# How Many Birds Have You Killed With Your Car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913 "2013-04-05T12:58:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/41 "2013-04-05T17:10:58Z")
I hit a hawk in flight once. It did pass me on the right, then swerved directly in front of me. It also kept flying after hitting the windshield. I hit a lot of birds. I live in an area that’s thick with them. A lot of them seem to have death wishes. They’ve almost all been small; I’ve avoided the sandhill cranes, geese, and eagles that populate our area. Took out at least one pheasant, though. Those things seem to want to die… ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/42 "2013-04-05T17:12:23Z")
None recently but growing up in the country I hit at least 5, including a turkey. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/43 "2013-04-05T17:14:48Z")
I’ve never hit a bird or other animal while driving, but I have twice been a passenger in a car that hit a bird. I still recall the sickening little thump–and, in one case, the sudden burst of feathers off the fender. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/44 "2013-04-05T17:47:13Z")
I have hit three blackbirds. Each time, I saw the bird swoop down in front of my car, and then I heard a small “thump” as it hit the fender. Fortunately, cleanup was fairly minimal – I just saw a bit of blood and some feathers, which were easily scoured away with a water hose. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/45 "2013-04-05T17:59:51Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > 1. All non-native finches in New Zealand. 2 of them in less than an hour. You killed _all_ the non-native finches in New Zealand?? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/46 "2013-04-05T18:35:00Z")
One bounced off my windshield and left a nice bloody smear. The other time a pigeon just didn’t get out of the way. This was no country pigeon, this was on Wells street in downtown Chicago, this damn bird must have seen thousands of cars. To this day I wonder why he broke the unwritten human/avian contract that says pigeons will move before we hit them so we don’t need to hit the brakes every 15 feet. Perhaps in a spell of melancholy he decided the life of a pigeon just wasn’t for him, or maybe that he’d experienced all a pigeon can and with little to look forward to life was nothing more than an exercise in repetitious routine. Maybe he was just fuckin’ dumb – I don’t know ---
**Author:** ![cougar58](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@cougar58](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cougar58)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/47 "2013-04-05T18:41:39Z")
about 15 yrs ago, driving south on I69 about 10 miles from Ft Wayne, bright sunny day, few clouds, and suddenly I see something tumbling out of control, at 30 degrees from horizon, on a collision path with my car wind shield. from a substantial altitude and speed and trajectory angle (or so it seemed) I hit it. Note that there were no trees, or structures that it could have fallen from. Wide Open spaces. I always wondered what led up to that event. Do birds sometimes die midflight at altitude? Did a falcon have it, only to lose its grip? Hit by a plane? Kamikazi? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/48 "2013-04-05T18:42:08Z")
The “something else” I voted for is: I don’t know whether I’ve killed any, or if so, how many. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/49 "2013-04-05T18:52:17Z")
My wife is better at vehicular bird collecting than I, by at least 2-1. Several years ago we noticed a foul smell in the garage. Searches turned up nothing for days. Eventually, I found that it was actually a fowl smell. My wife had hit a bird and that became lodged deep in the grill of her van, against the radiator and out of view. It was so decomposed that I had to pull it out in pieces. Not too long after, she was taking some kids on a school field trip when she hit a wild turkey (not the beverage, though chaperoning a group of 6 year olds could certainly lead one to that as well). The turkey died, the van survived with $1,000 worth of damage :O, and a local redneck stopped and threw the roadkill in the back of his truck. At least somebody was happy. More recently, a hawk flew in front of my windshield and connected with the radio antenna - twaannngggg! I didn’t see it crash, but it bent the antenna into a “?” shape. I can’t imagine the poor thing survived. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/50 "2013-04-05T18:56:15Z")
I only answered “confirmed” , “accidental” deaths. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/51 "2013-04-05T18:59:15Z")
3 if it’s birds on the wing (2 within a day of each other). 4 if you count an Emu running in front of the small bus I was driving. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/52 "2013-04-05T19:13:06Z")
