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Birds hitting the car

I have not seen this topic ( I volkerized it), so I aplogize if this has been posted elsewhere.
I have only had my car for a week and this morning was really the first time I drove on a quiet two lane road. Two birds hit my car within a mile of each other. I am wondering if birds rely on sound to avoid cars. Anybody else experience this or was this just not unusual.

Maybe they didn't like the color of your car? ;)

WOW, if this turns out to be the case (bird needing sound to detect car) then this might handicap the model S growth

I hope they were both drank :)

Birds regularly fly into the windows of my house striking the glass. I have even found the odd corpse. What attracts them? The reflection? Maybe the same thing causing them to hit your car?

Maybe they saw your Model S, and thought to themselves, "Holy crap is that a …" thud. :( Poor birds.

I think such "dive bombing" birds are being dared by their bird friends to try to fly in front of cars as close as possible, in some sort of contest of avian machismo.

Years ago, a sparrow finch hit my car's grill while I was traveling on an interstate at ~70mph. When I got out at my destination, I saw that it was stuck, head first, in the grill, and definitely no longer alive. It was a freak occurrence, as were hopefully your encounters today.

Perhaps Prozac-laced birdseed might be a good idea after all.....

I wonder if the birds could have been infected by a new disease that's working its way through the avian population......chirpies. It's a canarial disease and believed to be untweetable.

dborn - I hope the odd corpse you refer to is a bird's. Otherwise I would think you live in a pretty rough neighborhood - Detroit maybe?

"untweetable" - bad, bad ....

Don't let PETA hear about this. They'll take Tesla to court and get Model S banned!

Reminds me of the old joke.

"Whats the last thing to go through a birds mind when it hits your car windshield?" ...

Shouldn't you be out driving?

@Anthony H
Maybe I am?

This thread made me think of the commercial from the Superbowl a couple years ago.

Tesla enthusiasts yes, bird enthusiasts, NO!

I am very worried now...


Somehow I think this pales in comparison to this:

Yes, I keep my cats indoors. ;-P

chirpies? canarial? Definitely bannable. Anti-avian, discriminatory and un-PeepCee.

PETA -- People for Eating of Tasty Animals

I wouldn't worry about sound in this, bird eyesight is in general way better than mammalian eyesight and almost all of them rely on sight for recognition of things.

Some birds just don't see the glass and think they can fly thru it, some are stupid enough to think they can fly thru mirror: why they don't avoid that other bird in the reflection is a mystery.

Coincidence almost sure.

I think the magnetic navigation Organ (magnetoception) of the birds is heavily disturbed by the GIANT magnetic field emitted by this 400hp motor which is modulated with high frequency of the performance Inverter (the whining was described in several posts when flooring it). So they loose track and while admiring this wonderful car they smash into it like people running into a street light...
Maybe Tesla should come up with some bird protection device like in passenger jets. say in return for getting Boeings BMS and battery fire fixed ;-))

I once had a bird fly into the grill of my car. However, it survived. Although it took me an hour to extract it from the front of the car (had to remove the front cowling) and another 1/2 hour chasing it as it flew around my garage trying to convince it to go outside. All ended well.

Not the dreaded Bird and Conveyance high speed fusion! Could make for a rather "fowl" experience! lol!! hope it did not damage your S

Birds (making this up as I go) like to "surf" the air current over the car, so as your car goes by, birds fly near the car to get the boost from the rush of air as you drive by.

A Tesla has a much smaller boost of air, due to it's low drag coefficient. Smooth laminar air flow compared to the normal wild turbulence.

Birds accustomed to regular SUV's creating a summer breeze come down from the trees and instead of getting the big boosts of air, suddenly find themselves in a snare. With no gust of wind, they find they are pinned. The side of your Tesla they will hit. . .

I think I'll stop there.

If birds are attacking your car, it is a good thing you can easily avoid gas stations -- wouldn't want to be around them when they catch fire and explode.

I doubt that. Look up "Faraday cage". I think the copper and steel housing contains the magnetic field. Get a compass and check: walk around the car and see if it swings. You'd have to have a serious field to bother birds so far away. Field drops as the SQUARE of distance.

Dont worry. There is an app. on the way that makes the car duck when one approaches ;-)

lph, is the reasoning that if the birds see a duck they will avoid it?

Even moreso with geese; they're easier to duck. Than ducks. Less of a bird-in.

Brian, I was certain that when I looked up the word "moreso" I would find something fowl. Alas, it looks like a run-of-the-mill typo. I'm disappointed.

Birds use the earth's magnetic field to navigate using a pigment (cryptochrome) found predominantly in the retina of the right eye (you can't make this stuff up), which through quantum entanglement is believed to overlay a visually percptible image of the magnetic field that changes with the position of the bird's head. If you patch the right eye the bird loses its compass.

Seriously OT but very cool.

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