A Queensland driver had a wild encounter recently when an eagle smashed into the windshield of his truck.
Nick Richards, who works for South East Queensland Hauliers, was about 60km north of Augathella, heading along the Landsborough Highway to Cloncurry, when the incident occurred.
As he was transporting a wide load – an exhaust fan on its way to a gold mine – he was travelling with a pilot driver at the time.
“My pilot called out to warn me that there were a couple of eagles eating roadkill on the road, so I slowed down,” he told Big Rigs.
“As I approached, I could see the eagle had huffed off to the side of the road and was sitting there.
“But then as I got towards him, he took off, flying straight in front of the truck.”
The eagle hit the windshield hard, spraying tiny particles of glass all over Richards.
“All I could do was close my eyes and brake.
“Glass sprayed right at my eyeline, all the way into the back of the bunk.
“It was one of the gnarliest bird strikes I’ve ever had, that’s for sure.
“If I was still going 100km/hr the eagle would have come through the window.”
Although a little shaken, Richards thankfully wasn’t injured.
Plus, he still had a job to do – so he “rescued himself”.
He continued: “I was a bit rattled but that’s trucking, you get on with it.
“I managed to drive the truck about 20km into town with the busted window.
“We left the truck there and I got a ride to Cloncurry to get another truck, and put it up on the float to bring it home.”
After that, he was straight back in the driver’s seat again.
“I kicked one of the other boys out of his truck.
“He was already in Cloncurry so we flew him home and I took his truck.
“We had to keep the load going because we had a pilot.”
Richards said that spot on the Landsborough Highway is full of wildlife.
“There’s a lot of grass and food around, especially this time of year,” he said.
“You’re worried you’re going to hit something every time you go down there.
“It was just unlucky that day.”
He doesn’t think the poor eagle survived the collision.
“I didn’t go back and check, but if he did survive, he would have had a pretty sore head.”
South East Queensland Hauliers said they were proud of Richards for remaining calm in a stressful situation.
“It was a little bit crazy, but thankfully Nick is OK,” they said.
“Even in such an isolated spot, he kept his cool and handled it safely.
“Big shoutout to Nick – you’re a legend, mate!”