What wildlife do you see on your rides?

Quote:

---

The other choice would have been to let the lion eat the dog - go on its merry way and let it try to live in peace in the neighborhood it had actually tried to live in since it's own habitat had probably been encroached upon. When you live in an area where there are lions, fox, coyotes, whatever, etc., you need to know that your pom can get eaten.

---

Tired of people wanting to have wildlife killed because it interferes with their lives! Move to the downtown area then. No wildlife there. Otherwise, know that it's a possibility b/c we have taken away the land, and gotten rid of much of their normal diet. What are they supposed to do? Our population is out of control... not theirs!

On my run, I ran into some of my favorite wildlife this week.... two domestic dogs that attacked mine (who was on leash but is ok.. the other two were not on leash), and then the mighty wasp.... attacked me with no reason! Stung me right i the neck! BUT... did see a beautiful buck in the middle of the road just prior to all that nonsense!

I really get sad riding an seeing dead wildlife. Lately it has been armadillos, lots of them. And raccoons. The road they are on is new, used to be a tiny county road with little road kill but now it is a 4 lane behemouth. :(

We have been being harrassed by a door to door pest control guy wanting to kill all the bugs on our property. I told him some of them do good and he was like "Well you have a black widow, it won't do you any good and we have to kill them all to get that". We aren't using him. We let barn swallows live on our porch and it stays mosquito free. We let frogs our neighbors run off live in the yard, lizards too.

My in-laws said many people keep Llamas to scare off coyotes from their ranches, how novel not to shoot the coyotes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

I really get sad riding an seeing dead wildlife. Lately it has been armadillos, lots of them. And raccoons. The road they are on is new, used to be a tiny county road with little road kill but now it is a 4 lane behemouth. :(

We have been being harrassed by a door to door pest control guy wanting to kill all the bugs on our property. I told him some of them do good and he was like "Well you have a black widow, it won't do you any good and we have to kill them all to get that". We aren't using him. We let barn swallows live on our porch and it stays mosquito free. We let frogs our neighbors run off live in the yard, lizards too.

My in-laws said many people keep Llamas to scare off coyotes from their ranches, how novel not to shoot the coyotes.

---

We have an agreement with living things...outside of the house we won't bother them a bit, but they are not welcome in the house.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pax

We have an agreement with living things...outside of the house we won't bother them a bit, but they are not welcome in the house.

---

My husband has a weak immune system, so we are concerned with the black widow. What if they come inside? I have never even seen one until the other night. Otherwise I don't give a darn what is in my yard, well we do kill the fire ants and let our neighbor flea treat our yard. Otherwise....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

My husband has a weak immune system, so we are concerned with the black widow. What if they come inside? I have never even seen one until the other night. Otherwise I don't give a darn what is in my yard, well we do kill the fire ants and let our neighbor flea treat our yard. Otherwise....

---

Once they come inside I become Flip-Flop Ninja Woman! :p

a beautiful coyote lives in our neighborhood. I have seen him when I'm out walking. I saw his amber eyes looking at me from the bushes, and then he disappeared. I would recommend keeping cats indoors around here! He is really big and looks more wolf-like. I think I know where some of the cats have gone. The foxes are cute and they had babies under our barn, talk about adorable! They ate lots of rodents, but we had to do some housekeeping for them because the left little furs around.

I have seen mostly moose and deer--once a fox. We also seem to have a bajillion hares in our neighbourhood this year--don't have to go out to see those.

Yeah, the roadkill makes me sad to see too. We also have lots of flattened armadillos (amoung other more usual stuff). At least dead skunk season seems to have passed:(.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pax

Once they come inside I become Flip-Flop Ninja Woman! :p

---

Ha! I love that and would claim that title as my own, but I generally count on "Combat boot Ninja husband" for larger prey such as delightful roaches (the squish freaks me out:o) Now to go tell husband that he has a new title....

