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The school year's starting again .... and geese are everywhere... but I am finding this week that if I MAAAAAa! at them in the most obnoxious loud way I can, it helps clear my sinuses and they go waddling off to the right! (Drivers shold be grateful since I'm on a path right next to the road and they wander there, too...)
My animal of the week, this week, is a pair of Sandhill Cranes I flushed from the road ditch in a swampy area, right next to me. Was riding the single speed on pavement, so the birds never heard me. These are normally very wary birds and you seldom get so close to them. I could actually feel the wind from their flapping wings, though. Made a great ride even greater.
Interesting, nwg. The Sandhill Cranes here are more used to people, I guess, as we often ride RIGHT by them on the bike trail. My favorite was a pair and their one youngster (only a little smaller than the parents) I'd see almost every ride for awhile, but alas, they seem to have moved on. We find them to be quite tame, but we love seeing them!
Today I saw a couple of hawks very close to the trail. I am still surprised how many hawks I see in this part of Florida. In fact, one flew down and perched on the fence around the pool here at the RV park when DH and I were cooling down after our ride today. We watched him/her for a good long time and got amazingly close before he flew up into a palm tree!
Quote:
Originally Posted by emily_in_nc
I had red winged blackbirds dive bomb me ... 'til I clipped the straps on the camera that was mounted on my helmet. Seems they thought they were wings and I was invading the territory... today the geese stuck to the fields. The only thing blocking the path was... Attachment 18347 ... yes, I've shared the picture with Facilities and Services...
Seeing a lot of fawns, this week. Some does in our area even had twins. The fawns are big enough now to probably fend for themselves, but, like the adults, are unpredictable when I encounter them while riding. I have a bell on all of my bikes. Works great for bears and for deer. The deer tend to run the other way when I ring the bell, rather than jump out in front of me as they sometimes do when I don't have the bell to ring. Some of the guys I know think it's kind of sissy to have a bell on their bike and get a good chuckle out of me having a bell on all my bikes, but I find a bell to be a very handy item around wildlife. Pedestrians, too, of course.
You probably remember my bad experience riding road bikes on HHI, where we were almost arrested for riding on the street, instead of the path with the kids, golfers, and other assorted tourists. This was at that gated place at the end of the island, where we had won a condo stay at an auction. So, is that Sea Pines?
But, I am not sure if I ever shared the other exciting event that happened there. This was when we were still mountain biking. We drove down there with 4 bikes, as there was a well known mountain biking place on our way home, a little north of Hilton Head. While we were still on the island, in the gated area, we noted a little trail, so we rode there. We were about 1/4 of a mile down the trail, when a gator slinked out of the woods. I turned the bike around and I never rode that damn mountain bike so fast! I didn't see any water, but I am betting there were ponds in the woods by the trail. When we got back to the street, we saw a very small no bikes" sign.
I lived in Florida for almost 5 years, and I never saw one, including some teenage times of swimming in the canals.
No, we actually did ride on Pickney Island, and it was fine, no gators! The gator incident happened right on HHI, on a little bitty trail in a neighborhood.
That alligator story was all over the news here in Florida. Gave me chills, since I walk my small dog all the time here in Florida. There is a pond here in the RV park, but it is full of ducks, which I suspect wouldn't go there (or still be alive) if there were gators. I don't walk Paisley close to it, just in case. I have never seen a gator in the three winters and the past year that we've been here, anywhere in the area, despite many ponds about. Just as glad for that!
Animals are part of bicycling no matter where you live and ride. Believe it or not, I was actually attacked by a pair of nesting Canada geese who decided to take up residence at our apartment complex in Chicago. Rode past them and one actually flew up and whacked me on my head with its wings a couple of times and whacked me hard. Another example of why we should always wear a helmet. :)