Thursday on the post-annual check flight the local flock of killdeer appeared ahead not long after liftoff. They were at an altitude of 6-10 feet. I was up to around 80-85 mph and decided to climb instead of accelerate. Cleared them by 20' or so. As a protective measure, I usually slow down at the lower altitudes as we find few hawks above the thermals. Since it doesn't take long to get up there, why risk it. Geese seem to me easier to spot as there are usually lots of em together.

Bob Kelly

I'm an ace! Fortunately all five have been little ones, never any damage.

I've dodged a lot of big ones. It's funny how some of the hawks have different attitudes. Some will stare you down and not give an inch, others will fold up like a cannonball and dive out of the way.

Coming out of PDK this fall a huge swarm of turkey buzzards (probably about forty to sixty, by far the biggest gathering I'd ever seen) appeared in front of me almost instantly in the smokey haze; that'll get your heart going. Pax in the back no longer sleeping after a couple 2G turns to stay clean through the minefield.

Saw a lot of ducks and geese between 4,000' to 9,000' this winter. These are the ones that scare me the most because they are up where you least expect them sometimes and are really moving. I'd hate to go head on with a duck doing fifty knots.

Buy a horn
 

Everybody used to laugh at the HORN I put on my 6A (it was sortof a joke anyway -- labeled "Panic Button" right in front of the passenger seat).

Houston is one of the worst places in the country for bird strikes. One evening I was landing around dusk and as I turned final a huge flock of blackbirds I hadn't seen on the ground was startled and flew up in a giant cloud. There was no time to do anything but hit the "Panic Button". It was amazing. That cloud of birds just parted like the red sea and I landed without hitting a one. You can bet the 4 I'm building will have the loudest horn I can find.

Pure genius. My airplane MUST have a horn now! :D

John,

I think I'm adding deer whistles to the wing tips too.

You MIGHT be a redneck!

Vultures
 

Turkey Vultures are what I most worry about around here. There are a lot of them in the warm months and they are big and they do have collisions with cars, which is a very nasty business.

Last year I was talking to a very experienced pilot who is presently working as a pipeline patroller. I asked him how he deals with the Turkey Vultures, since he is flying all day long at low altitudes. He said the Vultures are not a problem. They watch and get out of the way. He said the problem is the hawks who get fixated on lunch and don't dodge.

Thinking back on the serious collisions I have heard about, it does seem to just about always be hawks.