What wildlife do you see on your rides?

[Smilie]

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.

[Aggie_Ama]

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.

[MrsB]

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.

[kygrrlinco]

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.

[Boise Birder]

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!

[biking viking]

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

[jayno67]

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 !!!

[amithereyet]

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.

[TahoeDirtGirl]

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. 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!

[TrekTheKaty]

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!

[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..

[andtckrtoo]

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.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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

[jesvetmed]

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!)

[Trekhawk]

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..

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