Giant eagle smashes through man's windscreen

Hi Allan,

He (the man that is, maybe not the eagle) was lucky to just have scratches. Wonder what happened to the poor eagle. They are so slow taking off if they have been gorging on roadkill.

We thought that we were going to have one through the windscreen once. We were pulling out of the Tropic of C stop just north of Alice when an eagle took off in front of us. We were in a big convoy so didnt have much forward vision to see things like eagles or roadkill. He was so slow gaining height that he clipped an aerial, but I ducked nonetheless!!

I guess incidents like above are a reminder to take care when you see eagles near roadkill.

Cheers,

Val

Wedgetails eating roadkill is a common site in the outback. Perhaps we can help the wedgies out by dragging the roadkill off the road and verges so that they have a better chance of survival

Yep, pretty common with Wedgies. They are big and slow and even using your horn isnt enough to get them above your windscreen before you are on them. Best advice is to slow down to let them gain height.

I am not sure if this is true or not but I was told that the slow takeoff is quite often caused when the birds actually land on the road kill and their tallons lock in. To take off they first have to release their grip and then being such a heavy bird anyway the liftoff is not that fast. If I see an eagle on a kill I slow right down if possible to give then time.

Cheers
Pop

For those who are unaware of it, the Wedgies will take off into the wind, so you can select which side of the road to pass them on if there is no traffic. A slower speed also helps avoiding them.
Cheers,
Peter.

In view of all the admonishments about "blowing the horn" and "slowing down" and "common sense approach" I think that I need to say in my own defence at that I at least certainly do slow down in this or similar situations. It is probably one of the reasons that I have never hit an animal (or anything else).

However,
1) I was speaking of using the horn in regard to birds on roadkill in general, not particularly eagles.
2) Even though slowing down to a crawl approaching birds feeding on roadkill, sometimes they still do not rise even when only several metres away and a good loud horn blast scares them off.

Image Could Not Be FoundWedgetailed eagle hit by Mundrabilla jast after sunset, did not see them in the spear grass until took off into wind across the road.