Commuting - Running over wildlife

On my commutes there seems to be many pigeons in my way and I always have to steer around them.
(They're pretty brave here in NYC).

I almost ran one over today, he was literally almost under my wheel, I breaked hard and he jumped, not flew, out of the way. Should I have run him over? Anyone else have similar annoyances with the fauna? :mad:

Should I have run him over?

Why of course! You should simply run down any audacious wildlife that is too stupid or thoughtless or not quick enough to get out of your way! Humans rule!

Jeez. Get over yourself.

I ran over a raccoon about 2 years ago. It was not light yet and I was on my way to work, cruising down a bike path by the river. The mid-sized raccoon ran from one side of the path and I couldn't react. It ran into my front wheel and then I ran square over it with my back wheel. I was on my cross bike and had a pretty good grip on the top bars at the time, so I managed to stay upright, but it scared the hell out of me. There were a lot of loud noises emitted by the raccoon and myself.

When I collected myself I went back, but didn't see the raccoon. I guess it must have been OK and waddled off.

Like most urban dwellers (or former dwellers) I would say pigeon and rats are fair game if they get in your way. Squirrels are probably in a grey area. Anything else -- ducks, geese, other birds, raccoons, dogs, cats, etc. should be avoided.

Sometimes you're the bug, sometimes you're the windshield.

Pigeons are flying rats. Squash away.

What were they doing on the ground to begin with, anyway? Wings, mofo, wings! ;)

For those little critters that get in the way, I usually snarl in their direction and they run like heck in fear. Very effective, but it also freaks out humans who are nearby. :D

It's beyond me how any bird gets hit by bike or car. Wings give them a hell of an advatage over land bound vehicles, don't they? That said, I always try to avoid killing or injurying any living thing-a life's a life as far as I'm concerned. Last summer, in separate incidents, I ran over two rats and nearly ran over a pair of mallards. With the rats, they ran across the trail, under the beam of my headlight, leaving no time to react. I got them with both wheels, felt like running over semi-melted Butterfinger bars. Checked for their bodies later but found neither-hard to believe they could have made it. The ducks did the same thing in the afternoon, but were similary invisidle in the grass on the side of the trail. I grabbed the brakes as they ran in front of me and, as they disappeared under my front wheel, wrote them off as gonner's, but alas they were quick and didn't get hit.

so far i have hit:

a goose

a squirrel

a chipmonk

i didn't try to hit any of them; but the geese around here deserve it a little. they stand in the middle of the trail and wont even move when you roll by them. usually i try and swerve at them coming close enough to try and scare them off the trail... well once i came a little to close and grazed one. these geese are unbelievably stupid slow and annoying.

i DO have love for almost all animals but the urban goose (just like the domesticated deer we have here in philly) are a danger to themselves and others cause they just aren't scared of humans at all anymore.

the squirrel and the chipmonk both just zigged when they should have zagged...

chipmonks seem to love playing chicken with you... they just sit right in front of you freaking out as opposed to just picking a direction and going.

but no animals have been seriously harmed in my commute so far...

So far I havent hit anything but had a very close call with a squirrel. Squirrels seem to enjoy being hit by cars and everything else, they run to the middle of the road then **** out and run some randome direction.

Funny this came up. Just today, I was bored and counted the number of rabbits and squirrels on my way to work (just over 4 miles, mainly trails). I counted 65 combined. I pretty much have a close call everyday. I have taken out 2 squirrels, one a goner, I think the other made it. Also took out a ground squirrel but he just bounced off my spokes.

Dee vee -- around here the Geico auto insurance company was running ads where two squirrels are sitting beside a road chattering to each other. When they hear a car coming one signals the other to watch and at the last minute darts out in front of the car. The car swerves and crashes while the squirrels roll on the shoulder of the road laughing. I gave up counting the number of Geico moments I have had with squirrels -- although I have never crashed because of missing one or run over one.

I used to be amazed by this one rabbit who loved to play chicken with me. He would run up next to me along side the path and then cut in front of me. I was amazed at his speed marveling at how easily he could accelerate to 20 mph, hold the speed then dash in front of me, until recently I saw a Discovery Channel special about rabbits - those little critters can do 45 mph it turns out, so he was just toying with me the whole time.

Havent hit any critters yet. Some times I do get a flock of Canadian Geese hogging the bike trail, especially after it rains and there are puddles on the trail. I have found that when that happens I can clear the trail quite effectively without slowing down by barking loudly and aggressively at them. I am certain it is quite amusing t oonlookers, but I find it to be a great stress releiver.

Anyone ever hit a small flying bird, or more exactly gotten hit by one. The other day on my way to work comming off of a long down hill I feel a smack on my handlebars. Look back and there is a small bird flopping around on the pavement. I didn't even see the sucker. I'm just glad he hit my handlebars and not myself. A hit hard enough to knock him out would have hurt like hell.
This is the second time I've seen this. The first time was when I was cycling with a small group of lowracer recumbents in the Finger Lakes region of NY. That time the bird smacked into the cyclists helmet when the cyclist was doing near 30mph.
Craig

Ah ha! I think I have the best one yet. And you Statesmen seem to have all the crazy creatures inhabiting your lands!

I once cycled from London to Scotland over five days on my own. One morning (somewhere up north) I was scaling a hugely steep incline on the edge of an almost vertical valley which was thick with an ancient oak forest. A russel in the trees over my head and in the moment I glanced up, a HUGE bird of prey (perhaps 6ft wing span) rears up in front of my face (approximately 2ft from my nose) and, equally as shocked as I, drops a pidgeon on the road in front of my wheel, then tumbles through the air in a frenzee of flaps and dissapears through the bushes. I, totally shocked, have to negotiate a dead pigeon, now 2inches from my front wheel. Having been travelling at approx. 1.5 mph with paniers, tent etc. I loose my balance, slightly.

Chris.

Worms, especially after a rain.

Once in Olympia WA., a friend ran over a 9 inch bannana slug. Horrible scene. He wiped out because the thing was slick and he swerved to try to avoid it at the last minute.

Yesterday on the trail I came across some sort of dragonfly convention, which was mostly fascinating and awe-inspiring, but also somewhat disconcerting when they got up from the trail (presumably in fright of the oncoming giant?) and flew in haphazard zigzags. I was sure I was going to chew one of those suckers up in my spokes, but luckily for all involved, they avoided my wheel. Dragonflies!