I'd say with the crane, it was purposely hit. I saw pictures somewhere that all along their dirt road, and dead geese because someone chased them down with their car and purposely ran the whole flock over.Yeah, people can be pretty awful. Unfortunately they are 'wild' ducks, so I can't really keep them confined or restrict them to the neighborhood. They actually go around town too. If you go to the local gas station they're usually there too begging for food.
There's been people out here that purposely go out of their way to hit some of the adults too. I've seen people swerve to do it. One of the big male Muscovies that visits us has a permanent limp on one side because he got nailed by someone.
We also have a sandhill crane that visits the lake that has a broken wing & leg (healed like that) from someone hitting him. Not sure how you hit a bird that's like 6 ft tall with a bright neon red face! We definitely need signs around here, but the city could really care less.
Do you know of any bird rescue/rehabilitation centers near you or in your State? I rescued a wild duckling who was hurt really bad on one of it's legs. We found a place who could take it, Avian Haven. They had what was called ambulances to help transport injured birds for people who might not be able to get to them. We transported the duckling, and picked up somebody's injured Sapsucker to an ambulance who bought those two birds, and a couple of others, to the bird rescue center. Something like that could probably help those injured birds that you're seeing.
