Peds
 

True to my avatar, I hit a mallard duck yesterday. The ped duck ran right in front of me when I was going at full speed. She was heading off the MUP when a car scared her and she did a sudden u-turn right into my path. Don't think she was hurt, as I only grazed her feathers, but it was extremely close to full impact. The nearby male duck may have distracted her. Then, a few minutes later I had to veer into the grass to avoid hitting a Canada goose crossing the same MUP at a very leisurely pace.

I miss winter already. No crazy oncoming bike commuter passes. No 3-wide groups of peds. No kids wandering aimlessly on the MUPs. Not as many iPod zombies.

Not sure it counts as a pedestrian if it flies.

Good thing you don't live in Portland...

Bike rider wanted for hit-and-run that left one duck dead...
EDIT: updatged link:
http://bikeportland.org/2015/04/06/b...ck-dead-138833

(they changed the headline after the biker came out and told his side of the story).

*** Warning - contains graphic image of a dead duck lying in a bike path ***

The link doesn't seem to work, but seriously? What was the crime? Wasting good food?

Around here the Canada Geese really don't like the sound of bike bells. On 3 different occasions this week, there were geese on the MUP in front of me. When I rang my bell, they couldn't get off the path fast enough. 2 of them decided to brave oncoming traffic in the adjacent street instead of being in my way.

OP, be afraid. Be very afraid.

walking isn't a bird's strong suit. :)

Something must be up with the ducks. I had to literally stop and wait this morning while three of them took their own sweet time clearing off the Greenway. It was weird, I've never seen that from ducks before. They don't want you anywhere close but these guys acted like they owned the place.

Link updated above

Posting date was NOT April 1st. I guess it's a different world out there...

Some excerpts:

According to a tipster named Steve C., just before noon a man wearing a red and white lycra jersey came rolling down the path near the lake, struck the duck and left it dead, then failed to stop.

NOTE: This post was originally published with a blurry, grainy photo of the man who ran over the duck. After hearing from readers concerned that the person was being publicly shamed and the subject of a witch-hunt, I removed that photo.

There are geese and goose droppings all over the bike paths in Eugene, but oddly not on the other roads. Also ,the Canadian honkers seem to have absolutely no fear of humans (unlike the wild geese I see elsewhere).

I have to think that some clowns are walking out onto the bike paths, and feeding the geese from the paths. I don't ride fast around them. :bike2:

This thread reminds me of a commute I used to run a few years ago where I there was a certain hill I could scream down each morning. Once I saw two sparrows flying together low to the ground off to my right. It looked like one was chasing the other and they must not have noticed me until the last instant. One flew about 3 feet to the left of me, the other flew between my left leg and seat tube! Talk about fast reflexes!

Killing migratory birds requires payment of $10 to the federal government on a yearly basis.

Then, you can kill them.

Not until.

https://youtu.be/Lw0FP9putKM?t=1m14s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D15HPy4x73g

You haven't lived until some asshat lets his unleased dog scare the Toulouse geese into flight just as you arrive on a bike. They generally only get about five feet off the ground, tend to stay right over the bike path and are like flying bowling balls. You really, really don't want to get hit by one of these.

So Hitchcock wasn't so far off base after all!!!

looks like the crowd letting out after a New Orleans basketball game.