl take off from my left . He , or she , just barely made enough altitude to clear the Aerofoil . Swear I could hear its wings beating the wind as it passed over . Dog , amazing stuff , even if a bit disconcerting  :laugh:

 Dusty
« Last Edit: July 04, 2016, 11:26:46 PM by oldbike54 »

Offline wrbix

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2016, 08:44:52 PM »
"crepuscular"- good job!
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Offline rodekyll

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2016, 09:00:41 PM »
Yikes!

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2016, 09:06:58 PM »
Glad it was just an Oh My moment instead of an Oh S*&# moment.
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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2016, 09:06:58 PM »

Offline SmithSwede

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #4 on: July 04, 2016, 09:28:58 PM »
Dusty:  Gotta remember, owls are crepuscular birds.   

Personally, I've never had a close encounter with an owl on a bike.  Many, many close calls with big vultures in the south and west. 

Probably the worst bird I've ever tangled with is my wife's talking African Grey parrot.   She is a sarcastic little beast, with a sick sense of humor.    You can tell pretty quickly that birds are basically dinosaurs.    A T-Rex would have the same kind of humor.
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oldbike54

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2016, 09:31:04 PM »
 I agree John . Experience would indicate that crepuscular conditions are often when wildlife is very active , so slowing down is a habit formed from that knowledge .

 Dusty




oldbike54

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #6 on: July 04, 2016, 09:33:06 PM »
Dusty:  Gotta remember, owls are crepuscular birds.   

Personally, I've never had a close encounter with an owl on a bike.  Many, many close calls with big vultures in the south and west. 

Probably the worst bird I've ever tangled with is my wife's talking African Grey parrot.   She is a sarcastic little beast, with a sick sense of humor.    You can tell pretty quickly that birds are basically dinosaurs.    A T-Rex would have the same kind of humor.

  :laugh: :laugh: Obviously ,

  Dusty

Offline Thirtyaughtsix

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2016, 09:40:05 PM »
The gentleman teaching me restoration killed an owl a month or 2 ago riding home from work  :sad:
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Offline Guzzistajohn

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #8 on: July 04, 2016, 09:49:52 PM »
A frenetic moment indeed!


And a clsoe call!
« Last Edit: July 04, 2016, 10:01:23 PM by Guzzistajohn »
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Offline DaSwami

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #9 on: July 04, 2016, 10:07:33 PM »
If you are in the southeast either a great horned owl or barred owl are the two likely candidates....

oldbike54

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #10 on: July 04, 2016, 10:14:40 PM »
If you are in the southeast either a great horned owl or barred owl are the two likely candidates....

 Are "Barred" Owls not allowed in certain establishments  :huh: :grin:

 Am in the corner of NW Arkansas at the moment , hard to tell , think it was a Great Horned owl .

  Dusty

Offline Daniel Kalal

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2016, 10:21:20 PM »
the aftermath of a cockatoo-strike on the brake lever of Pete's yellow 2V Griso...


I'm guessing a yellow bike with a yellow duffle-bag was the last thing that bird ever saw.

Offline DaSwami

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2016, 10:24:49 PM »
Are "Barred" Owls not allowed in certain establishments  :huh: :grin:


  Dusty

Haha somebody is in a good mood.....I like you like this.

oldbike54

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2016, 10:34:41 PM »
Haha somebody is in a good mood.....I like you like this.

 My normal mood is good , except when my Indian gets up  :laugh:

 Dusty

Offline DaSwami

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2016, 10:46:27 PM »
My normal mood is good , except when my Indian gets up  :laugh:

 Dusty

Is that what you call it??  I'm in a great mood when my "Indian" gets wet!   LOL!!!!

Offline rodekyll

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #15 on: July 05, 2016, 01:33:15 AM »
So owls are dinosaurs of the crepuscular period?

I nearly dodged a owl on highway 12 in eastern Washington years ago.  It broke the windshield and took out the right post, antenna, and mirror on my '69 vw van.  I stopped and sent my birdy springer to find it.  He couldn't -- that owl had ruined my van and kept on going.

Offline Zoom Zoom

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #16 on: July 05, 2016, 05:32:38 AM »
Wow, this belongs in the lightening strikes twice thread. Very recently, riding a country road during mid day, I spotted a large bird in the road. I began to slow and much to my surprise, it was a fairly large owl. He/she was near the edge of the other side but took off as I got near and flew right toward me. I ducked and thankfully, we missed one another. It had to been by a hairs breath though.

