Seen & Heard

Seen & Heard

While riding alone through the vast expanse of the desert, do animals take notice of you or is your passing so quiet that they contnue on with their day as normal?
-Angela Chabot

Whether I have been in the middle of the desert or in a more urban area, the animals that are present almost always take notice of me. Although a bike is much quieter than a car, it still makes enough sound to alert animals. I am also quite visible to them. The birds see me and send out warning calls letting other birds know that there is some "large beast" moving slowly through the area. The prairie dogs in Colorado did the same thing.

Some animals stare at me, especially the cows. Some get ready to flee while staring at me, like many birds. Other animals just run away without waiting to find out if I am a threat or not, like the squirrels. I think I get more attention from the animals than cars do. Cars are travelling very fast and are more common so I think that most animals ignore them, unless they are about to get run over. However, I still get to see much more animal life than anyone in a car. If I see an animal up the road I can slow down or stop quickly so that I do not scare them off. While riding through Nevada one early morning I was able stop about fifteen feet away from a fox and admire it for over a minute. I was very thankful! Of course, when I reached for my camera it darted away. :-)

Most of the birds of prey (falcons, hawks,etc.) that I have tried to take photos of have been very suspicious and they fly away quickly. Perhaps they think that I am a hunter taking out a gun. Raptors have very good eyesight and can easy see me as I move to take out my camera. I do not know what type of hawk this is in the above photo but it is one of the only ones that was not completely bothered by my presence. However, if you look closely you can see that its head is slightly tilted in my directly and that it is eyeing me intently.

Mike@Kahncious.Net

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