Topic: 1 second of sheer terror

[denward17]

Was riding my 550 today on a back road not far from home (just after lunch).  Sun was bright, 65 degrees, both sides of the road were plentiful of trees that had brilliant colors.  I was looking about, riding about 45-50mph, when something in my peripheral vision caught my attention. 

To the right of the road, about 10-15 feet away, I saw something moving, and all of sudden, it flew up and out toward the road.  It was between 2 trees and I didn't see it until I was right beside it.  It was a turkey buzzard about as big as me.  It flew up and banked to my 1 o'clock position and then banked away.  I almost felt it brush my right side mirror.

In that 1 second, I was just about to duck, but then it missed.  I'm glad it missed, because I would have ducked too late.

Phewww.....another close call...

[Mark1976]

   It happens...

[BenelliSEI]

Phew! Close call. Glad it missed.....

[CycleRanger]

Those birds can kill you. I see them all time working on road kill when I'm out riding.
They'll just take off without any warning.
Glad it missed too!

[Don R]

 When those birds jump up to fly, it's amazing how big they are!

[newday777]

WOW
And yes they are huge

[seanbarney41]

Yeah, they want to protect their lunch of roadkill.  I have had close calls with turkey buzzards also.

[Kelly E]

I haven't had a close call with a big bird while riding but I was within a couple of feet of a bald eagle. It had dropped into the duck pen and killed the wife's favourite duck. The eagle was stuck in the pen. He couldn't jump high enough or get a decent run to clear the fence because of the two apple trees growing in the pen. I had to cut the zip ties holding the wire fencing to the posts and pull it down far enough for him to jump clear.
Bald eagle's are pretty damn big.