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Offline Guzzistajohn

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #17 on: July 05, 2016, 06:06:39 AM »
So owls are dinosaurs of the crepuscular period?

I nearly dodged a owl on highway 12 in eastern Washington years ago.  It broke the windshield and took out the right post, antenna, and mirror on my '69 vw van.  I stopped and sent my birdy springer to find it.  He couldn't -- that owl had ruined my van and kept on going.

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Offline BMWDavid

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #18 on: July 05, 2016, 06:07:53 AM »
Reminds me of an encounter I had 41 years ago. I was riding along a county back road on my Suzuki GT380 in the western suburbs of Chicago. Out of the side bushes comes a pheasant. Ducked and it struck the top of my helmet. Hate to think what a full face impact would have been like.
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Online Cam3512

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #19 on: July 05, 2016, 06:22:29 AM »
I've had a close encounter with a turkey buzzard that was chowing down on something dead on the shoulder of a two lane road.  It got spooked by the MAC 2-1 exhaust on the bike in front of me.  It was so full of dead animal it couldn't get any lift.  I swerved and ducked and it's wing brushed my helmet.  Man, those things are massive (and ugly) up close!
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Offline sib

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #20 on: July 05, 2016, 07:49:07 AM »
WOW ! Just took a short ride in crepuscular light ...
I bet that encounter got your corpuscular fluids flowing!
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Offline wirespokes

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #21 on: July 05, 2016, 09:10:25 AM »
.  I stopped and sent my birdy springer to find it.  He couldn't -- that owl had ruined my van and kept on going.
Maybe that's why the other got banned - hit and run! (hit and fly?)

Offline Johncolleary

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #22 on: July 05, 2016, 09:43:46 AM »
The day I picked up my stelvio from the dealer I was 1/4 mile down the road with trees on both sides and saw something out of the corner of my right eye.  looked over and a Hawk swooped down and nailed my right fog light, last I saw he was rolling on the ground.  I didn't stop due to traffic but when I got home had to pluck the right side of the bike.
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Offline Chuck in Indiana

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #23 on: July 05, 2016, 10:52:58 AM »
Quote
It was so full of dead animal it couldn't get any lift. 
You were lucky. Normally in that condition, they puke it up as they take off. It's kind of nasty... :cool:
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Offline normzone

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #24 on: July 05, 2016, 11:13:37 AM »
I've got little to contribute. The Eldorado liquified a sparrow on the 125 interchange somewhere in the late eighties.
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Offline atavar

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #25 on: July 05, 2016, 12:42:16 PM »
Out in Maine I once hit a seagull square in the chest of my leather jacket hard enough to tear my hands off the grips.  I was able to recover and get over to the side of the road to wait for the tears to stop.  It was weeks before I could breathe deep or sneeze without wincing.
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Offline davedel44

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Re: Clsoe encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #26 on: July 05, 2016, 12:49:54 PM »


Personally, I've never had a close encounter with an owl on a bike.  Many, many close calls with big vultures in the south and west.   :1:

You can tell pretty quickly that birds are basically dinosaurs.    A T-Rex would have the same kind of humor.

Pelican is just a Pterodactyl with feathers.

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Offline Sasquatch Jim

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #27 on: July 05, 2016, 01:03:20 PM »
  I once caught a starling on my faceshield at 70 mph.  It sort of exploded into a smelly mess.

 However for you owl fanciers there is this.

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Offline Dilliw

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #28 on: July 05, 2016, 01:10:38 PM »
I had a bunch of near misses when I lived out in the country.  The big issue was that my trip to work was perfectly timed with the 3 turkey hens that lived up the street and used the road as a glide path from their roost.  I knew to look out for them but there were several close calls.

Also got between a hawk and its prey where I was perpendicular to where it was going.  Lucky for both of us he past right in front of me.  Not sure if he scored lunch or not.

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Offline ScepticalScotty

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Re: Close encounters of the ... bird kind ???
« Reply #29 on: July 05, 2016, 02:18:40 PM »
Ran into a flock of galahs on the back road to Wagga once and that wasn't pleasant!
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