On Sunday, December 1, 2019 at 10:04:57 AM UTC-8, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
A few weeks ago one of our local Warner Springs pilots had a midair with a hawk on the leading edge of his D2 resulting in substantial damage. One can view on Yankee Composite's social media. Question is, how many have suffered damage needing repair after a bird strike, in a glider? Please share your story.

I was the pilot at Warner Springs with the bird strike that Jonathan mentioned. I believe it was a golden eagle. I was thermalling when I noticed it about 50 yards away and a little above me. I was planning on moving over towards it on my next turn around, thinking it had better lift. But as I came around, he was aiming straight at me and coming fast. The image burned in my brain is of his wings and tail twisted up in a last second maneuver it miss me. I think he was trying to scare me and just misjudged. He slammed dead on into my leading edge. Quite a thud, but I still hoped to see him pull out before he hit the ground, When I landed and saw the bloody damage I could see why he didn't make it. No loss of control flying back.Lesson learned: don't **** off eagles.