Christy

Went riding last night and while waiting at a stop light, I looked over to the car at my left. In it was a clown whose makeup was running because of the heat and humidity - kinda creepy looking. Does that count as wildlife?

Later in the ride I got stung by a bee on my neck. OUCH! I'm proud to say that I didn't miss a pedal stroke, just kept riding.

Finally, when making the turn into my neighborhood, I saw a little cottontailed bunny by the pond. Super cute. Always a good sign to see bunnies in the neighborhood - that means the coyotes have moved on.

I live on the Peninsula in the bay area, in the middle of the hustle and bustle, so jack rabbits are usually as exciting as it gets. Although I did see my first snake while doing a solo-ride last Friday. It had to have been 3 and a half feet long or so. I'm not a snake gal so I have to say that it did shake me up a bit. I rode right around it ... eek.

Saw two badgers last week. They are very cool looking, I just wish their hole wasn't so close to the road. As long as they stay off the road, they should be fine. It would be a shame for them to get ran over.

We did the Enchanted Circle (New Mexico) yesterday, along the horrendous climb up bobcat pass a bear ran in front of me! It was 1/8 to 1/4 mile in front of me, just bounded across the road. I think it might have been adolescent. No photo, I was too terrified and in awe at the same time. DH was much further up the climb so he missed it. And he is really jealous. :D

Being in Maine we see lots of wildlife. Last week out with the mountain bike and dogs I looked over to my left and there was a huge moose about 15 feet away. Thankfully the dogs didnt run after it. They chickened out and ran up ahead on the trail. Just left me there.LOL. Then a couple days later I was out with the road bike and saw a deer up ahead of me that didnt want to move off the road. Yelled a few times and she finally moved on.
Then last but not least had a fox run in front of my bike a few days ago while on the road. Scared the poop out of me because I was moving right along.

I typically see Canadian geese and some other wading-type bird...big, black, with red eyes (??)...ducks, a fox once, flickers (my favorite!), lizards running across the path, little green snakes (ran over one's tail the other day :(.

About a month ago there was a news story here (Denver) about a guy who was cruising down Left Hand Canyon, in the foothills, going about 40mph, when he crashed into a BEAR that had run out of the trees!!! I'm getting ready to do a fundraiser ride that heads up that canyon; I wouldn't mind SEEING a bear, but I'd prefer it be from a distance, not as I'm crashing into it!
Apparently both bear and rider were okay, with only some good road rash to report.

I come back from time to time to read it.

I live in place where I see lots of wildlife. As a birder, I really watch. I did a team in training ride, kept a bird list during the training. The list was around 75.

Here's some favorites:

Badger, burrowing owl, curlew, white-headed woodpecker, pygmy nuthatch, prairie falcon, sandhill crane, cinnamon teal, bald eagle, golden eagle, willet, avocet, black-neck stilt, shoveler (a duck), gadwall, pileated woodpecker, swainson's hawk....

On and on - I love riding!

Mule deer, beaver, turtles, pelicans, and sometimes rattlesnakes. I like the pelicans best!

In sub tropic Australia theres a bit of wildlife hoppin around - here goes :

Kangaroos, wallabys, paddy melons, possums (nite only) Bats (by the millions) Koala (rare) Snakes (not rare - can be large and deadly) Monitor Lizard (ie HUGE Goanna type reptile) Dingo (wild dog) many other lizard types

Birds - Eagle, Kyte (sea eagle) Kookaburra, Kingfisher, Wampoo, Cat Bird (heard not seen) many many finch, King Parrot, many other small parrots, Black Cockatoo.

Insects - almost endless array !! Most noticed is the rather large Golden Orb who weave very sticky webs and BITE.

Love it !!!

In Maryland, I am used to seeing white-tailed deer, ducks, geese, swans, eagles, hawks, vultures, fox, and squirrels. What I am not used to seeing is a nasty type of bee that decided to fly up under my shirt to sting me repetitively. Unlike a previous poster, I missed many pedal stokes by jumping off of the bike and shaking my jersey, thinking that I might have to disrobe in sight of a busy highway. Luckily, the #$$$# bee decided to leave the scene.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by OakLeaf

why not? There's a big population of black squirrels in the town I live near.

