Bird is the word

Yesterday morning I hit a bird for the second time ever.  The first time was in South Dakota last year after leaving the Badlands.  He flew low, hit my front tire or something and then rolled out like a limp ball to the breakdown lane.  Yesterday was far worse.  There were birds flying low and rampant like bats out of a cave at dusk.  I was certain one would fly into me at some point.  They came so close I thought one would fly between me and my windshield - about 20".  But one bird, judging by his neighbors I'll guess it was a Western Tanager - and I only saw him about 3/10th of a second - flew low and must have got sucked up into my tire.  Have you ever seen the cartoons where a bird flies into a fan and only feathers come out?  That's what happened.  A big plume of small feathers shot up my fairing underneath the handlebars.  It was so comical I was laughing out loud for a few miles - even though I was sad he didnt make it.