Why are birds so good at avoiding getting hit by cars?

Question

There will be times I’m on normal roads or even driving fast on a highway and have had very close encounters with birds flying aross the front of my car.

I never see dead birds on the road so I just assume they have some kind of special airflow mechanism that allowed them to avoid accidents.

In: 111

Answer 1

Their bones are hollow and they are extremely lightweight. Smaller birds are more or less obliterated when they are hit by a car. There’s nothing left to see but feathers.

I’ve only hit a few birds in decades of driving but each time was the same: a poof and then I look behind me and there’s nothing to see. Maybe a bit of “dust” on the car where the impact was.