Eagle Busts Through Trucker's Windshield In Nevada

This photo released by Jo Dean of the Northeastern Nevada Wildlife Rehabilitation Center shows Pete Bradley, a biologist from the Nevada Dept. of Wildlife, holding an injured golden eagle as wildlife rehabilitator Jo Dean looks on in Springs Creek, Nev. on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. -wto


A Florida truck driver got an unexpected passenger when an eagle busted through the windshield of his semitrailer on Interstate 80 in northeast Nevada. Matthew Roberto Gonzalez of Opalocka, Fla., reported to the Nevada Highway Patrol Monday afternoon that he had just struck an eagle while driving westbound on I-80 near Wells, about 100 miles west of the Nevada-Utah line.

Trooper Jim Stewart said the eagle hit the passenger side of the windshield and entered the cab.

Stewart said neither the 38-year-old driver nor his 45-year-old passenger Darryl Young of Miami were hurt. He said the eagle appeared to be alive shortly after the incident but he didn't know if it later succumbed to its injuries.

via Eagle Busts Through Trucker's Windshield In Nevada - CBS News.

The eagle has landed - with a thud - after crashing through the windshield of a tractor-trailer on a Nevada highway.

State wildlife officials said Wednesday that a 15-pound golden eagle with a 7-foot wing span has a swollen head but otherwise appears unhurt after crashing into a Florida truck driver's big rig on Monday.

Matthew Roberto Gonzalez of Opa Locka, Fla., was driving on U.S. Interstate 80 in northeast Nevada near Wells, about 60 miles west of the Utah line, when the eagle came crashing into the cab of his truck.

"It looks like she hit it head first. One side of the head is swollen, but there does not appear to be any permanent damage," said Joe Doucette, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

"The guys in the truck immediately bailed out because it was one ticked off bird. She was pretty feisty," Doucette told The Associated Press. "Even the officer who responded didn't want to go in there so we had one of our wildlife biologists do it."

The eagle was recovering at the Northeast Nevada Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Spring Creek.

Gonzalez and a passenger were unhurt.

...

The eagle was recovering at the Northeast Nevada Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Spring Creek, and Doucette said the goal was to release it back into the wild.

Jeffrey Spires, owner of Spires Trucking of South Florida in Miramar, Fla., said he thought his drivers were kidding when they called to report the damage.

"Never in trucking history," he said. - ap

An angry eagle crashing head first into a semi cab may not be a good omen.  What (who??) was Gonzalez hauling? In my entertainingly overactive imagination the trucking company (perhaps entirely unknown to them) ends up being involved in some great conspiracy with nationwide ramifications. It would make a great movie intro, wouldn't it?