What wildlife do you see on your rides?

Yesterday I rode by wild turkeys, a deer, and a squirrel, all hanging out at the same part of the road. Does that count as a trifecta? :cool: None of them seemed the least bit perturbed by me. The squirrel was in the middle of the road sniffing at the plastic divider thing. I was thinking, "dude, don't spend too much time on that..."
Later when I came back, a squirrel tried to race across the street in front of me. Run!! He made it.

I also noticed some llamas at one of the farms, but I suppose they don't count as wildlife.

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

Your neighbours keep a peacock??

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Yes...unfortunately!

He technically "lives" at a small farm about 1/4 mile from here. But evidently he prefers my street. He roosts on my next door neighbor's roof, digs up my yard, poops an awful lot, and screeches. His "owners" bought him along with his mate...and supposedly they mate for life. But I guess he doesn't like her because he won't stay with her. I'm not sure what's going to happen to him when it snows.

Icky & rather annoying are the terms I use for cycling in Western Australia during our warmer months. Since we're surrounded by sand..we have oh so many flies, cockroaches, etc etc... My ride along a particular train line is littered with dead cockies..blech

It's not really summer yet (officially anyways) & my legs are already chewed up...:(

Ya can't cycle slowly either..all the flies hang around! One hand on the bar & the other swatting :mad:

Oh yay, i can't wait until the Marchflies appear...

Today we saw these guys at Logboom Park, the place at the north end of Lake Washington where we begin and end our rides:

Attachment 7691

I was out doing a practice lap for the 12hr event at the end of the month & encountered a roo. Right in front of me as I zoomed up a little hill and around the corner.

It was huge! The roo bounced away to the left into the bush, we both stared at eachother for a few minutes and went on our merry way.

I sure hope I don't encounter any when i'm doing a night lap on the 12hr..It's freaky enough hearing them rustle in the bushes!!!

Not wildlife, but still cute:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3198/...e05ef008be.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3137/...9fb678b842.jpg

Oooo.
I had a fox pass in front of me and a car today on Sligo Creek Parkway.
That was a first for me. :D
Cool.

Oh, neat, I've only seen foxes twice (and never from a bike).

We saw two coyotes on our ride Sunday. One of them was really aggressive, too, snapping at a person walking a dog.

vultures, cranes, loads of squirrels, occasional armadillo and occasional tortoise/turtle

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Originally Posted by batsheva

vultures, cranes, loads of squirrels, occasional armadillo and occasional tortoise/turtle

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How cool to see an Armadillo!
That is one weird looking animal.
When we were on our last driving holiday in the States I told my kids I would give 20 bucks to the first one that saw an Armadillo in Amarillo. LOL - I still have my 20.:D

melissam, dachsund, aka_kim & I saw a bald eagle and a bobcat a couple of weekends ago on Calaveras Road in Sunol (east side of the San Franscico Bay area).

We watched the eagle soar from it's nest and fly over the Calaveras reservior, and then I spotted what looked to me like a very large housecat crossing the field nearby. Didn't occur to me at first that it was a bobcat. D'oh. :o

Back in December, DH and I went out for a ride with a couple of friends from the LBS rides. We stopped at the top of a hill to re-group and chit-chat, and - as usual - I start scanning the sky to see what was flying. I saw this bird coming toward us. We often see turkey vultures in the area....and I was thinking...Boy...that is one BIG vulture! :eek: Now, vultures are big birds, but this thing was markedly bigger - and it soared differently. As it got closer, I could see the white head and tail of a mature bald eagle. It was the first time I had ever seen one in Howard County (I've seen them elsewhere - including while paddling the Potomac). Very neat. :cool:

There's an old school grounds on our regular route with a bald eagle nest in one of the tall pines, just about 50 feet from the road (and 50 feet up!). We haven't seen the eaglet(s) yet - we don't always stop long enough to look for them - but mom and/or dad stay close to the nest. Those are big birds.

Reviving an old thread so I'll have an excuse to post my photo of a raccoon in Central Park. He or she was bold, retreating when a crowd gathered but returning quickly when the coast was clear.

A Google search revealed that raccoons are quite common in Central Park, but I'd never seen one.

Pam

I know I'm not supposed to like raccoons, really, but I do.

And not on a ride, but on a run in Annapolis last weekend, I saw a fox for the first time in nature! Tried to take a cell phone pic but it was much faster than I.

Looks like a NICE day in Central Park.

You can see to the right there why that coon was taking a chance with you.

Raccoons are quite bold. I've tried to get them away from my camp food many a night, without getting close to them. They won't budge if you're not standing right over them. Yelling, flashlights, rocks--nothing works. I'm not going to approach a coon because they carry rabies. Of course, I make sure all my food is locked up tight so they never get anything. But they have to investigate! Their little muddy footprints are cute!

My in-laws used to have a little red fox that lived nearby and it would treat us to a view through the dining room window almost every day. As soon as it heard any sound, though, it would zoom out of there back into the woods.

Karen

I saw a wild turkey on my drive into town this morning :)

As I was riding yesterday I saw what looked like a large cat in the distance just sitting on the side of the road watching me. (I don't wear my prescription glasses when I ride)

Once I got up to it realized it was a large raccoon. It was just sitting there on the side of the road and got up on his two hind legs as I approached. I don't know if raccoons like to chase but I got up on my pedals and rode off as fast as I could.

