What's up with Birds and Cycling
 

Just so you Brits know, I'm talking about the kind with feathers and beaks.

Why do bicyclists freak birds out so badly? Every time I ride near a bird or flock of birds, they take off as soon as I approach. Presumably they perceive me as some kind of a threat. Seems like a waste of energy to me. Birds ain't stupid--they ought to be able to figure it out.

With the exception of dogs, most domestic animals don't care about cyclists. Wild animals like deer are wary, but rarely flee at the mere sight of me coming down the road.

Is there an ornithologist in the house?

Man, I had hopes of a "Chicks on bikes 2" thead.

I don't know but birds have been here a heck of a lot longer than humans so their system seems to be working.

Yeah, dinosaurs with wings. I keep waiting for a botto triple facepalm.

I am under the impression that the average bird is fairly stupid.

Birds often take off and fly for several seconds right along side or directly in front of me. It takes them three or four seconds to realize I'm keeping up with them and then they veer off, left or right, or they climb. But for those three or four seconds you have a front row seat watching them in the act of flying. It always fascinates me. I keep thinking if only I had some sort of helmet cam and could record it, it would probably be invaluable footage to a nature show. I'm not a bird watcher, but people who are would just die if they could see a bird fly up close for several seconds like I have. It's but one of the many things I love about cycling.

Crows are pretty smart. Obnoxious, but smart.

I love to watch them soar in front of me, too. Yesterday I was descending at about 30 mph and a flock of crows (of course) took off when they saw me. A couple flew the same direction I was going and I was surprised to note that we were traveling at about the same speed. Like pharasz says, once they figured out that they weren't getting away, they changed course. On a few occasions I've had hawks fly right above me for a couple hundred yards. Yeah, I feel kind of like a bird when that happens. Love the freedom.

I can't really say the same - I find that I get much closer to birds on my bike than off. It happens often enough that I pass a crow on the side of the road, literally no more than 2 metres without it flying off. And I've had to swerve because a few sparrows wouldn't get out of the way...

Vultures don't seem to care about cyclists. I've passed a couple that were dining on a deer and they just kind of looked me over as I passed. They were probably wondering if I could be their dessert.

I regularly ride by a small flock of geese. They are nasty, ill tempered, evil birds, but I've never had trouble with them on the bike.

That's because you're not a bird. It's a predator/prey response to fly off as you approach. Many birds are flock (aka herd) animals. They gain protection from the sheer numbers of individuals that make up the flock since a predator can usually only grab one individual. The smaller the bird, the better the chance they are going to go into a "flight or flight" (literally) response. Geese tend not to do this as they are larger and more territorial. Sparrows are going to fly off as soon as they recognize you as a potential threat. You're a massive strange looking animal (not a usual cat, fox, etc.) that is moving at a steady but very fast pace toward it. It's not the usual predator behaviour (they tend to stalk) which birds have evolved over millions of years to react to. They flee when you're right on them. It's what many bird species have evolved to react to.

back to bicycles now?

I think the brief moments are neat when a low-flying bird goes parallel to you at about the same speed.

It's not stupidity, it's instinct.

I do have the occasional bird follow me overhead. I assume it's not interested in me but rather wants to crap on my head.

For all the billions of birds in the world, you see
very few dead ones.:rolleyes:

little birdie in the sky
why did you whitewash in my eye
I was brave and did not cry
I'm just glad cows don't fly

When it rains the river near the greenway rises a lot. For some reason, you'll also seen an increased number of geese around the grenway in various puddles. One stretched is just littered with poo. They also hiss at you... more so if you sneak up on them, which I did, once.

I stopped on time to see how close I had to get before they start hissing. Once you start moving at them, the bigger ones seem to turn at you and start hissing. However, if you get too close they'll run off.

I was actually taking pictures (which I don't have anymore) of my commuter to sell it. A bunch of geese came from the river and started walking over. They got pretty close to my bike (I wish I still had those picture to show), but not me.

Thanks for that (and your explanation). I appreciate it.

I almost crashed into about 10 turkeys gathered at the bottom of a descent. There was a gap right up the middle of them, which was very fortunate for all of us.

Birds can't fly that slow, and you know it.

This is what we get in Australia every Spring.
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/3295/smagpie.jpg
http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/286/magpieswoop.jpg
http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/2...5e3959561c.jpg
http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/4045/magpie.jpg

You understand he comes from the land where horses only walk and birds slowly amble by.

Glue a plastic owl to the top of your helmet mate.

I would like to declare Jihad on every red-winged blackbird that attempts to latch on my helmet.

OP,

I keep a couple of birds. They're flighty with anything they don't trust, and it's hard to get them to trust anything. Even new food is something they'll run from.

You may not be a threat, or have been the last 5,000 times you road by. But they don't know that cause they ran away the last 5,000 times: Cause you could have been a threat.

If a bird can't get into the air it's done for if you turn out to be a threat. And taking off is a relatively slow and difficult process. Once it's in the air it's safe from ground animals. So it opts to fly to the nearest tree, wait for you to leave, and return to scavenging.

Ive raised chickens over the years and I can tell you that as birds, they are flight responsive.The least little disturbance and they have but one reaction... FLEE!