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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Pacific Northwest
    Posts
    3,436

    What wildlife do you see on your rides?

    Inspired partly by Nanci's eagle cam post (for another, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch/eaglecam/) and partly by a thread I once saw on BikeForums:

    On our rides on the Sammamish River Trail, we see Great Blue Herons, bald eagles, various hawks, bufflehead and merganser ducks, kingfishers, coots, mallards of course, cormorants, the occasional river otter and babies, and lately an osprey. What do you guys see?

    (Another favorite BikeForums thread, by the way, was "What's the biggest bug you ever ate?" As one who rides breathing through her mouth often, I'm sure that thread will be relevant to me at some point).

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    373
    On my old commute I used to regularly see rabbits (why do baby rabbits insist on darting right in front of you?) and the odd deer, which was lovely. My commute now is down a main road on the way in, any wildlife I see is mainly roadkill. On the way home its more rural, so in the last two times i've seen pheasant, squirrels, lambs (aww!), cows and lots of birds.

    Out on MTB day rides it is predominantly sheep, especially in the Lake District, and other farm animals, as well as swans, ducks and lots of other birds that I don't know the name of but are striking enough to point out. On nights rides I've come across and owl and a badger (and lots of other shining eyes belonging to who knows what).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Aberystwyth, Wales
    Posts
    659
    On Tuesday afternoon, I saw lots of phesants on my ride around the countryside. Big males in glorious colours. Beautiful! On other rides, I have also seen a heron. I always see tons of birds of various kinds, but unfortunately don't know enough to identify most of them. Typically the list includes ducks (several species), swans (at least a couple of species), merehens, robins (European, not American ones), seaguls, pigeons, blackbirds, magpies, and crows. I've counted at least 10 species in one day, just on my little 2.5 mile ride from the station to where my office is.

    I always see lots of rabits and hares, and of course the usual sheep, cows and horses. And I have seen a water vole run across the trail once.

    so far my most exciting observations have been the heron, the phesants and the black swans....and of course the vole (as I'm doing my PhD on voles).

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Southwest Idaho
    Posts
    518
    Now that the weather has gotten warmer, I see a lot of ground squirrles (whistle pigs, as they are known in these parts), American robins, house finches, hawks, an occassional golden eagle, antelope and deer. I am sure this list will expand as the days get warmer and longer.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    2,556
    I see occassional deer and turkey on my commute to work. Weasel, muskrat, and beaver on occassion if I'm cycling by wetlands. There was a barred owl living in my neighborhood a couple year ago. I saw it once as it flew in front of my when I was riding. It landed in a tree 10 feet from the road, so I stopped. We looked at each other for about a minute, then it flew off. I used to bird watch by bike so much that I'm amazed I never ran off the road.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Ottawa Ontario Canada
    Posts
    74
    Ah! A subject favourite to me! Sometimes I think I ride Just to see the non urban.....Last year I saw a bobcat!............Often enough deer.....the occasional fox..........At night I haven't seen a skunk but I sure know one is nearby! And I have heard an owl. By day, the best was a marsh hawk. There are Many kind of geese and duck here-mallard, teal, Canada goose, small hawks, mergansers, woodpeckers, kingfisher, once a snow goose.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Victoria BC
    Posts
    531

    Ahhh!

    Saw this lady enjoying the hot sun a couple of weeks ago on a ride. You can just see the gi-normous smile on her face. Usually there are half a dozen of her friends with her...the rest were inside cooling off on this day.

    ~Sherry.
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    All vintage, all the time.
    Falcon Black Diamond
    Gitane Tour de France
    Kuwahara Sierra Grande MTB
    Bianchi Super Grizzly MTB

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Location
    San Jose, CA
    Posts
    1,485
    Let's see... llamas, horses, lots of cows, deer, kamikaze squirrels, lizards, hawks, turkeys... That's all I can think of right now.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Norwood, MA
    Posts
    484
    Deer (20 on the ride home last night), wild turkeys (usually 14 to 22, right now the Tom's are displaying), raccoons, opossums, grey squirrels, red squirrels, flying squirrel, chipmunks, woodchuck, red fox, coyote, Least weasel, Canada geese, 2 Saw-whet owls, yellow spotted salamanders, turtles, Spring Peepers, Woodcock, and a full array of songbirds.
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  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    The Red Stick
    Posts
    1,439
    Rabbits, squirrels, robins, finches, house sparrows, blue jays, grackles, canada goose, mallards, occasional wooduck, and oh yeah - a hedgehog

    The roving dogs (wild, but not wildlife) usually belong to someone, just someone that doesn't care enough to keep them safe and secure in a fence.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Shelbyville, KY
    Posts
    1,472
    As I was riding today I was treated to a wonderful show, a doe and her fawn in the meadow. The fawn was staying very close to mom but they both seemed relaxed and a bit confused by me and the bike. They were beautiful!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Israel (Middle East)
    Posts
    1,199
    Still on a high from my June 23 ride so I will write about it here too...
    I went out to the border where the two rivers meet to see my lovely bee-eater colony. There are even more of them now and their trilling I could hear from quite far away.
    It was early in the morning before the First Patrol and so the tracks of the night's visitors were really clear on the sand-strip next to the Border Fence
    Suddenly it caught my eye and I braked immediately...a snake track. Perfectly long and wiggly and wavy amongst all the pig prints, jackal prints and lots and lots of different tiny birdy-feet with their associated beak-poke-holes.
    I just stared and stared.(There are no snakes in New Zealand so I am impressed by them because we have heard about them in foreign literature and seen them on tv)
    Oh I just felt like A Wild Cave Woman or something...an amazing few moments
    Do you-all know what I mean?

    All you need is love...la-dee-da-dee-da...all you need is love!

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Pacific Northwest
    Posts
    3,436
    Margo49, I was pretty taken by your description of what you saw by the Border Fence---one of those profound connections with elemental nature. I had an experience like that climbing Mt. Fuji years ago---when you realize just how powerful nature, animals, the earth, and your part of that are. (bad grammar, but you know what I mean).

    No snakes at all in NZ?

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Posts
    325
    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.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Perth, Western Australia
    Posts
    5,316

    snakes

    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

 

 

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