Another story of those times - I was takeing-off towards the south-east on a commuter run in the QueenAir Vh-CTE one time,(Jack Brabham's old ship that he used to fly around Europe in when Formula One Racing in his heyday), and after applying power on this marginal length strip for its operation I just passed the point for a successful abort when a seabird (shag) came out of the vegetation on the left side into the centre of the strip and flew straight ahead down it. As I was committed, even if I had an engine failure, and with no room to manoeuvre, as the wheels left the surface I ran him down. Later It reminded me of a Disney cartoon of the Road Runner and Wiley Coyote seeing the poor bird looking back over it's shoulder at the gaining aircraft just before contact. Landing at Brisbane I checked the left engine but there was only a smear of blood on a propellor blade. Back at Noosa later, I had another look around and discovered the beak driven (speared) into the outside of the aluminium cowl in line with the propellor arc.
frigatebird