David Bierbaum

I got my helmet pecked on for an extended period of time by a nest-defending redwing blackbird today, on my morning exercise ride. I also spotted one chipmunk near the Piasa Bird in Alton, sitting there staring at the cliff of the bluff.

A nice break from my usual fare of squirrels, pelicans, egrets, geese and wild turkeys. My most entertaining wildlife encounter while bicycling was that turkey buzzard that landed on the railing of the observation... tower?... in West Alton, just three feet away from me. He just sat there and looked at me, till I told him "good morning". The coyote wiping his butt in the grass of my back yard doesn't count, since I wasn't on my bike at the time...

Edit: Oh, and Biker? That pic looks like it came straight out of the Roaring '20s!

Bikey Mikey

Got some of those around me as well since I live right close to a school.

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Deer, raccoons, squirrels(too darn many IMHO), rabbits, red-tailed Hawks, and some others.

OldTryGuy

The typical snakes, iguanas, gopher tortoise, deer, raccoon, belly up armadillo, suicidal squirrels and bunny rabbits, seriously wild drivers; however, beyond a doubt, the two coolest were a Bald Eagle just looking at me with those huge eyes and its talons caressing a kill as I slowly bicycled by at a distance of 20' and a Florida Bobcat watching me go by no more than 8' away.

Condorita

A hoopy frood always knows where her towel is.

Mountain Mitch

Distinct lack of sorority girls around here; but we make up for it in coyotes, lynx, bobcats, black bears (I've heard there is a grizzly on one of the trails I often ride but haven't seen him yet), moose, deer and the ubiquitous marmots. I've had road races with hawks and coyotes and deer and I've watched eagles hunt the marmots by flying below the road barriers and suddenly popping up over them. We have lots of cougars but I've never seen one from a bike. The deer are getting a bit pushy and often seem to hop out on the road quite close and concern me a bit with the risk of a collision. Our snakes are pretty small compared to people further south but on rare occasions we'll see a bull snake up to a yard long. Our black bears are pretty well behaved although my wife spooked me by riding right up to one the other day (thought I might have to do the white knight routine!); and we do have a sow with 2 young cubs living in the woods just below us.

Old_Roadie

Sounds like we ride the same bike paths.
I have seen Sea Turtles near the power plant In Seal Beach on the San Gabriel River trail, and I have also seen a Sea Lion in the river channel , I don't believe it was a Seal.
And I have seen Eagles in Eldorado Park. Haven't seen one but I know there are skunks around

ss1977

Saw a couple of snakes and tarantulas, some long horn steers and a few buffalo on yesterdays ride.

Condorita

Seems we do ride the same paths at times! Rabbits just outside the north end of the corrals (actually in the park) at Carson. Flat raccoon on a ride I once took out Imperial from the airport Green Line station out to the beach and south. Raccoons and skunks competing with the feral cats a co-worker insists upon feeding (to her credit, she also helped capture and sterilize the feral cats), but that is near work and shouldn't really count. And sea lions (funny how "Seal Beach" should actually be "Sea Lion Beach"!) in the San Gabriel River.

BluesDawg

I'm pretty sure this thread is why this has been stuck in my head all day.

fmy906

Ospreys, bald eagles, blue herons, ducks, geese, deer, red fox, goats, bison, emu, donkeys, squirrels, dolphin, feral cats, and dogs. And kingfishers and red tailed hawks. And raccoons and possums.

John_V 

My daily rides are in a wilderness park. Any wildlife that lives in the woods, here in Florida, you can see at this park at some point in time. The other day, there was a 4 foot gator along the side of the paved path next to one of the marshes. No one bothers with them and they really haven't bothered anyone in the park in the three years I've been riding there.

sknhgy 

Last year I saw an extremely rare (for this area) Coachwhip snake.

CommuteCommando

Roadrunner this morning. Fumbled to get my phone out and managed to get a great shot of sidewalk

JerrySTL

The Madison County Illinois Schoolhouse Trail between Horseshoe Lake State Park and Hwy 203 is only about 5 miles long but teeming with wildlife. There's a bald eagle nest visible from the trail (just about a quarter mile east of the RR tracks towards the south); deer, wild turkeys, ducks, geese, turtles, snakes, and the occasional fox and coyote.

The eagle nest is a little hard to find this time of year as it's covered with leaves. If you go by it in the winter, then it's easy to spot.