Really I see more wildlife when I stay home. :p I'm moving too fast when I'm on the bike.

But how did you manage that snapping turtle without getting bit? I had to leave my car halfway down my lane one time, because there was a snapping turtle in the lane who would not move, and I sure wasn't going to get my fingers bit off!

---

They tell me there aren't black squirrels in SE Mass. Well then, someone got into the shoe polish!

As for the snapper, at first I was going to grab is tail because that's how I was taught when I was a kid that you could pick them up but you had to hold it really close to the body. When I attempted it, my 38 year old senses kicked in and well, I wasn't 12 anymore. So I teased him with a stick and when he took hold, I dragged him across the road. I usually have a piece of cardboard in my car now for emergency turtle crossings and tobaggan them across (snappers that is). The box ones I'll pick up.

When I was growing up a snapper bit my dog's nose. He forever had a white scar on his pretty black nose.

Yesterday, the wildlife report was 2 turkeys, 2 deer and some type of weasel. I wish I got pics. I also found what appears to be wild blueberries. I need to consult with someone in the know around here on berries because there is an awful lot of them. And oh how I want to snatch some! Last year I was in MN on a bear study and the bear biologist I was with knew all the berries and I loved it. Here I'm still recovering from the stomach bug and didn't want to wind up in the ER from eating poison berries!

Geese, ducks, herons, deer, wild turkey, snakes (sunning themselves on the path--dh swears he saw a copperhead), and VERY LARGE SNAPPING turtles. DH saw two large BULLS on the Katy Trail. They scurried ahead of him and then suddenly turned around. He was afraid to turn back or try to go by so he stopped--finally they stared each other down, went to separate sides of the path and sprinted by each other! I'd love to have a pic of that!

It's spring & with the warmer temps the creatures will be venturing out..

Someone spotted a few snakes along the Kwinana bike path last saturday..:eek:

When I mountain bike around here I see tons of deer and hawks (love watching hawks). But my scariest and most excelerating sighting was a bobcat on an early morning ride. Big sucker, but with a short tail, so it was a cat, not a lion. A few days later on the same trail I saw a coyote. I've also seen mountain lion foot prints, but I don't usually ride early enough to see lions, thankfully. Their paw prints are rather intimidating.

A white tailed deer crossed the road in front of me on my ride this morning. Big gangly teenage deer.

One metal elk -- a carved one on the side of a barn I passed tonight!
Other than that, nothing NON-domesticated... lots of goats, sheep, horses and cows on tonight's ride. One LARGE hawk -- red-tailed perhaps? Seems early, but maybe! Oh, and the one orange fuzzy caterpillar. (Missed him!)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crazycanuck

It's spring & with the warmer temps the creatures will be venturing out..

Someone spotted a few snakes along the Kwinana bike path last saturday..:eek:

---

Yikes!!
I will be keeping my eyes out for them at home now with so much bush around our place.

Trekhawk....where there are bobtails, there are bound to be tiger snakes etc..

Be careful!!!

Have you seen any white tail or red back spiders yet?

I didn't see much wildlife this morning. But I did see the end of the rainbow. Had to run back in the house to get the camera. Hopefully the pictures turn out.

I read about some locals seeing rattlers at the mountain bike trails, I hope I never see them. I don't think there is anything I am more afraid of than a rattlesnake! :o

I saw two bandicoots on my way home last night. I've never seen one & they were really cute!

I just did a search & yep..bandicoots

http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/bandicoot.htm

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crazycanuck

I think I saw 2 bandicoots or something similar last night. I'm going to find some pics & figure out what I saw?

They were really though!

---

they were really though?

what's a quoll?

CC you have wild bandicoots?!?!??! that is awesome beyond words!

A quoll is similar to a bandicoot but has a longer tail & more spots. They're more endangered than bandicoots.

