RENO, Nev. (AP) -- The eagle has landed -- with a thud -- after crashing through the windshield of a tractor-trailer on a Nevada highway.
State wildlife officials said Wednesday that a 15-pound golden eagle with a 7-foot wing span has a swollen head but otherwise appears unhurt after crashing into a Florida truck driver's big rig on Monday.
Matthew Roberto Gonzalez of Opa Locka, Fla., was driving on U.S. Interstate 80 in northeast Nevada near Wells, about 60 miles west of the Utah line, when the eagle came crashing into the cab of his truck.
"It looks like she hit it head first. One side of the head is swollen, but there does not appear to be any permanent damage," said Joe Doucette, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
"The guys in the truck immediately bailed out because it was one ticked off bird. She was pretty feisty," Doucette told The Associated Press. "Even the officer who responded didn't want to go in there so we had one of our wildlife biologists do it."
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The eagle was recovering at the Northeast Nevada Wildlife Rehabilitation
Gonzalez and a passenger were unhurt.
