Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Declared Emergency
Environment - Non Weather Related
After takeoff; for weather ATC turned us to 160 heading; passing approximately 5;000 FT we hit a bird. It struck the First Officer's window with great force and made a noise loud enough to be heard in the coach cabin. The wiper appeared damaged with a large amount of bird carcass on the window; blood and guts. Because of the force of the strike and location and vector of the bird I elected to return to [departure airport] for inspection. We declared an emergency; asked for a return; briefed the flight attendants and passengers and were vectored for an approach. I elected to land overweight. We landed at approximately 133;000 LBS; smooth touchdown and long roll to slow down. [We] stopped after clearing the runway for inspection by Fire Department and temperature check with a Forward Looking Infrared Radiometer (FLIR) of the gear. All okay and then proceeded to the gate. Recorded all the above in the logbook. We did not see the bird until just a split second prior to impact; no time for an evasive maneuver.
MD-82 Captain reported loud; strong bird strike shortly after takeoff. Wiper appeared damaged; so an emergency was declared and the flight returned to departure airport for an overweight landing.