Today's Wildlife Bike Ride.....Bear, etc.

[Little Lightning]

We're in Glenwood Springs and today biked part the Rio Grande Bike Trail. The trail is a paved railroad grade trail that climbs 2,200 ft over 42 miles. The trail follows the Roaring Fork river and at the spot we started there is dense forest for the 1st 5 miles then becomes more open. It's very rural with farming and a few houses. Not what you expect if you've ever visited Aspen.

We rode an out and back. Our start was at a little town called Catherine near Carbondale. About 1/2 mile from the start there was a bear munching the grasses. I've never seen a bear so close. He was young but not so young that mama bear was near by. Unfortunately, he was about 50 ft from the trailside bathroom. I took my bike inside with me, not sure what to do around a bear. My SO stayed outside and took pictures. The bear was harmless, no interest in people. It was happily eating whatever he delicacy he had found. Also, NO selfies with this bear were attempted. Shortly after that I saw a wild turkey and a Wyoming squirrel. We rode 9 miles and then were stopped by a forest ranger. A mountain lion was taking a nap in the yard below the trail and the ranger gave us a choice of turning around or very quietly walking on the opposite side of the trail to continue our journey. The rangers thought the mountain lion had worn himself out chasing it's prey. The rangers didn't want to disturb him so we didn't get to see it. I was happy to keep my distance. There was also a huge owl resting in an Aspen tree. It was young and had very fluffy feathers. One of the rangers shared his binoculars so we could see him. Other critters spotted were Canada geese, 2 deer, and a mallard lazily floating in the river.

After 15 miles we turned around and took a different route back to the car so as to avoid the sleeping mountain lion. The bear was gone.

We ride this trail every spring but have not hit the jack pot with wildlife like we did today. It certainly was one of the most eventful, and beautiful, 35 mile bike rides we've ever had.

 

[merrydog]

Great story. Sounds like a fabulous bike ride with all of the wildlife sightings etc.

 

[bounceswoosh]

I was once on a hike and a ranger pointed out a mountain lion. It was shocking how close the animal was to the trail, and how I had trouble seeing it even when the ranger was pointing directly at it. Truly we're just visitors here.

Me, I try to avoid wildlife sightings, at least predators and large omnivores, on bike rides =) Near Boulder, there's so much human traffic that it's not likely to see anything, anyway. I've had some cool experiences with deer - one time I kept having chain drop issues with a demo bike and was sitting on the side of the trail crying (not my finest moment), and a deer came within maybe 10 feet to investigate. I like to think it was trying to comfort me (silliness, but hey).

 

[altagirl]

Nice! I have to admit, lately, I'm more into going hiking and observing nature than going out and trying to push myself to physically accomplish anything in particular. We've had some close encounters with moose (a regular thing in Park City), deer, bears (both up in Whistler and down in Moab). And I have a friend who literally ran into a mountain lion on his bike (thankfully it was as terrified as he was and fled). I've seen a mountain lion before when I was going up to a mountain top site for work - he was hiding behind a rock and got flushed out when I drove my car on this usually deserted dirt road. And then saw his paw prints all over the ground around the cell tower up at the peak. EEK!

I've started paying more attention to birds and it's a really crazy thing to realize how much I just tuned out what was going on around me before as background noise and movement. When you start to really look and listen, it's almost overwhelming how much is going on around you sometimes. I used to just be focused on the trail ahead of me and thinking about how fast I could go, so it's a huge shift.

 

[Christy]

I've started paying more attention to birds and it's a really crazy thing to realize how much I just tuned out what was going on around me before as background noise and movement.

Same here. I just warned my husband there is a pretty fair chance I am going to become a birder, to some degree anyway. I got this book, which has been around forever:

...and I'm kind of obsessed with birdwatching in my little city yard. Whenever I see a new bird I run and grab the book and try to figure out what it is. I thought we only had robins, crows, stellar jays and a hummingbird but it turns when you pay attention, you see a lot more than that.

 

[Little Lightning]

We discovered this bike trail on the Ride the Rockies bike tour a few years ago. This time of year the trail is fairly deserted during the week. We were so happy to see that the bear was not interested in us. The Aspen area has a huge problem with bears. I hope the bear doesn't get spoiled by tourists feeding him. We wouldn't have known about the mountain lion if the ranger hadn't told us. One year at Solitude in Utah I had a porcupine stand up and put its paws on my legs. I was thankful I had lots of ski clothes on.

We started feeding birds to entertain the cat. This spring we discovered a new to us bird called a Grosbeak. There is a pair that comes around our feeder. We enjoy the birds more than my cat does. Our neighborhood is very quiet during the day and I often sit outside and listen to the sounds. We've had a very noisy woodpecker that wakes us all up in the morning.

In a couple of weeks we're riding a bike tour in Illinois. It's riding 5 days of 40-50 miles a day. I'm not quite in shape for it but looking forward to it because I can ride without much irritation of my injured ankle. In some ways I feel weaker because I lost most of the ski season but in other ways I feel stronger.