Aren't raccoons nocturnal creatures? They are pretty cute though

Saw a snake, actually 2 while mtn biking.

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Originally Posted by ridenread

Aren't raccoons nocturnal creatures?

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I looked that up a couple of years ago because I was seeing them during the daytime and worried that they were rabid. Turns out it's pretty normal this time of year - the raccoons you see during daylight hours are new mothers who need more food than they can collect at night, and need to return to the nest often rather than being out all night foraging.

I saw a couple on my ride on Friday, too.

Today while riding the river path, my daughter and I came upon "a bunch" of feral cats! How odd. Close by is a local caterer. It was just so strange. The more we looked in the bushes on the side of the river, the more cats we saw. I will assume the caterer "drops scraps." Nice kitty, kitty......

All I ever see are roos. Just me n da roos in da singletrack hood :rolleyes:

We got her well clear of the road, and no one got his hand bitten off.

http://www.lickingcountybicycleclub....leRescue01.jpg

My husband's college roommate is a vet. We had dinner last week and he was telling us if you see any nocturnal animal in the day time it is likely sick or rabid but mothers needing to be doing things makes sense Oakleaf. Coons are cute but I assume they are all rabid. Of course the best thing is to stay away from wild animals anyway, the one in central park is likely used to foraging for trash and doesn't the norm because he is a park dweller. I only see dead coons or armadillos in the daytime here. I did see I real live armadillo at dusk, it was so cool!

And I see a fox from time to time stalking the neighbors chickens on my drive home. They have the same number of chickens so I guess the fox isn't very good in his hunt?

Monday night I saw a squirrell mountain biking, scared me as much as that little guy. Our ride leader saw a snake, glad I missed that!

wonderful photos gals!

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Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama

the one in central park is likely used to foraging for trash and doesn't the norm because he is a park dweller.

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Just a normal New Yorker, being out at noon is the raccoon equivalent of "up all night." ;)

Are armadillos nocturnal? We see them all the time during daylight hours at Canaveral Seashore. :confused:

I thought armadillos were nocturnal but come to think of it someone in our local club saw one riding in daylight. Even being a native Texan I have only seen one in the wild that wasn't road kill! :eek:

what was the armadillo riding?

Not sure, probably a beach cruiser because Armadillos are pretty slow movers. :p

Ever see an armadillo close up? They're hairy, or I guess you'd say bristly, like pigs. Strange animals.

Saw these turkey vultures (eight of them!) around a dead deer on my ride in Allamuchy, NJ a few weeks ago. I also saw two live deer (YAY!) bounding across the road, and two snakes.

Unfortunately I didn't have a camera immediately on hand and this was not observed while cycling:

Just saw an hr. ago, while at home, a bald-headed eagle wheeling around outside our window...probably over 200+ft. away from our window.

We live in downtown Vancouver...many building stories high..several times ten-fold. So to see this in the heart of the city, not totally rare. There is the odd eagle's nest here and there amongst the city hustle and bustle somewhere. But not typical either.

We saw a red fox today. First live one I've seen in more than a year. Only two of our group made it over the crest of the hill in time to see the fox, before it darted into the woods.

I was tootling along several months ago, alongside a nature reserve and a big red roo bounded up besides me( scaring the living crap out of me mind you!) and was jumping along the creek which it didn't want to cross and up the slight hill on other side, is road and suburbs) for about 500 metres. That was nice.
I see lots of magpies, which is nice -until breeding season and they swoop to try to peck your eyes out!
Occasional cockies flying overhead( cockatoos) and the occasional scare from big birds bombing past my face( almost all birds in Oz are HUGE).
Oh and since I am on the rural edge, cows.Lots of cows.

Not on a ride but I was driving a favorite route to verify the work they finally did on the two year old flood damaged bridge and saw a PEACOCK. Beautiful, big and bright. I hope to see him again when riding, I guess he was an escapee from a local ranch around there?

First antlers of the season, a healthy looking six-point buck in velvet.

(For those who don't live in white-tailed deer country, only the males have antlers, and they shed them each year after the rutting season. When their antlers first grow out, they're covered in fuzzy "velvet" that eventually rubs off.)

Then we saw some birds that I have absolutely no idea what they were. They appeared to be some type of exotic, which explains why they're not in my bird books, and they were running around loose so they're apparently laying fowl. Wish I knew what they were.

I didn't have the camera but the scissortails are really out in high number this year. Those are some cool birds! I have a whole mess of birds that have moved into my finches nest since they have left. I have to figure out what they are.

I saw a ruffed grouse the other day. Hope someone doesn't shoot it. People do that here.

The red tailed hawk family I've been watching had a tragedy. One of the babies was killed when he tried to fly over a busy street and fell into traffic. He was found with a rat in his talons (possibly his first kill).

The other two babies are thriving, and enjoyed a food fight this morning. A photographer documented the event here:

http://thebethlenz.blogspot.com/2009/06/food-fight.html

Pam

I - and two cars - had to yield to a large family (or possibly two families) of Canada geese crossing the street this morning. There were at least a dozen...the youngsters definitely had the adult coloring, but were noticably smaller. The largest one - possibly the adult male - stayed in the lane longest and gave me the stink eye as I rode past, trying to shoo it off the road.