There are probably more car vs bird collisions than we realize out there.
I'm not talking just the fender smack to a small bird that didn't zig
instead of zagging out of the path of an oncoming car. I mean those
collisions with enough damage to necessitate a state accident report and a
call to the insurance man.

Being a retired deputy sheriff from Wisconsin I personally responded to two
such accidents, one was a car that got a windshield full of Canada goose
(and they grow them really big back there) and the other that needs further
explanation.

A driver of a smaller pickup, not wanting to hit a full grown turkey
crossing the road, swerved to avoid the turkey and in over-correcting veered
across the road, rolling this truck and striking a power pole. The driver
did not have on a seat belt and was ejected and sustained serious but not
life-threatening injures. So far we have one totaled truck and one
seriously injured occupant. Now comes the icing on the cake part. An
ambulance had arrived and the EMT's were attending to the victim. A fire
truck arrived but the driver misjudged where the back of the fire truck was
and ended up clipping the driver's door and left from side of the ambulance
putting it out of service. There was no damage to the fire truck but the
damage value on the ambulance was over $2700.00. All to save the life of
one wild turkey.

Moral of the story, don't swerve to avoid any animal or bird in the road
unless it's bigger than a pig or an emu.

Hey look, the sun is shining... Guess it's time to take the PFD's (personal
floatation devices) off all my deck juncoes and finches.

Mary Hrudkaj
hrudkajm at hotmail.com
Belfair/North Mason County