What wildlife do you see on your rides?

[Quillfred]

I appreciate the strong draw of nature as well. That is why I lived on Vashon Island for ten years and spent a 3 hr/day commute to work.

I would hear owls almost daily about 4 am. Got to see a Great Horned and a Barred (almost thought I had the elusive Spotted).Different hawks and eagles, sparrows building nests, hummingbirds (they would sometimes "dance" in the spray when I watered), Pileated Woodpeckers and other species. The Tree Frogs would sing after a rain. The deer would eat in my drainfield and would "mow" my strawberries and raspberries.

Margo, I looked up Bee Eaters as I am not familiar with them. What a beautiful bird! It must be quite a treat to see them. Snakes usually like it warmer than Western Washington, but I used to see some shy Garter Snakes.

[crazycanuck]

As far as i'm aware there are no snakes in nz.....! Hoop snakes for the tourists though..tee hee...

It's a good thing it's winter here in Western Australia..I think most snakes are in hiding..Although they're out there, i still look around me before i water the bushes on my mtn bike rides...

I'd love to see just one live snake but know it would be one of the lethal ones so i'm cautious on that wish...No desire to have a run in with a dugite or a tiger snake thanks....

No creatures on our ride today-too early for the live roos...I only saw a VERY large dead kangaroo on the side of the road


c

[kiwi in oz]

Nope, no snakes in NZ

Crazycanuck - what's a hoop snake?

[crazycanuck]

I'll never tell. Ever heard of drop bears? Same thing...

c

I'll tell you over coffee one day.

[kiwi in oz]

Awwww come on, tell me/us. The kiwis in my house are confused.

[Pax]

Funny thing going from IL to AZ, I used to see squirrels an robins and smashed skunks...now I see gamble quail (cutest babies EVER!), small fuzzy ground squirrel-looking things, coyotes, javalina, lizards, snakes, and lots of hawks. I'm gonna wreck because I'm paying so much attention to the flora and fauna rather than the road.

[Quillfred]

Queen have you seen any Roadrunners yet? I saw one many years ago during a sweep of the Southwest. I just did a search and it stated they can go 17 miles per hour on foot, er I mean claw. They can catch Rattlesnakes as well.

When do you get to start the diving gig (speaking of animals)?

[Saxa82]

Last year I wrote a poem about the wildlife I've seen on rides. Every so once in a while, I add something new to the poem, so it really is a work in progress.

Saxa82

The Flora and the Fauna

On my many rides I see
the flora and the fauna all around.
The coyote crosses my path,
I startle the bear in his wood,
I eat the gnats.
Orioles and scarlet tanagers flash
their brilliance, goldfinches flit about.
Caterpillars dot the road,
in a month, I blink away
the moths they’ve become.
Above, there’s a hawk screaming
its authority, snake in its talons.
A fox flies by, golden glimmer of a tail.
A mink slinks across the road,
I spy a heron silently fishing.
The garter snake winds its way
across the road, nearly flattened by my wheel.
A blizzard of mountain laurel blinds me.
Soon, their petals will look like
old tissue paper, tea brown and wrinkled.
Native rhododendron unfurl their flags
just in time for the Fourth of July.

What am I in this landscape
but a smudge against a blue background?

[Duck on Wheels]

Are those anything like jackalopes? Mythical beasts for impressing tourists? I vaguely recall something about snakes that would bite their own tails to form a circle the size of a bicycle wheel and then roll very fast over long distances. Nonsense, I presume. And drop bears, would that be bears that jump on you out of trees? There _are_ big cats that do that (mountain lions leeping onto deer?), but bears? Næh!

[crazycanuck]

ONe day whilst mtn biking in auckland(after 4yrs i might add) our biking partner Ian (got quite confusing)said watch out for the drop bears...I sat & thought... ian's never told me about these... I vas foooolleeeedd...ARGHT
The other ian told me it was something they told american tourists about when the met them either in NZ or on thier OE in Canada...

Hoop snakes-an ozzie friend here told me about them...Í knew she was having me on...She too told American tourists about these & they believed her....

c