Was riding to work this morning when I encountered a very large gaggle of geese to the right of the path. Suddenly they all decided they needed to be on the left side of the path and started scrambling in front of me. Had to come to a quick stop until they got out of my way.

Not the first time I've gotten the bird.

I live in the city and the geese were quite a nuisance in the parks. Twenty or 30 years ago you'd probably never encounter a goose at all but they've made a comeback.

Now some predators (coyotes, foxes, raccoons, etc) have made a comeback too and balance is slowly being restored. Of course the predators have their own downsides. A family of raccoons had made their home in my chimney a few years ago.

Hehe, the last couple of mornings I have had to slow down to wade through a flock of ducks on the canal path. They sure must be used to humans because they barely even acknowledge me and both to move out of the way.

Geese. Bunch of a$$holes.

Ugh. They always leave minefields of goose-poop in their wake...

I ran over a squirrels tail this summer. I felt super bad but I couldn't do to much because he popped right out in front of my tire.

A local cyclist died recently as a result of a crash after hitting a turkey on a fast downhill. Both geese and turkey flocks seem to be thriving here.

I have ran over multiple animals but the number one craziest (I wouldn't doubt if I was the only person in the world to have done this) was when I ran over a bird while it was flying. Seriously!? Out of the entire sky it decides to fly back and forth infront of the 23mm wide space that my tire takes up and then BAM! What are the odds?

I've run afoul of a turkey flock that lives over in the nearby Arboretum twice. Those male turkeys are (a) surprisingly big, and (b) surprisingly fast when they get pissed off! Never actually hit one though.

I lost all respect for geese a long time ago. Now I call them ducks, just to express my disdain for them.

Last week I was on my way to work when up ahead on the MUP I saw one goose in the middle of the path and another looking like he was going to take a step to join his friend. I called out, "Watch out, ducks!". They cleared the way for me.

Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on them.

Hey, ducks are cool.

The geese are getting pretty thick in our city. They actually had to pass an ordinance making it illegal to feed them, because whole flocks wouldn't give up their free lunch and go south for the winter.

Our geese are so accustomed to people that they even ignore my Airzound. Occasionally I'll have one stand in my path and stare me down, causing me to have to change my direction to go around. It's like the goose is playing chicken.

All together now , "Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow" "The Bird's the Word"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfin%27_Bird

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow


This week (College football) Oregon Ducks are #2 ranked !

My wife saved a gosling that had wandered into traffic once. She scooped it up in her hands and ran it to the edge of a creek where the parent and sibling were. The little one just peeped and squirmed. She said that it felt so light and soft.

Now I have to tell her that she did a bad thing.

Shouldn't that be run a fowl ??

Yikes. I have a flock to contend with during the summer, on my first mile from the house which is downhill. This time of year they are smart enough to be off sleeping somewhere, so I (well, them too) am safe. There are still deer though.

and someone thought calling them "duck" would be an insult.

No-no! The other geese would think it was chicken if the goose ducked!

Just try to pigeonhole that pun I made cold-turkey! It was a lark for me!

Same here!

You're not the only one. Well I run 28mm, I guess that may have skewed the odds.

lol.

I actually ran over and killed a squirrel on my bike a few years ago. I was riding down a steep hill pretty fast, a squirrel chased another one onto the street in front of me, and I caught the chaser on the neck before I could slow down. I heard a little popping sound, and I'm pretty sure I broke its neck. I kept going and didn't dare look back. It was pretty disturbing, but I got over it pretty quickly, because, honestly, I don't much like squirrels anyway. If they didn't have furry tails, we'd recognize them as the tree rats they really are.

I missed hitting a raccoon by less than a foot on one really early morning last month. He and a raccoon buddy were in the middle of the city street doing their raccoon thing when I came up, probably the only human in an hour. I assumed they would break for the side of the street, but one faked me out and took a flatter line, hence me almost pegging him. It turns out he was high-tailing it for a storm sewer inlet. That would have been ugly if I'd hit him, he was probably 30+ pounds.