nkfrench 

One ride with a couple of friends, we passed by a small lake cabin with about 40 huge vultures in the front yard.
On a solo ride I came around a curve at speed (~25mph) only to see 6-8 vultures in the middle of the narrow country lane feasting on a deer. They flew off -- very slowly. I almost ran into them. That was scary.
Most daytime summer rides there will be vultures circling overhead at some point. It still makes me wonder if they think I might be part of their next meal.

Other birds I see are grackles, and the occasional roadrunner, owls, and I suppose some kind of hawks. I'm not much of a birder and even less a photographer.

indyfabz

Saw a red tail on Saturday as I was preparing to head out for a ride. He was on a light post across the street from my house picking apart a sparrow he had recently caught. Heatiher were flying everywhere.

Smart bird. There is a community garden with a pine tree right acorss from me. Someone puts out bird seed and bread every day, so the place is teaming with pigeons and other birds. This must have been at least the second time he's hunted there because a few weeks ago I came home and there were pigeon feathers all over my back deck and surrounding fence.

For years a pair of red tails has nested and hatched chicks in the window sill of a museum that I pass while riding to work. I often stop to look up at them. Here is the link to their web cam:

https://www.fi.edu/hawks/

Can't check videos from work so I don't know if it's up and running.

With all the development in the 'burbs and all the acreage of city park we have, the critter population in the city has been growing in both size and diversity. I routinely see hawks, cardinals and blue jays out back and even in the heart of the concrete jungle. If I am coming home late I sometimes see 'coons and possums. Coumarants hang out by the river along with the occasional blue herron. A good number of rabbits by the Art Museum. Canadian geese and gulls have become almost as common as pigeons. Coyote road kill has been found, and we even have deer not too far away from my house.

mattgmann

This Cooper's Hawk was guarding my back porch the other day when I walked out for a ride. It's a screened in porch, and he couldn't seem to find the way out. He wasn't happy.

indyfabz

The bald eagle and the dining hawk:

youcoming

In my part of Ontario we see a lot of Raptors mainly hawks but the odd time have seen owls. Also see numerous other birds too many to name but never think of pictures.

Myosmith

Rural MN, especially lakes country, is great for all kinds of wildlife. I see a lot more when I'm cycling than when traveling by car, partially because I'm going slower and have time to look around and partially because the quiet bicycle doesn't scare off the animals.

I see lots of birds but my favorites are the wide variety of ducks, and the hawks and eagles. Last year there was a nesting pair of bald eagles in the trees over a swampy seasonal river along one of my routes. I hope they'll be back this year. The shallow lakes and marshes are also great for spotting cranes, egrets and herons. The larger lakes are always filled with gulls. Along the farmsteads and small town roads I often see bluejays, cedar waxwings, wild turkeys and mourning doves. When I get closer to SD there grouse and pheasants in the ditches along farmland. On early morning or late evening rides I sometimes spot an owl perched on a fencepost or stack of hay bales. Of course there are plenty of the common birds like robins, sparrows, barn swallows, pigeons, etc.

IBOHUNT

If you only saw what those things ate you would give it more than a second thought before consuming it.

Kazzy

I'm loving all the pictures and the stories! Thanks for sharing everyone. Keep 'em coming.

Kazzy

I saw a big hawk on my ride today. There was a (shirtless hairy) guy with a big telephoto lens taking pictures of it but I couldn't get my camera out fast enough and it flew away.

indyfabz

Forget the bird. I would have liked to have seen a photo of the guy.

goldfinch

Today I went to Cone Marsh in SE Iowa as I wait for weather to improve up home. Didn't bring a camera, just binoculars and a bike. Saw outside of the usual suspects: white fronted geese, blue winged and green winged teal, ruddy ducks, ring necked ducks, lesser scaup, gadwell, coots, mallards, pied billed grebe, red necked grebe, white pelicans, spotted sandpiper, willet, snipe, kildeer, field sparrows, song sparrows, tree sparrows, probable vesper sparrow, ruby crowned kinglets, golden crowned kinglets, yellow rumped warblers, eastern bluebirds, downy woodpecker, flickers, yellow bellied sapsucker, brown creeper, red tail hawks, and rough legged hawk.

-=(8)=-

Nice !! Sound like a birders paradise!
My commute home through Louisvilles park system allows me to see a wide range of birds, from Herons to Hawks and all manner of wild songbirds, everyday.
I love it!

Medic Zero

My girlfriend and I enjoy birdwatching, but rarely get the opportunity to do so. Here in the city I usually see only the commonest of birds; sparrows, crows, and pigeons, all of which I feed regularly, as well as seagulls, robins, and Stellar's Jays. Flicker woodpeckers are common here as well, as are red tailed hawks and bald eagles, all of which we see occasionally. I'd feed the Flickers, but I live in an apartment and the cakes the eat make a horrible mess. My sparrow feed is messy enough! Ducks (Mallards) and geese are common in the parks here and the geese are often overhead at different times of the year. One of my favorite birds to spot are Osprey, one commute home in the early morning (I work nights) I spotted three of them doing their characteristic hovering over Green Lake.

