It’s common for Yukon mountain bikers to carry bear-spray, but what bikers aren’t expecting is to be attacked from the air, by a bird.

“It was a solid hit,” said Thane Phillips.

The Whitehorse mountain biker was ripping down a trail called Mother-Tucker — a single track route that forms part of the popular Grey Mountain trail network — when he was attacked by a northern goshawk.

“Yeah [it] put three or four puncture holes in the back of my helmet, he would have peeled me open with a can opener basically if I didn’t have my helmet on,” said Phillips.

After hearing a piercing bird cry, Phillips said the goshawk followed him overhead. 

“It was like hovering above me, following me as I was tearing down this trail then all of a sudden it just disappeared from sight and I just felt this big smack in the back of my head.”

Phillips and his biking partner managed to escape the bird but his damaged helmet shows just how powerful an attack it was.

“That’s the goshawk, scraping the top of that helmet with both its very sharp talons and probably even throwing a bit of beak in there too,” said Cameron Eckert looking at a photo of the helmet.

Eckert is president of the Yukon Bird Club and said the biker was lucky, the attack could have had a much worse outcome.

“So fortunately that biker was wearing a helmet cause that would have been right on his head otherwise.”

Eckert notes the northern goshawk is a bird of prey, similar in size to a large gull. However, unlike other predatory birds, the goshawk isn’t shy about lashing out if its nest is under threat.

“I’m not surprised to hear about this,” said Fiona Schmiegelow, a biologist and professor at Yukon University. “Northern goshawks are an aggressive territorial species.”

Schmiegelow is aware a pair of goshawks have been nesting in this area for a few years, adding that normally a bird like this wouldn’t be attacking humans unless they felt threatened.

“At this time of year when they’ve got young in the area, if we can stay away as much as possible that would be really helpful for them as they’re living on the margins as it is.”

There was a time when the northern goshawks, were under threat, but they’ve bounced back over the last several decades. Still, Schmiegelow said the less stress the birds are under, the better.

“Like many species they are feeling the threat of habitat loss in other areas of their range and also climate change and so they need to be spending a lot of their time hunting and finding food, just to keep alive.”

Phillips has shared a photo of his damaged helmet on a local mountain biking forum, warning others to stay away for now.

Both Schmiegelow and Eckert agree giving the birds a few weeks of peace is a good idea.