The official state mammal! The was actually at our campsite post mountain bike ride, but close enough.
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The official state mammal! The was actually at our campsite post mountain bike ride, but close enough.
So, I didn't find this on a ride, but I didn't know where to post this so it's going here. This was scrounging in our yard yesterday morning. It looked very wild. It was about the size of a large lab, except it was very lean and muscular. Long white face. Ringed tail and large black paws.
Labradoodle experiment gone wrong???? Definitely not a red fox (I've had a lot of people say that). It was about twice the size of a fox and, as I mentioned earlier, it has a ringed tail.
There's a ZONKEY on one of my weekly routes. A zonkey is a Zebra/Donkey hybrid. He's very cute.
I just saw the guy this week, though he's been there for years apparently.
I need to remember to take a camera on my next ride.
:D Please take a picture of the ZONKEY!
Limewave, you posted it on the other thread too. It looks like a fox with ringworm.Quote:
Originally Posted by limewave
DH says maybe a coyote with a skin disease? Maybe mange. Weird looking creature, for sure.
it's an extinct marsupial, the tasmanian wolf
http://www.life.umd.edu/classroom/bs...manianWolf.jpg
:cool::cool::cool::D
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggie_Ama
I plan on it. Going to try on Thursday. Don't want to get dropped from the group ride though :D
I want to see the zonkey, too.
I'm still watching the lone surviving baby hawk grow up. On Monday he killed a squirrel and didn't seem to know what to do with it. I don't think he can fly with something that big in his talons.
My current favorite series of hawk photos:
http://palemale.com/june172009.html
I was going to vote for South American coati (okay...maybe not :cool:).Quote:
Originally Posted by Biciclista
But, whatever...it doesn't look like a healthy beasty. I'd give it wide berth. Have you spoken to your local animal control or wildlife control group?
There used to be a zonkey up where I lived years ago. Saw it a bunch of times - never photographed it. Then, it disappeared and I was bummed... :(
Of course now that I'm determined to get a pic of the thing, it hasn't been visible from the road!Quote:
Originally Posted by PamNY
saw a buffalo today (or bison, if you prefer) and some longhorn steer.
Got about 5 feet from the buffalo (creeeepy), and the steer too (not as creeeeepy).
Baby buffalo may be the cutest thing ever. I saw some in the fields of the LBJ ranch about a month ago.
I am an Aggie but I dream of one day raising some Longhorn cattle. They are impressive animals!
Awwww..a buffalo/bison! I'm a fan :cool:
They're beautiful creatures :)
There were about 4 babies in the herd I saw, and yes, they are the most adorable creatures. Then again, all baby animals are adorable (bears, buffalo, tigers, lions) but they lose their cuteness when they grow up and can kill you. Did you know buffalo have humps to counterbalance their enormous heads and that they can run up to 40 mph? Neither did I. :)
I actually think the adults are kinda cute in a "they're so ugly they;re cute" way.
My auntie n uncle raise buffalo (in Alberta) & like most farms have feral cats. Whilst visiting them, they told us about how frightened the bison were of the cats! Hard to imagine but true!!!
I was so excited. I recently just saw a Spotted Owl sitting in a low branch just over my head during a late morning ride. I tried to take pictures with my cell phone but it just couldn't get a good pic due to the bright lighting.
I saw a fox peeking from a culvert.
I also saw a dead copperhead.
I live in the city... in a not so great area. The wildlife I see is highly unusual and unique to areas like mine.
In the early morning - "Wild-haired, hot-pansed street walker" as they return to their dens
In the evening - "gaggles of baggy-jeans heat packing street pharmaceutical dealers"
Ride fast, don't stare.
Spotted this gal/guy in a pasture while I was riding in the country on Saturday. Not quite wildlife, I guess, but cute as can be. Comes equipped with an ear-splitting scream, yowza! He posed for several photos, turning his head this way and that, then trotted off (quite elegantly, I might add!)
I can't remember if I posted this or not . . .
But a few years ago I was mountain biking on the NCT with DH. He rides a lot faster than I do, so we usually ride out 60-90 minutes and then turn around so that we're back at the same time.
I had turned on the trail and was first on the way back. I came around this corner and there, sitting on a low branch right on the trail was a Snowy Owl! Ghost white.
I stopped about 5 feet from it and we just stared at each other. I felt like I was in a Harry Potter book. It was amazing. He flew off after a moment. I will never forget it.
An owl!!! ~~ sigh ~~ Very cool, limewave!
One of my main reasons (or excuses) for biking is seeing things; I'm really slow on a bike, and it must be because I'm always scanning the skies, woods, streams, swamps and meadows looking for wildlife, right? ;) (That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it!)
I see deer often; on Saturday, I was getting to my turnaround point and passed a doe; a couple of minutes later, I passed her on my return trip, but this time, she was nursing her twins. No camera with me, darn it!
The week before, I'd seen a buck in velvet in the same area. That little area, tucked in behind a neighbor and close to a major road, is also good for hearing/seeing wood thrushes and various woodpeckers, and I've even heard a veery way off in the distance there.
Some of my recent rides have been after work in downtown DC; I've been seeing a Great Blue Heron and a Yellow-crowned Night Heron in the pond at Constitution Gardens, near the Vietnam War Memorial.
Most of my rides are on trails in flood plains. A few years ago, I was riding along the Anacostia River in Maryland and noticed that the trail had many small flattened (dried-out) frogs on it. Ick!
