Thursday, September 13, 2012

Other observations

The majority of my bike commute is via the suburban "countryside". Okay, it's countryside on one side of the trail and car dealerships, a golf course, and an office park on the other... Anyway, during the morning commute, I'm by myself much of the time, at least as far as fellow humans are concerned. The local wildlife, though, gives me something else to enjoy observing along the ride.

The kamikaze rabbits haven't been around lately; they may be more of a spring phenomenon. And the deer haven't begun spooking me as I'm riding home well after dawn and well before dusk. In another month, though, I'll need to keep a careful eye out for the does.

Yesterday morning, I noticed dozens upon dozens of funnel webs nestled in the grass shoulders of the trail. The dew glistened in the morning sun and I was made aware of just how many spiders live along the trail. I'm not a fan of creatures with what I consider the wrong number of legs and I'm now leery of pulling over into the grass between Pacific Blvd and Smiths Switch. ~shiver~

Squirrels are, of course, ubiquitous but they're outnumbered by groundhogs. The groundhogs are fairly brazen: I passed a couple of guys cropping (spider-filled) grass right up against the trail the other day. Scott's even nicknamed a couple of groundhogs "Allen" and "Steve".


I haven't seen any foxes in many months and hope they'll pop back out. The chipmunks have been absent, too. Like the deer, I suppose both fox(es) and chipmunks will reappear when autumn is in full swing. My most favorite discovery -- aside from the fox, that is -- was the lone turtle trundling across the trail and into the grass toward the golf course. It was quite beautiful and much faster than I'd been led to believe that turtles could be.

Ground-dwellers aren't the only creatures about, of course. The trees and bushes along the trail are visited by cardinals, blue jays, red-winged blackbirds, robins, mockingbirds, crows, turkey vultures, and many other birds which I don't recognize. Bird song is a wonderful soundtrack to my morning commute and I am quite aware of its absence in the afternoon/evening.

What critters, aside from the typical household pets, do you see on your rides? Do they pop out at different times of day or in different seasons?

Added later... G.E.'s comment reminded me about the skunk that spooked me a few weeks ago. I also had a butterfly smash into my basket during Sunday's ride. I was going to pull over to free it, but it managed to untangle itself and fly away to menace another cyclist. :)

9 comments:

  1. We have a ton of prairie dogs in these parts, and they are little crazed critters in certain parts. They love to run out at the most inopportune moments. It always scares me when I see them because I'm convinced they're on a suicide mission.

    Squirrels are also highly prevalent, as are foxes, coyotes, skunks, possums, and of course, the household pets. I even spotted a random chipmunk not too long ago... kind of strange. We see tons and tons of birds this time of year (well, since spring really), but they will disappear for the most part when the colder temps hit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eeee, prairie dogs! I think they're adorable, but of course I've only seen them on TV or in a zoo and don't have to worry about them darting between my wheels.

    Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention the skunk from a few weeks ago. Coyotes are supposed to be in the area, but I've never come across one. I'm ~very~ happy not to have run across a bear. People occasionally report brown bears in their yards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prairie dogs are freakin' adorable! Of course, I'm not a farmer, and they don't dig holes on my land, so I just think they're cute.

      A bear would definitely freak me out. We do have random deer and elk that wander into town on occasion... forgot about those, but it's usually when the season is just ending/beginning.

      Delete
    2. Actually the bears in our area are black bears.

      Scott

      Delete
    3. Ah, thanks. I couldn't remember except I knew they weren't grizzly, polar, or koala. :)

      Delete
  3. Quail running across the road in a straight line. Bunnies, lots of bunnies. Hawks circling overhead, hungry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, quail. I haven't seen those since childhood. Good eatin'. I suppose the hawks are hungry for the bunnies, eh?

      Delete
  4. I see squirrels, ducks, geese, swans, groundhogs, possum, and occasional skunk and lots of chipmunks, rabbits, whitetail deer and birds. Of the big birds I run across the largest are the sandhill cranes and wild turkeys. In Michigan we have the usual run of the mill birds sparrows, finches, hummingbirds, owls, hawks, robins, cardnials, vultures, crows, bluejays and several I don't recognize. Living around the lakes and rivers there are a lot of waterfowl with many kinds of ducks and geese. Oh yeah, and snakes. Yick.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Snakes. ~shiver~ I mean, they're fascinating creatures, but I don't enjoy coming across them in the wild.

      Delete