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.
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When cars move, they move the air it runs into. That creates a wave of air, kinda like a boat creates a wave when it moves through the water. That wave makes a force field of sorts that gives the bird a push when they’re in flight, making it tougher to actually get hit.
When cars move, they move the air it runs into. That creates a wave of air, kinda like a boat creates a wave when it moves through the water. That wave makes a force field of sorts that gives the bird a push when they’re in flight, making it tougher to actually get hit.
Birds don’t have a special airflow mechanism, and they don’t always avoid cars, but they do have several advantages helping them succeed where many other animals don’t fare well against cars.
Thanks to divebombing predatory birds, striking snakes, flight formations requiring tight maneuvers, having to hunt quick flying insects, a lot of bird species are very well evolved to have fast reaction times and to calculate the trajectory of fast moving objects really quickly.
Their brains can be so quick processing visual information that it’s likely that a 24 frame per second film that we perceive as continuous motion would be experienced by a pigeon more like a slideshow.
So from the birds perspective, one with much faster reactions and visual processing power, the close calls aren’t nearly as close as they appear to us.
Birds don’t have a special airflow mechanism, and they don’t always avoid cars, but they do have several advantages helping them succeed where many other animals don’t fare well against cars.
Thanks to divebombing predatory birds, striking snakes, flight formations requiring tight maneuvers, having to hunt quick flying insects, a lot of bird species are very well evolved to have fast reaction times and to calculate the trajectory of fast moving objects really quickly.
Their brains can be so quick processing visual information that it’s likely that a 24 frame per second film that we perceive as continuous motion would be experienced by a pigeon more like a slideshow.
So from the birds perspective, one with much faster reactions and visual processing power, the close calls aren’t nearly as close as they appear to us.
Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority found over 200 dead crows near greater Boston recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone’s relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts.
However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paints appeared on the bird’s beaks and claws. By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car.
MTA then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills.
The Ornithological Behaviorist very quickly concluded the cause: when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger.
The scientific conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say “Cah”, none could say “Truck.”
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Shamelessly stolen from an older post on /r/jokes by someone else.
As for a real answer, cars are slower and easier to avoid than they seem if you’re a bird.
When humans see an oncoming impact with a large vehicle, our instinct is to run away from it. This is actually counterproductive for several reasons, not least of which is that no human is capable of outrunning a car. Some animals are predisposed to dart in a zigzag pattern, which tends to be effective in many situations, because it moves them off the roadway. Birds first instinct tends to be to fly upwards, out of reach of any ground based predator. This also moves them off the roadway, and in many cases is sufficient for them to clear the collision zone. Few birds can fly directly upwards, so most fly up and to the side. Some fly up and forward, and that can still lead to a collision, but almost none fly _towards_ an apparent predator.
Of course, lots of birds and other animals don’t make it, and you do actually see a good bit of avian roadkill, but it tends to be less common than other animals for this and several other reasons seen in other comments.
Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority found over 200 dead crows near greater Boston recently, and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone’s relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts.
However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paints appeared on the bird’s beaks and claws. By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car.
MTA then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills.
The Ornithological Behaviorist very quickly concluded the cause: when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger.
The scientific conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say “Cah”, none could say “Truck.”
.
Shamelessly stolen from an older post on /r/jokes by someone else.
As for a real answer, cars are slower and easier to avoid than they seem if you’re a bird.
When humans see an oncoming impact with a large vehicle, our instinct is to run away from it. This is actually counterproductive for several reasons, not least of which is that no human is capable of outrunning a car. Some animals are predisposed to dart in a zigzag pattern, which tends to be effective in many situations, because it moves them off the roadway. Birds first instinct tends to be to fly upwards, out of reach of any ground based predator. This also moves them off the roadway, and in many cases is sufficient for them to clear the collision zone. Few birds can fly directly upwards, so most fly up and to the side. Some fly up and forward, and that can still lead to a collision, but almost none fly _towards_ an apparent predator.
Of course, lots of birds and other animals don’t make it, and you do actually see a good bit of avian roadkill, but it tends to be less common than other animals for this and several other reasons seen in other comments.
They have an advanced detection system. Sort of like an automatic brake system you see on newer vehicles. See r/birdsarentreal
They have an advanced detection system. Sort of like an automatic brake system you see on newer vehicles. See r/birdsarentreal
I’m not gonna lie to you mate, the pigeons where I live have the shittiest reaction times. It’s my mercy that I haven’t ran them over.
I’m not gonna lie to you mate, the pigeons where I live have the shittiest reaction times. It’s my mercy that I haven’t ran them over.
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