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Wild Turkeys Turn Rowdy, Cause Accidents

April 01, 2009 - BUCKFIELD -- This is the kind of wild turkey you duck, rather than sip.

On numerous occasions this month, low-flying wild turkeys have struck motorists in Maine -- one smashing a truck windshield, sending glass flying; the other knocking a man off his motorcycle, causing severe injuries.

On March 15, Jeffrey Phillips of Hartford was knocked off his Kawasaki by one of the big birds, which are especially active during warming months, when it's mating season.

The impact knocked Phillips off his bike, breaking his collarbone and badly scraping his arms and legs.

"I'm lucky to be alive," said Phillips, a dispatcher for the State Police in Gray. He has been unable to work since the accident.

"I'm giving bikes up," he said.

Phillips said that he had taken his motorcycle out for the first time, on a springlike day. He and a friend, Kyle Johnston, were out riding on Route 117, toward Buckfield, at around 4:30.

They were coming down Streaked Mountain toward the village when Phillips looked back to see if Johnston was behind him. After that, everything was a blur, he said.

"I turned back around and saw something coming over the snowbank," Phillips said. "I really didn't know what it was, but I knew it was big. I ducked, and then I can't remember anything."

Phillips said the bird knocked him from the bike and onto the pavement. Johnston called 911, and a helicopter flew Phillips to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

"The first hand I felt was when I got to the hospital," he said.

Phillips suffered a broken collarbone and road rash on his knees and feet.

"I can't use my right arm, and my left wrist is pretty bad," he said. "I'm going to see a surgeon on Tuesday. It's not healing well."

This reporter can attest to turkey threats along the roads. On a recent trip on Route 137 from Albion to Freedom, at around 5:30 p.m., a large flock of them flew low in front of the vehicle, just missing the windshield.

And just two days ago, a turkey damaged a delivery truck on the Maine Turnpike in Sabattus, according to State Police.

Trooper Tim Marks said the truck driver, Raymond Crabtree of Standish, escaped injury, but was showered with glass. Crabtree said he saw the bird only as it hit the windshield and there was no sign of it after the crash.

BY LARRY GRARD Staff Writer, KennebecJournal, 03/28/2009


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