Large bird attacking people's heads near park

ATLANTA — A large bird is landing on and clawing people’s heads near a northwest Atlanta park.

Runners who’ve been targeted think it’s an owl or a hawk.

One runner told Channel 2’s Rikki Klaus the large bird went after him three times, and one time, the bird took his headband. He was left frightened and cut up.

There are lots of questions about the big bird near Memorial Park at Peacthree Battle Avenue and Woodward Way in northwest Atlanta.

But Richard Nikonovich-Kahn knows more than he would like.

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“It was pretty frightening,” Nikonovich-Kahn told Klaus.

The 26-time marathon runner was powering through a 13-mile run two weeks ago before sunrise when the bird first pounced on his head, breaking the skin.

“It attacked me twice on that run. I was trying to run wide of where it attacked me. Got me a second time. Made off with my headband,” Nikonovich-Kahn said.

A week later, he tried to slip by the general vicinity again, only to be met with claws.

“All of a sudden, there were just big talons scratching at my head,” he told Klaus.

Nikonovich-Kahn thinks it’s a hawk or an owl, with about a 3-foot wing span.

“You just don’t see it coming, and next thing you know, you’re tangling with a big old bird,” he said.

Online, a Springlake resident said the bird struck her in the head at daybreak, near the park. She also saw it happen to another runner. It has some joggers on high alert.

“I’ll be extra vigilant, of course. Extra vigilant,” one runner told Klaus.

Nikonovich-Kahn says he’s learned his lesson. He’s avoiding the area altogether.

“Tomorrow I’m running somewhere else,” he said.

His theory is the bird is trying to protect baby birds.

Nikonovich-Kahn said he’ll give it a few weeks before trying the route again.

Cox Media Group