A couple/three weeks ago when I was riding that trail, I came across a small snapping turtle; he was covered in mud and looked like a leaf on the trail. I'm glad I didn't run over him! I moved him off the trail into the grass. I see Red-eared Sliders a lot; snapping turtles, not so often. And sometimes I see these skinks, which are very cute and exceedingly fast, so glimpses of them are fleeting!
I've been seeing white egrets from the trail through the swamp near my mom's house. I'll take the camera with me when DD and I go later today, and see if we can get a photo. There are alligators out there, too, although I don't have a confirmed sighting. I did *think* I saw one the other day, but it could have been a log, but when I turned around to go look, I couldn't find it. I think I would have heard it splash away, but maybe it just submerged.
I forgot to mention that on the same ride where I spotted the llama (pic above), I also saw a big bald eagle on the wing. He was flying down the valley that I was riding. Absolutely beautiful in flight! In the past I'd only seen bald eagles in enclosures or nesting. I wish I'd had been able to stop and get out my camera, but he was past me before I could react!
I've been meaning to bring my camera for months, and every time I get to the camels, I remember. Well, here they are. Wooly green camels! I probably rode by them a few hundred times before I noticed them! They are topiaries, on tobacco heiress Doris Duke's estate "Rough Point".
She had these guys made after her live camels passed away. They are very accurate, and really beautiful.
WOW!Quote:
Originally Posted by redrhodie
They are very impressive topiaries.
Thanks for sharing:)
Just noticed you live in Newport. I found Newport a fascinating place when we visited there on holidays. Lucky you!
To quote the iconic Jordan Luke
" pukeko skirt the swampsides'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pukeko
otherwise only roadkill possums
A hint of summer showed itself today..a cool bobtail lizard was in the middle of the bike path :)
I think spring might be around the corner. Ok, it better be..i'm tired of doing intervals etc in pouring rain!!! AGHGHGHG..
I had a deer run right out in front of me early yesterday morning. It scared the crap out of me! It's good thing I'm slow, because I don't think I would have had time to stop otherwise. Oddly enough, I didn't even know there were deer in south Alabama. Sounds strange, but I've lived here 5 years and never seen one (not even dead on the side of the road). Now I know - they're here! :o
Red Roadie...
I thought they were REAL camels from your picture and they were just in teh shadows!
Road this past Sunday in the rolling hills area here in Florida and saw a lot of hawks. Was a nice change form water fowl I normally see. (I love all kinds of birds!)
Today, a fawn, a Great Egret, a Pileated Woodpecker, and a little bitty brown rabbit who was very very cute!
I saw two deer today in a field near the golf course. And in the parking lot across from the field was a Park Police car. I think he was watching the deer, and not all the cars flying by me - speeding and coming too close! :mad:
I live in Tucson, Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert. About a mile from my house is a bridge over the Pantano River (usually dry) which houses a colony of about 20,000 Mexican Free-tailed Bats. If I time the end of a ride to cross the bridge around sunset, I can watch the bats spiraling into the sky as they leave to forage. It's impressive (though the bridge is a bit stinky).
The riverbed is a wildlife corridor out to the less urban parts of the city and one evening I saw a Bobcat standing at the edge of the bridge, looking onto 6 lanes of traffic.
A popular ride in Tucson is at Saguaro National Park. Last week, I saw a Desert Tortoise and yesterday I spotted a tarantula, Desert Spiny Lizard, an unfortunately flat snake that I didn't stop to ID, and common desert birds, like Curve-billed Thrashers, Gila Woodpeckers, Cactus Wrens and Canyon Towhees.
Sharon
:eek: :o It's quite close to summer & the sun's been out for the past few days...We hit the dirt this morning & I just about had a freak attack half way through our ride. I swore I hear something hiss but i think it was just a grass tree :o EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..was all i could think of.
Then, a while later Ian stopped me on the trail & asked " Are you afraid of bees....you just passed a tree with a LARGE hive and quite a few bees buzzing round.." :eek: I kinda moved me behind RATHER quickly & attempted to focus on the trail again..
Lots of little bobtails out today too :) They're so cute!
I saw a Tiger Snake today :eek:. Let's just say i didn't stop long enough to see if it was alive!
I saw a Ring-Tail today by the side of the road today. Unfortunately, it had encountered a car first :(
I did see live Cactus Wrens, Gila Woodpeckers, Common Ravens, a Turkey Vulture, Black-throated Sparrows and Curve-billed Thrashers along the way. It's really a pleasure to ride through the Sonoran Desert at this time of year.
One day I saw a mama raccoon and 3 of her babies. I saw a bunch of baby pigs (or hogs) rooting around. Stopped to look at them and heard the Mama grunt. Needless to say, I was pedalling pretty fast to get away from that! Had a bear run across the road in front of me. Always deer; saw a coyote the other day that met a car first:(. Almost put my foot down on a cottonmouth snake as I was pedalling.:eek: I live by the Okefenokee Swamp so the wildlife is abundant!
A near iconic scene: a live bald-headed eagle on top of a totem pole today!
The totem was high enough that with my nearly inadequate zoom on digital pocket camera, my neck ached from bending it for my head backward to take the photo with my shaking hands. Shaking, because from effort of trying to take a shoot with my head bent backward and upward..
Yesterday just before dusk at Saguaro National Park we rode past a rattlesnake stretched out on the warm pavement. Since it was getting dark, we didn't stop to see which species, but most likely it was a Western Diamondback. I've done this ride 4 or 5 times during late afternoon and evening and expect to see them, but this was the first time.