An eagle likely swooping in for food along Highway 20 Thursday evening hit an Anacortes police patrol vehicle and shattered its windshield.

Officer Rob Leetz was transporting two people to Mount Vernon around 6:45 p.m. when the eagle hit his car near Christianson Road.

“He was driving along and all of a sudden, kaboom, he gets hit by an eagle,” said Capt. John Small. “He had his windshield basically exploded in his face.”

No one was injured in the accident, but the eagle died.

Sgt. Russ Mullins, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer, said it isn’t that uncommon for a bird to be attracted to a critter in the median or road kill along the highway.

“We get this fairly often with hawks, eagles. They’re looking one way and along comes a car,” he said. “When I get the call I’m not surprised ... It happens probably 20 times a year.”

A Fish and Wildlife officer found a dead eagle along Highway 20 Friday morning that they believe is the bird that struck the patrol car.

“It doesn’t take much with a bird. They’re not real strong-boned,” Mullins said.

If dead eagles are found in good condition, Fish and Wildlife saves them and sends them to Colorado. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife program distributes eagle parts to Native Americans for ceremonial purposes, Mullins said.

“We try to get it to somebody who will use it so it doesn’t go to waste.”

Mullins said it is illegal to possess an eagle or eagle parts without a permit.

“We’ve raced to locations to get there before somebody stops and picks it up and takes it home,” he said.

After the accident, a second police officer transported the two people to Mount Vernon. There was about $400 in damage to the vehicle.