 

[altagirl]

Same here. I just warned my husband there is a pretty fair chance I am going to become a birder, to some degree anyway. I got this book, which has been around forever:

...and I'm kind of obsessed with birdwatching in my little city yard. Whenever I see a new bird I run and grab the book and try to figure out what it is. I thought we only had robins, crows, stellar jays and a hummingbird but it turns when you pay attention, you see a lot more than that.

Me too! I had only really done any bird watching on my Costa Rica trips. But I saw an opportunity on Facebook and went and did some volunteer work with the University of Utah recently to help their biology lab with bird banding, which was amazing. Just hanging out with PhD biologists and people who can ID birds by sound is great. After the first volunteer day, I went and bought the Sibley bird guide that they recommended. And I have some decent binoculars, which are very handy.

I've also started logging things on eBird. per their recommendation. (if you're any sort of data nerd, it's kind of an amazing resource to see real time migration patterns and exactly where people are seeing specific species, plus it keeps your life list of what you've seen for you.) So I'm probably already teetered over the edge into becoming a birder.... I've driven out to several of the local hotspots, which were seriously amazing. I honestly didn't even realize that we have snowy egrets and white pelicans and osprey and such here - let alone the little phalaropes and horned larks and grasshopper sparrows and yellow warblers. I realized we have kestrels around my office too, which are just amazing to watch.

 

[altagirl]

We started feeding birds to entertain the cat. This spring we discovered a new to us bird called a Grosbeak. There is a pair that comes around our feeder. We enjoy the birds more than my cat does. Our neighborhood is very quiet during the day and I often sit outside and listen to the sounds. We've had a very noisy woodpecker that wakes us all up in the morning.

I know what Grosbeaks are and I know they are around here, but I haven't seen any yet! So far, my yard feeders get a ton of starlings and black capped chickadees. And I get mourning doves and magpies and robins in the yard, but that's about it. I've seen 2 hummingbirds at my feeders - one tonight! I was standing out there about 4 feet from the feeder, staring at it and contemplating moving it to a more visible area so the hummingbirds can find it, when one showed up right in front of me. All-righty then! I'll leave it there for ya!

I do think my one dog gets a kick out of watching the birds. She just sits and watches the chickadees and single starlings. Every once in a while we get 5 or 6 starlings fighting over the suet feeder and squawking and Waffles will run over and bark at them and scare them away. Which amuses me. As long as there is no chaos, she seems pretty mesmerized and just wants to watch, but if they're fighting, she gets all riled up. And she can't really get to them, because I hung the feeders in the tree over the edge of our 2nd story deck.

 

[Mary Tee]

I used to love watching my backyard birds...had all kinds of feeders and got quite a variety, but no more...I have 3 cats and they are hunters ( I used to only have one that hunted) Feeding the birds gave the kitties an unfair advantage. Now it is just fun to watch the kitties stalk the squirrels since they never actually get them, but never tire of trying! If only I could train the three of them to only get the moles and voles...then I could garden.

 

[altagirl]

I used to love watching my backyard birds...had all kinds of feeders and got quite a variety, but no more...I have 3 cats and they are hunters ( I used to only have one that hunted) Feeding the birds gave the kitties an unfair advantage. Now it is just fun to watch the kitties stalk the squirrels since they never actually get them, but never tire of trying! If only I could train the three of them to only get the moles and voles...then I could garden.

I was a little worried the dogs would bother the birds, but it actually seems to be good. They don't seem to have any interest in hunting/stalking them at all. Waffles will lay on a pillow in the sun and just watch. I'm sure my cat would have been a different story.

 

[VickiK]

Birds used to creep me out--those beady little eyes and scaly legs. But as I've matured, I've come to like them a lot. The local petshop has a young African Gray Parrot who is so beautiful. At this point, he'd outlive me, so there's that worry about who would take care of him. Reading these last few posts, I think birding sounds like a fun hobby. Our cat is a hunter, she's so, um, efficient, so I wouldn't want to attract more birds to hang out in the yard.

@Little Lightning , your experience on the ride was so cool! Thanks for sharing.

 

[merrydog]

We started feeding birds to entertain the cat. This spring we discovered a new to us bird called a Grosbeak. There is a pair that comes around our feeder.

I know what Grosbeaks are and I know they are around here, but I haven't seen any yet! So far, my yard feeders get a ton of starlings and black capped chickadees. And I get mourning doves and magpies and robins in the yard, but that's about it. I've seen 2 hummingbirds at my feeders - one tonight! I was standing out there about 4 feet from the feeder, staring at it and contemplating moving it to a more visible area so the hummingbirds can find it, when one showed up right in front of me. All-righty then! I'll leave it there for ya!

