Close call with an Owl (2016)

Status
Not open for further replies.
jseng1

jseng1

Joined
Nov 26, 2009
Messages
3,096
Country flag
Cruising down a 4 lane road late at night after playing at a Motown music gig. Sax in my backpack and a couple beers in my gut - I'm doing 80mph on my smooth running Atlas looking down the tunnel of my halogen headlight thinking everything is cool - no cars around, that cop has turned off, no dogs, nothing to worry about, letting my mind wander and enjoying the ride when a huge white owl comes out of nowhere - I duck my head and he swerves up to miss me. I yell some french as my heart pounds. That's something I never expected. Live long enough and anything can happen.
 
I'm going to guess a bat is not a real bird ....
Craig
 
Hi Jim
That was a close call, I have also had my share of birds, kangaroos, cattle, and horses that just jumped out in front of me on the bike as well as cars, many years ago the wife and myself were on our honeymoon we were traveling in a 1964 EH Holden ute (classic Aussie car) it had a hot motor, lowered and a disc front end, we were diving at about 70 mph when a bird flew into the front of the car we heard it hit and it went under the car, but unknown to us as it went under the car it took out the rear brake line that went over the rear diff, so here we were traveling along when up ahead was a T section, did I get a surprise when I went to slow down for the T section no brakes at all and still at high speed, lucky for us the hand brake was working, so after pulling over to wipe my pants and then settling down we had to drive 40 miles to get it fixed $12 for a new line to be made and fitted, but when we were going home where we were staying we lost brakes again just as we pulled up at the house, the person that fitted the new line and bleed the brakes forgot to top up the M/C after bleeding, this has been in my mind for 25 years now, could have been worst, we live to tell the tail.

Ashley
 
Close shaves keep you focused. My recent one was a vulture on a two lane blacktop, middle of the day. He was in the oncoming lane and didn't want to leave his prize roadkill. Instead of taking off in the opposite direction he flew right in front of me. Those suckers sure are big and ugly upclose but no collision.
 
Craig said:
I'm going to guess a bat is not a real bird ....
Craig
Click to expand...

Good guess-bats are mammals. And their built-in radar helps them avoid collisions with moving and stationary objects. Owls rely on acute vision and hearing and maneuver more gracefully (and slower) than bats.
 
Cows wondering the roads here is something to be aware of, often in small herds.

Well, along with the 1.2 billion human road user, many of whom appear to be on a death wish.

Access Norton Corespondent,
Chennai,
India.
 
Eddie,
From what I've heard the worst thing about driving in India at night, is headlights are seen as optional.
Is India really as smelly as people keep telling me? My late father in law & also his brother both used to go to India on business & hated the place for that reason. Also some friends of ours in Colorado recently went there for a five week tour, but came home after only two weeks. Couldn't stand the pong!
 
Yes, headlights are often switched off, even at night, even on motorcycles. I have no idea why, it seems Barry to me!

Can't say I've been troubled by the pong! I guess its all down to where you are. I'm in Chennai (formally Madras) which is an economically strong area (all things relative of course)!

I'm trying to pluck up courage to hire some Enflields one weekend with some other bike fan colleagues, but it does look a tad risky to be frank!

All in all, it is far from the worst place I've worked, but we do exist in something of a bubble here.

But after 2-3 weeks I am badly craving none spicy, plain, simple, food!!
 
Once and only ONCE I did a lap of theTT course after finding as I rode past the grand stand on my way up on to the Mountain section to play marshal that there was no early morning practice....no bikes being scrutineered is a dead giveaway!! First man out in an early morning TT or Manx GP practice is certifiably mad. On the last left hander before Handleys a collection of rabbits were holding morning prayers in the middle of the road...... at Quarry Bends something big with feathers left a lot of its flying surfaces on the bike and half way along the Mountain mile a big hairy white lump with horns jumped down off of the bank where it must of been having breakfast into the road and proceeded to go into panic unable to decide which way to go.....luckily I chose the correct avoiding action that day..... It was all very exciting on my vibrating flat out wideline ES2.....bet its really exciting at race speed!
 
htown16 said:
Close shaves keep you focused. My recent one was a vulture on a two lane blacktop, middle of the day. He was in the oncoming lane and didn't want to leave his prize roadkill. Instead of taking off in the opposite direction he flew right in front of me. Those suckers sure are big and ugly upclose but no collision.
Click to expand...

I missed a deer by inches awhile back when foolishly riding through a known deer area at twilight when they are very active...
Anyway a friend did hit a vulture he startled into flight while riding by at high speed...he did not crash and was not seriously injured but the vulture barfed all over his jacket from the impact. He said the smell was horrible beyond belief and impossible to get out of the jacket after several cleaning attempts, had to throw it away. Locally some people call them "puke eagles"....
 
Got some history along those lines myself. Caught a duck full in the chest at about 90 when a pair of them flew up from the side of the road. That winded me good. Later, met a few cows halfway round one of my favourite corners (at night). Hit one square on the rump after frantic braking efforts (damp road) which did my Commando no favours but still managed to limp it home with no headlamp and much damage. Did me no good either but that's another story. I won't mention the cat I whacked in the head with the front wheel when it ran out...
I try to avoid this stuff these days.
Cheers, Martin
 
I was running at about 40 mph a few days ago on my Commando and got wacked in the chest
by a sparrow. He fell down on my leg, recovered and flew off.
Not as impressive a story as most but hey....:)
 
this one is just funny, at least I think so. I was driving down I-10 downtown in Phoenix when a pigeon flew right in front of me. I looked in the mirror and it looked like I ran over a pillow with the feathers flying. I thought he was a goner, but I could tell I didn't hit him, we went under my truck and rolled around on the freeway behind me. Then, to me surprise, he up and flew away. but then it is not hard to hit them, they are pretty slow.
 
One morning I was riding on the Nevada side highway into Lake Tahoe when a lone deer saw me and decided to run about 50 yards and dive over my front fender. It was an immediate endo which bent back the forks and twisted the bars but oddly enough did not damage the interstate tank. I was able to ride home slowly with the wheel going one way and the bars going the other for about 50 miles back to Yerington Nevada. This was my first day on the job in Lake Tahoe, didn't even have money for a tow truck. I had one of the passerby's call my new place of work and explain to them why I wouldn't be showing up that day.
 
Heading east @ 60mph on the Monash Freeway just out of Melbourne, I narrowly missed a red fox sprinting across the bitumen. The freeway was that busy & wet - if I had have hit him I would have been a gone-r for sure.
 
In my car, I have hit many suicidal daredevil birds (you know them - the kind that revel in swooping directly ahead of you to see if they can ride the pressure wave ahead of your grill) and the occasional stupid rooster.

On my bike, the only big game that has caused me to go down was the now rare, but once ubiquitous, Little Old Lady in a Bonnet. On this occasion, it was a double bonus, as she was accompanied by another almost extinct passenger genus, the Little Old Man in a Hat.
 
White Owls flying over you are considered good luck.. I think it's a good oman... Almost got into a tussle with a brown bear and her cubs crossing a two lane in Sequoia CA, a few years back.. Doing around 75 out of a long fast sweeper. Wouldn't have been fun to get eaten after the crash!!!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top