Popeyecahn

I guess I'm on the right forum area as my eyes deceive me. I thought it read "Wildfire on Rides"... pffft

As for Wildlife, lately mostly several dead ravens and a raccoon. I was nearly struck by an errant hummingbird yesterday and had a bee strike my forehead. Oh and plenty of young thangs around UCSD

blt

Sadly, I had the same misreading. Perhaps because this morning it was too close to the thread entitled, "Lightning." Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I did ride close to a wildfire a few weeks back. The wildfire caused most lanes of a freeway to be shut down, and my normally peaceful route was being used as an alternate by a lot of drivers. Going up a steep 3/4 mile stretch that usually has zero cars in either direction I counted 157 cars pass me.

As for wildlife, the most interesting encounters are always the ones with wildlife in the road.

The deer that wanted to head straight for me. How long do I play a game of chicken with him? The antlers aren't THAT big, but just being knocked off my bike doesn't seem fun. Eventually, I put my feet down and then won the staring contest, he headed back into the woods.

I saw a jogger on the MUP, I thought the dog was with him. He kept going while the dog stayed behind and didn't follow him. On closer inspection, the "dog" was a coyote who headed into the tall grass alongside the MUP as I approached.

I don't really like the squirrels, the chipmunks, and the bunnies who want to cross the road right in front of me. Cars and nasty pacelines aren't as scary to me as the experience of going down a steep grade when there are small animals nearby that are either crossing the road or threatening to cross the road.

This past Memorial Day, I was doing a lengthy downhill on a road that is sometimes steep, sometimes gentle, and there were too many small animals crossing. Coming around a curve, there was something that was just getting across the road. I thought, "That looked like a really big squirrel." In passing by the near vertical 10 feet or so of hillside cut out for the road, I saw the bobcat sort of clinging to the side. I locked eyes with it as I passed, me giving it a look that said, "maybe if I had a better look I would have realized you were too big to be a squirrel" and it giving me look that said, "nothing to see here, move along". I appreciated him more than the last bobcat I had seen in the road, who didn't want to budge as I was coming down a somewhat steep grade towards it, but finally moved into the trees as I got close.

The wildlife off the road I mostly have to stop to really appreciate. I went on an MUP in Massachusetts with a friend four years back. Boy, it was a slow ride, because my friend had to make frequent stops for us to birdwatch.

And then there is the aspect of cycling that I discovered 30 years ago or so. Man, do you get a much better look at roadkill from a bike than from a car. One thing I don't really need in life is better looks at roadkill. It is, however, a price to be paid for cycling.

BikeWNC

Saw a very pretty though very dead copperhead on my ride this morning. It had been run over by a car it seemed. Sorry to see that.

GTryder

Recently Canada Geese and Mallards in a pond along the MUP.
During winter rides on the MUP, along a frozen North Saskatchewan River, Deer on multiple occasions and 2 Red Fox.

Much wilder are the skateboarders & bmx riders that that spill off their park adjacent to the MUP.

Blues Frog

I had a whitetil doe racing me from the other side of a fence. I was hoping she would not leap out in front of me. Also a few buzzards overhead, which prompted me to tell my riding partner maybe we should PICK UP the cadence. He got me back later with a short joke.

zonatandem

Riding back roads in northern Utah came upon a standoff in the middle of the road between a large dog and a big doe.
Dog kept circling doe, she just turned and kept facing hbim.
Then she spotted us on our tandem and took off into a field.

Timtruro

Today 2 blue heron, and several cormorants.

Daspydyr 

Coyotes, Big Horn sheep, rabbits, lizards and other desert stuff.

I was on a Century ride once and saw a Bikini Photo shoot going on just off the road against a Joshua Tree setting. That was "wild!"

RonH

I see several turtles on most rides, snakes (mostly black snakes), saw a deer once, hawks, egrets, saw a pair of eagles last year, horses (not wild), and goats (not wild).

on the path

I commonly see deer, woodchucks, turtles, red-tails, the usual. Last week I got a really good look at a turkey vulture, who didn't fly away from the road kill that it was making a meal of. I gave it room and didn't threaten, just cruised by, and was rewarded with a close-up look at an amazing creature.

Artmo 

Pelicans, great blue herons, egrets, osprey, bald eagle, alligator, snake, wood stork, Canada geese, vultures, sandhill cranes, armadillo, dolphins, manatee, tortoise (not turtle), cows, horses, bobcat, deer, roseate spoonbills, ibis, gulls, skimmers, and on and on......