Helicopter pilot reported a large bird struck the aircraft shattering the canopy.

Attributes
ACN	1566629
Time
Date	201808
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Initial Climb
Flight Plan	VFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Canopy Window
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Rotorcraft
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 180 Flight Crew Total 7300 Flight Crew Type 2400
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness Inflight Event / Encounter Bird / Animal

Narrative:

After departure; level 500 MSL/AGL; bird came through right front window. Debris hit pilot and front two passengers. Passenger #2 (by doorway) had pieces of bird and plexiglass hit his face and his glasses; as he put it; 'exploded off of my face.' I looked down and saw passenger #1 (front middle seat by me as the pilot) holding a piece of plexiglass in her hand and bleeding. I radioed the tower and advised of the bird strike and that I was immediately returning to base (about 3 miles) since the aircraft didn't seem to be damaged except for a hole in the windshield. We returned to base with no issues with airworthiness and passenger #1 was bleeding; so I wanted to get her medical attention as soon as possible. The bleeding [turned out] being very minor after we landed. She said her injury was only a scratch so self-diagnosed herself. Airport medical came and looked at her and she confirmed that she was fine. The hole in the right front window was approximately 20' x 24' and ZZZ wildlife officer came out and took blood and feather samples to determine the exact type of bird it was.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter pilot reported a large bird struck the aircraft shattering the canopy.

Narrative: After departure; level 500 MSL/AGL; bird came through right front window. Debris hit pilot and front two passengers. Passenger #2 (by doorway) had pieces of bird and Plexiglass hit his face and his glasses; as he put it; 'exploded off of my face.' I looked down and saw Passenger #1 (front middle seat by me as the pilot) holding a piece of Plexiglass in her hand and bleeding. I radioed the Tower and advised of the bird strike and that I was immediately returning to base (about 3 miles) since the aircraft didn't seem to be damaged except for a hole in the windshield. We returned to base with no issues with airworthiness and Passenger #1 was bleeding; so I wanted to get her medical attention as soon as possible. The bleeding [turned out] being very minor after we landed. She said her injury was only a scratch so self-diagnosed herself. Airport medical came and looked at her and she confirmed that she was fine. The hole in the right front window was approximately 20' x 24' and ZZZ wildlife officer came out and took blood and feather samples to determine the exact type of bird it was.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.