Flora, fauna

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Dec 17, 2020
Messages
297
Reaction score
805
Location
Aberdeen WA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Seeing how bicycles are by far the best mode of transportation to get in touch with nature, and how members of this site come from all around the world, I feel like this has potential to be a really cool thread. Let’s see some cool wildlife photos!
 
IMG_20190925_100744314.jpg

Duck in the wild
 
6B53B223-858F-48F3-9E05-3B090A88EC5E.jpeg
FB667B7F-68E5-4029-99AF-6974CC0DFAB5.jpeg
29A7627B-DEF0-484B-9797-C76F6ED4AD03.jpeg
80B44EE4-1A3A-479F-8BCA-C5D2DBF900FD.jpeg
84360198-6A4D-4385-92BF-B2CC6AF7F75F.jpeg
11A08504-8671-4D10-B62A-8E9161A12284.jpeg

trumpeter swans, North American beaver, Anna’s hummingbird, northern scorpions, northern alligator lizard, and a great blue heron track. These are some of the critters of western Washington, except the scorpions, I caught those at a rest stop near Yakima Washington last year, that’s on the east side of the state, Washington is divided by a mountain range, its desert in the east, and forests in the west.
 
Yesterday, at a golf resort we were staying at (Central Oregon).

IMG_20210118_103324252_HDR.jpg

...they are obviously fully aware that either...
A) hunting season is over.
B) the resort is a safe zone.
...or more likely, all of the above. This was at the start of a paved trail with a road running right by, fair amount of traffic. We stopped, chatted, lol'd, and I finally pulled out the phone and snapped a pic. They never moved.
 
I see Florida gopher tortoises on about every bike trip I take.

Gopher Tortoise.JPG


They often dig their gopher holes (burrows) right beside of the road. They graze on grass. You can see grass in this one's mouth. When they hiss at you their mouth is all green on the inside. Their feet have sharp claws for digging. Their leg strength is amazing.

Here are two I saw fighting. There are videos on Youtube people have posted of these fights. They seemed to be oblivious to my presence.
Gophers by the street.jpg


Gopher fight.jpg
 
This is a fox on a street very near me in our suburban neighborhood. She didn't even try to run so I think she had a litter close. This was around 5PM one day this past summer.

Mama fox.jpg
 
Here are some baby gators about 1/4 a mile from my house in a canal. Took these last March on a ride when in pandemic lockdown.

View attachment 150011

View attachment 150012
That’s gotta be awesome to live somewhere that has gators! I’d like to see one up close in its natural habitat. When I was a kid someone released a pet alligator in the one lake in town, but it just seemed like an urban legend because nobody ever saw it until it was captured about a month later. Kinda surprising that it survived a month here in Washington, but it probably just got really cold and held still, and that’s probably why nobody ever saw it
 
IMG_6278.JPG
IMG_7505.JPG
IMG_7478.JPG
IMG_7502.JPG
IMG_7369.JPG


Northern water snake (I think), Eastern milk snake (probably), Garter snake that hissed, "Don't tread on me!" before comically striking at the phone, Praying mantis, and beaver thunder dome where they make water rats fight to the death for winter accommodation (though I got that one from the kayak as evidenced by the Greenland paddle that I should probably reseal, but it's WRC and I'm lazy).
 
This black bear was about 1/2 mile from my house on the next street over. This is just 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and about 15 miles from Fort Myers, FL. As habitat is lost we are getting more and more bear visits. You can get an idea of the size of the bear by the communications box to the right of it. While small compared to other places it is good sized for suburban Florida. The picture was taken through the window of a school bus and shared with me. I probably ride my bikes on this street every other day. I have seen the scat from the bears right in my back yard.

Bear.png
 
Back
Top