When I detour through the Ballard Locks on my way home occasionally, I'll spot Great Blue Herons in their preserve near the Locks or in the trees right near the Locks. There are a few different types of small waterfowl I'll see in the outflow at the Locks as well, but I never remember what they are, Grebes maybe?

youcoming

One road in our area you will see Perigrine Falcons about 50% of the time. They are pretty cool tpo watch.

jazzgeek79

While biking here in Florida I have seen great blue heron, little blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, brown pelicans, cormorant, turkey and black hooded vultures, osprey, bald eagle, and I have heard woodpeckers on the Pinellas Trail. Oh and ibis nd roseate spoonbill, and some people habituated peacocks including an albino male. Bald eagle flying low over the bike trail was probably the coolest.

aenlaasu

Love the photos! I see plenty of birds here too though not so many photos. Cranes are among my favorite. Hawks of course. Pheasants. Three types of geese (Canadian, some kind of gray goose which could be bean, barred or graylag, and barnacle geese are my favorite). Swans. Once a huge owl swooped across the road less than 50 feet from the front of my bike.

billyymc

I'm lucky that my (almost daily) commute takes me along a nice 5 or 6 mile stretch of river in relatively rural landscape, and ends at our campus where the mile long entry road takes me past a large pond. While I see lots of birds along the road including hawks, turkeys, gulls, geese, eastern bluebirds, etc., the best viewing is at the pond.

In the past several years several bald eagles have nested on an island in the nearbly river, and they tend to hang out around the pond in the mornings and evenings. The plentiful carp will sun themselves in the shallows, and the eagles simply walk into the water and grab a carp and haul it up onto shore for an easy meal. It's pretty amazing to witness. I've seen as many as 5 eagles at one time in and around the pond.

Besides the eagles, the pond attracts several blue heron (which also have a nesting colony on the river about 10 miles away - truly incredible to see 30 nests stuffed into four or five trees), mergansers, grebes, green heron, and on a couple occassions large flocks of snow geese. On my way out of work in the summer the swallows are always swooping about over the water catching insects. I never really know what I'll find there, but the lady at the security booth fills me in on what's around.

ZManT

love birds and bird photography

usually while in the saddle i'm more focused on spinning than capturing images

still, it's nice to get out and see some wildlife

saw a mature great horned owl on last night's MTB ride - excellent birds

Kazzy

No you wouldn't! Trust me on that! lol
Today I saw a duck family having a domestic dispute. The male duck was trying to drive the mother duck away from her chicks. Also saw a Raven. Pictures later.

Medic Zero

I was riding home from work this morning (I work nightshift) and spotted a bunch of crows in a tizzy.





Sure enough, they were giving this bald eagle a hard time. He was probably just trying to fish out of Green Lake, which I was riding past at the time, I see Osprey fishing here sometimes.



Hard to make out, but that's his head in the middle of that tree there. After flying around for a bit the eagle landed there, but the crows didn't give in. They buzzed him so close at times that the eagle had to duck its head. The crows were so brazen one landed on those spindly branches off to the left there.



The crows formed up like dive bombers and took turns swooping down on the hapless eagle. You can see one of them diving in some of the pictures.

hanes

We live on a small lake just south of St. Paul, MN, that has lots of ducks and Canadian Honkers, as well as a pair of Bald Eagles who may be nesting nearby. Here is a shot of one of the eagles taken looking out our dining room window a couple weeks ago. He was just fishing for dinner. Huge birds up close!

indyfabz

Did a 3-day tour last week. Saw several pileated woodpeckers and red tails. Also saw some smaller peckers. The crows were out in force making a racket at one campground. Pretty cardinals and blue jays. A blue bird, ducks and geese. Think I also caught a glimpse of a magpie, butI am not sure. Canadian geese have become like pigeons in my neck of the woods. Wish we could deport some of them.

Later this week I will post photos of the wolves, bobcats and foxes I saw at a preserve.

PhotoJoe 

Saw this on the Tour de Cure Long Beach. Riding through Pacific Palisades. They were EVERYWHERE. Never seen that before! Sorry for the bad quality. I had accidentally set the camera to video. This is a still from the AVI clip. 'Doh!

Altair 4

IF you ride the Pittsburgh Heritage Trail (Baldwin Borough Trail) on the Southside up the Mon River about 2 miles past the UPMC Sports facility, you can observe a nesting pair of bald eagles in a tree on the hillside overlooking the river. I don't have a photo with me at the moment, but will post one later (probably not going to look too good, though).

On Saturday, I spent about 30 minutes watching the eagles flying in and out of the nest. There were probably 20 people standing along side the trail observing the scene; some walk in while others like me cycled in. Beyond the thrill of seeing these birds barely outside the city limits, there is the excitment of watching the eagles mix it up with some hawks that obviously don't like their new neighbors. Having lived in Pittsburgh most of my live, it's fairly incredible that in a span of maybe 30 years, eagles when from the edge of extinction to nesting along what once was one of the worst polluted rivers in Pennsylvania.

https://www.wqed.org/birdblog/?s=eagles



Clearly, these shots were really beyond the capabilities of the P&S camera I had with me. The nest is to the left of the white plastic bag caught up in the tree. The white pixel in the nest is the head of one of the adults. Truer words were never written - "you had to be there!"

Chitown_Mike

Cycling in Chicago, I see the bird quite often.....oh sorry, this isn't the A&S section.

Covered with or covered in?