Unless you find yourself somehow living through a biblical plague, fish don’t normally fly. At least, that’s what a couple in Atlantic Highlands, N.J., thought until their Tesla was damaged by a falling fish outside their home.
The Tesla was parked in their driveway when the falling fish was caught on camera. The owners, Cynthia and Jeff Levine, said they didn’t know what happened at first. Cynthia said, “The car started honking, it went crazy honking, which we had never heard, I didn’t know how to turn it off. I went out and he was in the yard somewhere, he heard the crash and everything but ignored it. We were like holy crap look at this, and I said to him, it looks like fish scales and blood on the windshield.”
The couple lives about a mile away from the water, where a hawk or other bird could have caught a fish and fumbled it midair. The couple noted that there is an eagle nest nearby.
It’s a story I’m familiar with. I live on a river in Maine, and we have a bald eagle family living in our backvyard. Beyond all the random sticks and materials they drop trying to add to their already VW Beetle-sized nest, we’ve had fish rain down, with one narrowly missing a Land Rover Defender I was testing last summer.
I’ve been lucky enough to avoid having one of my cars “fished,” and the damage to the Levines’ car shows just how destructive a direct hit can be. The glass on their car’s roof was shattered, and that’s before they had to clean the scales and blood, but the couple should have gotten the car back from repairs by now.
Despite the damage, the pair has maintained a good sense of humor about the incident. “I lowered my deductibles, so if any birds are listening, please don’t drop it here because I’m covered now,” Jeff said.