I use to live in a suburb of Seattle, in a house with a large back yard. Put up a bird feeder and bird bath. It attracted a lot of the starlings and chickadees like with Altagirl's feeder. Still it was fun to watch them, even put binoculars by the window for a better look. One evening, there was an unusual pair sitting on the edge of the bath, they were Evening grosbeaks! Never saw them again that year, must have been just visiting.

Where I am now it's very urban, I'm afraid a bird feeder and bath would only fuel the neighborhood cats and raccoons. I do see a surprising amount of hummingbirds buzzing around the public greenery.

 

[Christy]

I've also started logging things on eBird. per their recommendation.

Wow that sounds cool. I will be checking this out. Rob got me really good binocs a few years ago for whale watching, so I've been using those. I think they are technically birding bincos, but the sales guy thought they'd be best for whales too.

Where I am now it's very urban, I'm afraid a bird feeder and bath would only fuel the neighborhood cats and raccoons. I do see a surprising amount of hummingbirds buzzing around the public greenery.

I talked with a bird biologist friend and the cleaning requirements for baths and feeders sound too much for me, and I also think they'd just attract rats, raccoons, etc. I have hardy fuschias and agastache for our hummingbird friend. There is a program here to turn your backyard into an urban wildlife sanctuary and I should check that out to see what else I can do for birds.

My dog walker said Reggie spotted a baby crow in a bush yesterday on the next block and went for it. The parents were nearby and a huge commotion ensued. Luckily Reggie didn't get the baby--those crows, they way they recognize faces and hold grudges, would have made our life hell.

 

[altagirl]

The other handy thing with the ebird app is that you tell it where you are and the date and it populates a list of what's common and rare in that area. Type in finch or gull and it narrows it down to those. No pictures in the main app, but it helps me narrow down what I'm looking for in my book or online.

And it also provides a list of target species - what people are commonly seeing in your county or state, by frequency. Kind of helps you figure out what's there but that you've been oblivious to.

And then it also has a Hotspot map. You can see a map with areas that people see a ton of different species or also look up a specific bird and it pinpoints where they have been spotted, and you can adjust the time-frame.

Haha, and I'm looking forward to our bike trips to Colorado this summer to see what is different out there!

 

[merrydog]

My dog walker said Reggie spotted a baby crow in a bush yesterday on the next block and went for it. The parents were nearby and a huge commotion ensued. Luckily Reggie didn't get the baby--those crows, they way they recognize faces and hold grudges, would have made our life hell.

No kidding, in the field where we often exercise our dogs we've watched crows work together to chase off a raptor that is preying on nests. They sound really angry during these altercations.

 

[Jenny]

My dog walker said Reggie spotted a baby crow in a bush yesterday on the next block and went for it. The parents were nearby and a huge commotion ensued. Luckily Reggie didn't get the baby--those crows, they way they recognize faces and hold grudges, would have made our life hell.

I don't remember what show we heard the report on - something on NPR - but it was about crows and testing to see whether they remembered faces. It involved masks of presidents and the person doing something that upset the crows. IIRC, they also learned that the crows will pass the info on to other crows, too, so the next generation also knew those faces.

 

[Christy]

I think they did that study here at UW, or if not that one a similar one. You can also befriend crows by putting out peanuts or whatnot, and they'll remember you did it and stop divebombing you (in the event that, say, they've nested in your yard and are trying to attack you).

 

[dloveski]

I think they did that study here at UW, or if not that one a similar one. You can also befriend crows by putting out peanuts or whatnot, and they'll remember you did it and stop divebombing you (in the event that, say, they've nested in your yard and are trying to attack you).

Putting peanuts out (in the shell) for bluejays is good entertainment...once they get used to looking for them, you will notice that a jay will pick a peanut shell up, rattle it, and put it back down, move to the next, shake it, put it down and so it will go until---voila---the "right" one is found and the jay takes off. I did not know such picky shoppers existed! And after his 'score', he comes right back and does the shaking thing again. Even funnier, in my jog route around the 'hood, I see peanut shells buried strategically for blocks around my house. They are rascals!

 

[Little Lightning]

Funny this popped up in my email. Our annual trek to Glenwood Springs didn't yield much wildlife beyond some Canada Geese and some squirrels.

My Grosbeaks are still around. Not sure if they are the original pair or their off spring. Also have Hummingbirds. Love watching them at the feeder outside my kitchen window. I've also seen a very large bird in the tree tops around our neighborhood. I was told there were some Peregrine's by the school .2 miles away. Have seen some snakes hanging around. Not sure why, it's so dry right now.

We just arrived in Lincoln, Illinois. Tomorrow we start a bike tour that travels to towns that include President Lincoln historic sites. It will be hot and humid. Haven't done much riding but have worked out hard with my trainer. Also bought a new bike.

Today we crossed the Mississippi at Hannibal, Missouri. Didn't visit any Mark Twain sites. Sat on the river bank and watched the "Mark Twain" riverboat and a barge head downstream. Love being near rivers. Saw a turtle on a rock sunning itself.

Not sure if we'll see much wildlife on this trip.