What wildlife do you see on your rides?

[makbike]

I will never forget the crazy dog that I encountered at the first clinic where I worked. You could not touch this dog without him going crazy unless his owner used his laser point. Once the red dot appeared on the wall the dog would hold a perfect point and we could do anything we needed. If the dot disappeared people moved pretty darn fast as did the dog. It was an amazing sight!

marcie

[SadieKate]

This being the land of fruit and nuts we have all kind of stuff out here. Ostrich, emu, peacock, llama, Somali Wild ***, etc. I miss the camel that used to live out by Lake Solano.

I've had finches roost on my hat when taking on nap on the bank and have also wakened to find a trio of pelican staring down their beaks at me from their perch on the log I was resting against (heh, naps in a fishing trip are a work of art ). Pelicans are HUGE when they're standing over your head.

But twice in the last few weeks, I have had a Red-Shouldered Hawk sweep over my head by only 10 ft or so. Bubba calls me Hawk Woman for the number of times he has seen this happen. I'm hoping this means good things for our Utah trip next week.

SK

[Aggie_Ama]

The wildlife in Austin, Texas is actually somewhat boring. We have seen a hawk, white-tail deer, snakes (grass and one rattler being eaten by the hawk), cardinals, grackels, pigeons. The non-wildlife we frequently encounter are donkeys, cows and yesterday we were sharing the road with a horse.

[Nokomis]

in addition to all the farm animals - deer, coyote, various birds (hawks, eagles, ring neck pheasant)...
but the worst is snakes, when they decide to sunbathe on the road. If they get startled by the first person to pass, they start moving erratically and are hard to swerve around I really don't want to run over a snake.

[margo49]

I just started doing this ride again (after a break). Now it is spring and there is a colony of bee eaters (Merops apiaster) that are doing their burrow-in-the-bank nests. Must be 100 of them with their lovely colours (even better than kingfisher), their trilling whistle song and their crazy aerobatics. Nature's BASE jumpers, they throw themselves into the air (from a thin branch or a power line - they have only tiny little feet) and *then* start to fly.
Also saw otters in the river, mongooses scurrying from one place to another and a flock of skittish finches.

Wonderful thread, btw

[RoadRaven]

I just started doing this ride again (after a break). Now it is spring and there is a colony of bee eaters (Merops apiaster) that are doing their burrow-in-the-bank nests. Must be 100 of them with their lovely colours (even better than kingfisher)...

Ah! Margo! I envy you the bee eaters...
When we first got SKY (satellite TV) one of the first programmes I saw was about African Bee Eaters and it has always stuck with me - not only because of the clarity of picture and colour (we live in a bad reception area for 'normal' TV) but also because of the community the programme described with aunts, uncles and grandparents all helping to raise one couples chicks - and if anyone other than a first cousin approached the hole/nest/burrow, then they would be rousted away promptly. I was well impressed!

[AuntieK]

Last Fri I rode in a place called Antelope Island. It's an island in the Great Salt Lake. There I spotted bison, antelope, barn owl, small owl (it had it's back to me, so I couldn't ID), rabbits, great blue heron, Canadian geese and of course seagulls, ducks and starlings. Oh and lots of bugs (ate more than I saw of these)

[margo49]

Yeah, RoadRaven. I read that last year's boy-bee eater chicks help the parents with the digging of this year's nest. Now there's an idea for occupying teenage boys and keeping them out of trouble
I found another but smaller colony even closer to home (along-the-river-bank ride).Quite the wee ornithologiste,amn't I?

[bcipam]

The wildlife in Austin, Texas is actually somewhat boring. We have seen a hawk, white-tail deer, snakes (grass and one rattler being eaten by the hawk), cardinals, grackels, pigeons. The non-wildlife we frequently encounter are donkeys, cows and yesterday we were sharing the road with a horse.

I did "Hell Week" last year out of Fredericksburg. We saw just about every kind of exotic deer and antelope possible. Plus the everyday cows, horses etc. Also saw a strange herd of angora goats, lots of interesting wild birds, cool stuff. But then again I'm from California so it was all new ot me!

[mimitabby]

Biking in the Seattle area, we see lots of birds, from Eagles to waterbirds.
but last year we came up upon a skunk. We came REALLY close and held
our breath... and the skunk just looked at us and kept on with his business!

talk about adrenaline!
:
but it was a happy skunk I guess.