I’ve been struck twice by seagulls ( really - they hit the side of my car! ) in the exact same location in Oakland Chinatown, which makes me think it is wind currents at that spot that are responsible. Both managed to keep going somehow, so I don’t know if they succumbed later. Otherwise I’ve never directly hit a bird while driving. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/53 "2013-04-05T20:29:22Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Several years ago we noticed a foul smell in the garage. Searches turned up nothing for days. Eventually, I found that it was actually a fowl smell. My wife had hit a bird and that became lodged deep in the grill of her van, against the radiator and out of view. It was so decomposed that I had to pull it out in pieces. My dad accidentally hit a turkey buzzard once, driving on Texas hill country backroads. Those things smell even before they decompose, and I’ve read that in a couple of instances, the cars had to be totaled out because there was no getting rid of the stench when the turkey buzzard ruptured on being hit. Dad was lucky. The vulture in this case had been eating some road kill and hadn’t gotten airborne. The station wagon hit it on the corner of the bumper, the bird was killed immediately, and the corpse remained intact. ---
**Author:** ![Blkshp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blkshp/32/7135_2.png) [@Blkshp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blkshp)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/54 "2013-04-05T20:36:44Z")
I had a 2001 Dodge Durango that was apparently invisible to birds. I would find them plastered to the grill after just about every highway trip. All different kinds and sizes, too. On one occasion I actually had two Canada Geese fly directly into the passenger side while I was driving on a suburban street in the middle of the day (it was awful for the birds, but because the back window wash partially open and I ended up with goose shit all over). I don’t know what made it so stealthy, it was black and the Durango was it was one of the first sort of rounded SUV designs. Never before nor since have I hit a bird with a car. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/55 "2013-04-05T20:56:04Z")
What, do you people keep bird food in the front of your car or something? :eek: I’ve never come close to hitting a bird, I didn’t think that was possible. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/56 "2013-04-05T21:06:16Z")
I don’t know if it was killed, but a bird once flew into the windshield with a pretty loud thump; didn’t see what happened afterwards but it didn’t leave blood or anything (I was doing around 20 mph at the time). > [@YogSosoth](#): > > What, do you people keep bird food in the front of your car or something? :eek: I’ve never come close to hitting a bird, I didn’t think that was possible. I can easily see it happening; after all, only a _billion_ :eek: birds [kill themselves every year](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/4134773/#.UV88BUqRe_o) on stationary windows (“Expert says a single skyscraper can kill 200 birds in a day”, which makes me wonder how many people have seen a bird hit their office window). ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/57 "2013-04-05T21:07:31Z")
In over 45 years of driving, I know only of one, and it still bothers me. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/58 "2013-04-05T21:15:27Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > 3 if it’s birds on the wing (2 within a day of each other). > > 4 if you count an Emu running in front of the small bus I was driving. Emu is good eatin’! I hope you didn’t just leave it. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/59 "2013-04-05T21:49:41Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Emu is good eatin’! I hope you didn’t just leave it. The buggers are fast & pretty tough, it took off into the bush and we couldn’t find it. Based on the amount of blood & feathers I don’t think it would have survived too long ☹ ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913/60 "2013-04-06T01:29:31Z")
> [@cougar58](#): > > about 15 yrs ago, driving south on I69 about 10 miles from Ft Wayne, bright sunny day, few clouds, and suddenly I see something tumbling out of control, at 30 degrees from horizon, on a collision path with my car wind shield. from a substantial altitude and speed and trajectory angle (or so it seemed) > > I hit it. > > Note that there were no trees, or structures that it could have fallen from. Wide Open spaces. > > I always wondered what led up to that event. > > Do birds sometimes die midflight at altitude? > > Did a falcon have it, only to lose its grip? > > Hit by a plane? > > Kamikazi? That would be my guess-[prairie falcon](http://www.sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/photos/prairie_falcon_2.jpg) most likely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-birds-have-you-killed-with-your-car/654913.md?page=4)