I made a turn onto a small two lane highway and stepped the speed up to about 65 mph. I soon rode over a hill that was hiding a group of vultures just off the right side of the road. There was about one second to react. I hoped a couple beeps of the horn would spook them off in the other direction. Course, one had to fly right into my path. I was doing about 55 mph by that time. The bird hit the front fairing on the right just above the blinker lens then bashed across my right arm. It was definitely a solid hit on the fairing....ka-boom!
I noticed the right mirror was gone so I slowed and turned the bike right around to pick up the mirror. The poor bird was knocked out and on its back. Its chest was heaving in and out. No doubt the collision broke bones in its ribcage. I carefully pulled the unconscious bird off the road and onto the grass. Am sure the poor thing croaked after a while.
The hit caused a minor crack above the right blinker lens and broke off the right mirror. I found a used mirror locally for thirty bucks to pick up this weekend. Was lucky with this ordeal....just a split second later, the big bird would had hit the windshield then right into my helmet. Hate to think what could have happened then. Full size adult has up to a six foot wingspan and weights about 3 lbs.
