Around here, due to the drought last year, the squashed frog population is way down. But curiously, the squashed turtle and squashed snake population is way up.

What's new on your ride?

I have seen a lot of squashed opossum this year.

And, they always seem to be sneering at me.

Lots and lots of mulberries

I see a lot of road kill, I bet we all do. This year I've decided to record some with pics, if convenient. Here are a couple of recent images.

Aesop's Fable





An idea for a coffee table book?

At the cabin near Ely, MN last week, I saw loads of critters.

A bull moose in a roadside swamp, three coyotes eating from a deer carcass, a timber wolf crossing the road about thirty yards ahead of us and a marten running across a narrow fire road.

Keep in mind the cabin is on the edge of the wilderness area known as the BWCA in northern Minnesota.

We also carried a fairly large snapping turtle by the tail to the otherside of a local logging route.

To say he was po'ed would be a major understatement.

There was little appreciation shown for our gesture.

Edit: Yes, the moose was a rotting carcass. Buzzards and two bald eagles were fighting over the tick infested beast. As for the marten, it looked like it had a pine grouse hen.

Turtles and snakes around here too. Squirrels and chipmunks too.

Watch those. Their splatter is hard to remove from your frame.

Do the little chipmunk guys play some sort of Russian Roulette game and TRY to run out right in front of you?

I swear- I'll look forward and not see anything cross the path, until RIGHT in front of me.

Tons of toadkill here in eastern NC. Mostly reptiles and amphibians. Sometimes its interesting biking by the same dead thing day after day and watching its decomposition.

The deer carcass that's been moldering in the ditch since February has finally been obscured by vegetation.

From a ride early this year.

What_the_Possum_Did by 50N40W, on Flickr

I suppose it might just be passed out.

Not only lots, but ripened a good ten days earlier than usual. I'm looking forward to the roadside blackberries and raspberries in a couple of weeks.

Possum are not known as drinkers....poor guy probably pissed himself too!

In the city here, it's pretty much all grey squirrels and pigeons (and perhaps the occasional garter snake). Seems par for the course so far...

A little more wildlife excitement elsewhere in the GWN, apparently. This situation, which happened last week some several hundred km's east of here in the mountains, would've been a little more unnerving under pedal power (the guy snapping these pics of a grey wolf bounding behind him is on a motorcycle):

https://globalnews.ca/news/652668/b-c...ghway-gallery/

A hazard in our area, I'm afraid. You learn to heavily wax a frame early on around here. Megulars' does a good job of removing them as well, just got a Giant Nutra that was pretty covered.

Lot's of deer recently, especially fawns hit by cars. The coyotes have them moving around onto the roads. The turkey buzzards/vultures usually dispose of them within a day or two. I can never tell if they're circling overhead for me or for some road kill.

I was doing a long ride in the rain today, 2 live turtles. A small one was right in my path, and due to the rain, I mistook it for a simple discoloration. For some reason, I chose to go around it, as did the two folks I was pulling for. Could have been a bad scene. We see quite a few turtles this time of year, and I never really gave them much thought as road hazards until today.

Amazing. A person would have NO chance on a bike. No chance.

My favorite road kill was a baltimore oriole. I had never seen one before, so I stopped and looked at it. Beautiful bird, lying right in the road, looked uninjured but lying there all wrong like that it had to be dead. But still couldn't let it get crushed by the next car so I nudged it with my foot to move it over to the edge. As soon as I touched it it jumped onto its feet, shook its feathers a couple times, and flew off! I was mighty surprised. I guess it had just been stunned.

Yesterday I saw another yellow bird. No idea what it was. The size of a goldfinch but all yellow. I didn't stop to inspect.

Don't even know if a frame pump would work against that wolf - that's a fascinating, yet scary photo

Not seeing much here on DG but the odd toad or crab - but I wasn't able to avoid taking out a rat on a night ride a week or so ago

DD

yeah, i dont suppose a squirt in the face with a water bottle work work very well either. i've noticed lots of large turtles this year.