I'm driving home in some turbulent weather (storms a few miles off, some lightning too but not right where I'm driving) and something comes streaking (like a mortar round...I mean zipping to the ground) and POW! A cloud of feathers and a bouncing, now dead pigeon. WTF? Did a microburst propel the bird to the ground? Did it get hit by lightning way up in the sky? I have seen birds run into things, but this bird was just flung to the ground much faster than any pigeon could ever fly. Anyone know what could cause this?
I don't know what could cause that, but I have experienced that. Next to my brakes suddenly failing as I tried to exit the highway, it was the scariest moment in my driving history. It's been over a decade, and as far as I can tell, pigeons are sometimes sick and fly into windshields because they can no longer navigate.
Some pigeons like to dive upside down, sometimes they don't pull up... remember Silence of the Lambs?
Could have been hit by a falcon or a hawk that failed to get a grip on it. I've heard that Peregrine Falcons kill their prey with the force of impact.
This. Peregrine strike, if the raptor fails to hold onto its prey it will drop like a stone. Either that or it was hit by lightning