I meant to type-they were really cute!-but must have hit my backspace button.

Friends of ours in Roleystone(hills area of perth) have tons of them in their yard at night! I just never get to see them :(

On yesterday's ride on the 3500 acre farm where I work I saw several hawks, a turtle, a small deer, and some turkeys. Way cool!

Ariel- Hawks, how cool. My husband and I saw one grab a snake in a field and fly off, only one I have ever seen riding. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, not for the snake of course.

On my commute home Tuesday I saw a lovely white crane. He decided his perch was unacceptably and moved a little further upstream, amazing to see those large birds gracefully fly.

I also saw a mama and baby goat curled up napping amongst the goats I see every commute. I wanted to stop but was sure my beeping HRM would startle them or the other goats would be curious and wake them moving. It was the sweetest thing ever though.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

Ariel- Hawks, how cool. My husband and I saw one grab a snake in a field and fly off, only one I have ever seen riding. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, not for the snake of course.

On my commute home Tuesday I saw a lovely white crane. He decided his perch was unacceptably and moved a little further upstream, amazing to see those large birds gracefully fly.

I also saw a mama and baby goat curled up napping amongst the goats I see every commute. I wan't to stop but was sure my beeping HRM would startle them or the other goats would be curious and wake them moving. It was the sweetest thing ever though.

---

Yes, we have lots of hawks here and a few bald eagles but I have not seen one on a ride yet.

Baby goats are soo adroable!!

One day I am going to get a picture of the buffalo I pass on one of my routes. They sometimes stand up on a berm by the road and it would make a great shot!

Saturday - MTB'ing....

we were biking in some vineyards when I saw a sheep caught in a net-type electric fence, wildly jerking around. She was probably trying to get to the "greener grass on the other side".

We first had to shut off the battery of the fence, undo the contact. Not sure if it was even turned on considering the sheep went through it in the first place.

then jump the fence and run down to the poor creature. I tried to calm her by talking to her, the netting was very tight where she had pulled it to the ground. We tried to loosen it up. She was rather calm but started retching when I tried to undo the tight webs - she'd just stuck her whole head right through it.
We finally managed to undo one of the main poles and get it loose. She collected her composure for a few, then took off to her mates.

We found a few people working the vineyards and asked them to call the owner.

Sorry creature, I'm sure she wasn't hurt. but those fences suck.
Nice soft fluffy coat.
I wonder if we managed to give her a feeling that we were there to help.

Today I saw a fox...a huge one! I think it's a bit unusual to see foxes during the day. This one was beautiful and definitely the biggest fox I've ever seen!

Then I saw a snake. Instant panic! Even though it was very small, I rode really close to it because I didn't see it until the last minute. I was very unhappy to be so close!

Then when I got home, I saw the neighborhood peacock. He is so annoying. I want him to go back home. His owners keep coming and catching him but he just keeps coming back to our street. He is very pretty though...I'm give him credit for that.

Your neighbours keep a peacock??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crazycanuck

Trekhawk....where there are bobtails, there are bound to be tiger snakes etc..

Be careful!!!

Have you seen any white tail or red back spiders yet?

---

Snakes are out and about now that is for sure. I was on a ride a few days ago and a car coming the other way slowed down and I thought ok what is this going to be about. Two guys were in the car and I though yikes Im out in the middle of nowhere I hope they are not going to hassle me. No they wanted to let me know that up the road a bit further was one huge snake crossing the road. Happily I did not see the snake and enjoyed the rest of my ride.

Seen lots of spiders including the two above. I don't worry too much about the spiders here after living in NSW home of the Sydney Funnel Web.
http://www.usq.edu.au/users/weppner/...web_spider.htm

You want to stay well away from those suckers.:eek:

We see lots of hawks on our rides, but this last time I am pretty sure I saw an owl in a tree. My pictures did not come out.

The ride before that we saw the usual flock of wild turkeys where we picnicked, and I expect to see them again today.