2003 Town & Country vs. Bird (But, What Kind?)

Today when Kylee, Makenna and I were riding in our new Town & Country van to Mishawaka we hit a bird on the U.S. 20 Bypass. I had the cruise control set for 64 mph. I had just glanced at the radio and I looked back up to see a bit of a blur, then smash and a major explosion of feathers - so many feathers that the car behind me swerved into the other lane right away.

I immediately looked into the rear view mirror - lots of feathers, but no bird. Had it totally disintegrated or was it stuck in the grill of our van?

After we got off the freeway I told the girls we should probably find a spot to stop and check to make sure the bird wasn't stuck in the grill. But, I didn't see much of a spot so we kept on going, figuring I could probably just take care of it when we got home.

A little later we were stopped at a stoplight when someone across the intersection from us blinked their lights and hazards on and off a few times. As they turned left in front of us, they made eye contact and both driver and passenger pointed at the front of our van. I nodded at them and knew what this meant - and started to feel like maybe there was a little bit of a site on the front of our van.

After that I started watching the eyes of the other drivers. And indeed I saw a few bug out. We turned onto Day Road and I knew we needed to stop before getting into the main retail area. Fortunately, we crossed a railroad track and saw a little drive by the tracks with some trash dumped nearby.

I pulled in. I got out of the van. I walked to the front. I turned the corner. I jumped back. I said, "Oh yeah. That's a big bird."

Makenna walked around the other corner and jumped backwards two feet.

Kylee walked around the corner and went running back to the van door.

It was a wild turkey. I think it was a female.

"Females are smaller at 37 inches tall, with a wingspan of 50 inches."

The one we hit was full grown. The turkey's foot was stuck in the grill with its wings pretty well extended - spanning over half the van's front end. The birds head was hanging about an inch from the ground.

It's not the kind of thing you want attached to your vehicle while you cruise around Grape Road.

I found a stick and managed to dislodge the bird's foot from the van's grill.

The van's a little dented, but hey that dent's got quite a story, not to mention memory attached to it.

And, after searching Google for "wild turkey" hit by car - I'm just glad the thing didn't hit our windshield - it could have ended up in Kylee's lap.

We drove like this for about 10 miles.