Owl strike

Most of us have probably been struck by a bird once or twice but how about an owl. Was riding on Coalinga Rd when I got hit in the helmet. Thought it was just a grouse or something until I got home and viewed the footage. Its hard to see unless your on a big screen home PC, but the owl flew in from the right and went under the fence and came up out of the grass right into my path.

Heck of a video Gary. Snap your head back a little?

Looked like a Monarch butterfly on steroids there for a second.

Yeah Mike, got thumped pretty good. Was lucky too considering I had my visor up at the time. Fortunately the brunt of it caught the side of my helmet.

Well that would get your attention in a hurry. Luckily for you it was not a direct shot in the face. Ride safe my friend, and stay out of those bird sanctuaries.

I still think it was a large butterfly.

Yep - my vote is also for an adult Monarch butterfly, or a large moth.

Yeah OK. Moth with a two foot wingspan!!

Watch it on a computer and you'll see it fly in from the trees on the right, under the fence and up out of the grass. Can't see that watching it on your little phone.

No one said it was a small butterfly..... but, in any case, thank goodness you came through it still on two wheels.

Mudslide Miller said:

Yeah OK. Moth with a two foot wingspan!!Watch it on a computer and you'll see it fly in from the trees on the right, under the fence and up out of the grass. Can't see that watching it on your little phone.

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Two foot wingspan????? That is a big butterfly!

I did watch it on my computer and also casted to my 60 inch TV screen. The truth of the matter is the frame rate of the camera isn't fast enough to really see the butterfly clearly. Pulling your chain here, but I can't help it.

I hit a crow once. Flew up out of the ditch and smacked my left mirror and then bounced off my hand. The thing simply exploded in a cloud of feathers and crowshit. Bastard knocked the glass out of the mirror and the hand was sore for a day or two. Bird poop is hard to clean out of a mesh glove.

Also had a bird once fly up from the ditch and absolutely clobber the bottom left of my helmet. It broke my chin guard & mouth vent right off of my Arai. Another lucky day that I stayed on the road after that thing scared the absolute shit out of me!

A friend was following a buddy as they accelerated from a gas stop. Suddenly the lead rider fell back on his seat so that he was completely reclined without his hands on the handlebars. He was doing around 25-30 MPH and the bike stayed upright. After a few seconds the rider sat back up and pulled to the side of the road. My buddy stopped behind him, dismounted and walked up to his buddy. The guy was wearing a modular helmet with the chin bar raised and asked my friend what the hell happened. My friend told him to wait a second. He got a Leatherman out of his pocket and pulled a bird's beak out of his buddy's forehead right between his eyes.

^^^ More evidence that Gary was probably hit by a butterfly, a moth, or a smaller bird. If it was an owl (in the middle of the day?), it would have been a much more potent impact, with feathers and guts everywhere. He himself noted that a bird had hit his chinbar on his helmet, which resulted in considerable damage. Two weeks ago, a smaller bird, which appeared to be a female cardinal, flew into my forearm. Not a huge impact, but definitely more than a very large bug could muster. But an owl? Big difference. When my buddy, riding an identical FJR to mine, hit a grouse with his mirror base about eight years ago, it looked like a pillow had been shot with a 12 gauge shotgun.

BUT...…..I wasn't there. Most times that I voice an opinion, I'm wrong. It's my comfort zone. Very easily could have been an owl. Only the owl knows for sure, and he ain't talkin'.

(Oh, on a different topic.....Go Tony, go!)

Pterodactyl said:

He got a Leatherman out of his pocket and pulled a bird's beak out of his buddy's forehead right between his eyes.

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That bird hit him Pecker first ----