stardognine

Surprise, AZ, right off Bell Ave. This is a little man-made pond, not far from Bicentennial Park. It looks like they've done a lot of renovations, city-wide, I'm guessing in about the last 10 years. So now, most neighborhoods look exactly the same. 🙄 It's not all that bad, just hard to differentiate things, to figure out where you are.

There's a huge recreation center, in Sun City West, that looks pretty new too. Even El Mirage has been face-lifted, but you can tell it's older than most of the rest. 🙂

Drillium Dude 

Cool! Been there, done that - I guess they imported the turtles when they finished the pond!

And yeah, every time I go back to visit I am amazed at all the new stuff: neighborhoods, shopping centers. I was amazed when I last visited and saw the Cardinal's stadium - sports complex is more like it! I remember riding out that way in the late 70s/early 80s and it was all fields...

DD

stardognine

I saw this guy at a laundromat in Wickenburg. Funny, he looks like a little short dude, to me. 🤔😁

I didn't actually ride my bike in the laundromat, but did ride it to get there. 🙄😉

stardognine

And one more. Just don't put an eye out with it. 😁😉

madpogue 

Spotted on my morning commute yesterday. Snow cannon, employed in a urban environment, with an interesting effect:

Old paint company buildings being demo-ed for yet another shiny new apartment/retail/commercial high-rise on the city's main drag. Lots of concrete/brick/mortar being knocked down. In summer, they just spray it from a regular water tank truck to keep the dust down. This time of year, they got creative - what appears to be a snow-making machine, blasting the work area with water turning to snow as it flies, and ice as it hits various surfaces..

ryansu

You'll shoot your eye out...

droppedandlost 

humble bumble

bwilli88 

Riding on a bridge over the Mekong

PilotFishBob 

Rossille, TN. Is it a bear? A mutated beaver? Whatever it is, it has a bit of a paunch.

hastel 

These were taken in October along the Glacial River Trail just north of Milton Wi.
I guess I'm posting now as part of a less procrastination intent for the new year. I'll have to wait a few months to see how long that lasts.

madpogue 

^^^^^ Not rubber? Was anyone notified? Hope someone picked up that poor thing and moved him someplace temperate.

Unca_Sam

No, very obviously sculpted. But on the shores of Lake Michigan and in the Miami river valley...

madpogue 

^^^^^ And, as it's told, in the sewers of many larger cities....

Slightspeed

Raptors along the coast bike path, Ventura, CA.

Peregrine Falcon surveillance.

Treetop Kestrel.

DQRider 

Beautiful! Makes me want to load up my full kit and go hunting - we have bald eagles in the bluffs along the river. But that requires the big lens, tripod, etc. I think I would need a trailer...

.

Slightspeed

These were all shot within feet of the coastal bike path that runs to Ventura Harbor, and settling ponds at the south end. Our club has a yearly (sometimes more often) bird ride. These were all shot with a Panasonic FZ70 digital with 1200mm equiv zoom, easily fits in my day pack for riding.

Urban birding - can you spot the peregeine falcon?


Biker birders.

Park, lock and walk to the settling ponds.

Preening egret.

BFisher

Great bird shots! We have some bald eagles here, down by the river and up at a local state park. I can never get a picture of one, but did see one dive down into the lake and grab a fish. This little guy lives near my house, and we see him all the time. My backyard fence:

Sharp-shinned hawk, I believe. He's always around in the summer.

DQRider 

Here's a shot of a duck on Thompson Lake at sunset:



That's all I have in my (accessible) collection at the moment. I have some old stuff of seagulls from the 1980s, but I don't think I ever digitized them.

.

BFisher

Two funny stories about that hawk.

I was sweeping out my garage one evening and heard a loud thud over by my truck in the driveway. I had just washed it. When I looked out I saw the hawk fly from the ground beside it. I realized that he had flown into the drive side door. I looked out and he was perched on the fence about twenty feet from me. He looked at me and then flew off.

Last spring I was in my yard and heard a rustling and then screeching coming from the brush in the cemetery behind my yard. I knew something was struggling. I figured a cat caught a bird. When I went to look, the little hawk popped out with a starling in his grip. He was about five feet from me. I said, "What do you got?!" and he tilted his head at me before flying off with his lunch.

rumrunn6

just saw this


wonder if it just missed catching something that ran under your truck. maybe something was sipping water run-off, after the car wash?

when our cats are outside they like to sit under patio furniture, I assume for self defense

BFisher

Ha! There was a noticeable smudge where he made impact. Who knows what he saw?

ryansu

Man this thread has gone to the birds... Myself anytime I see a blue Heron on a ride I take it as a sign of good luck this guy was not on a ride but in a bakery...

madpogue 

** BIG IMAGE ALERT **
Peregrines must be amazing adapters. There's a huge electric power plant just a few blocks from downtown (result of brain-dead city "planning" over a century ago), and for the past 10-12 years, several generations of peregrines have made it their home, as a result of a local student's school project. You often see people camped beside the MUP that passes by the plant with scopes and binoculars, watching them roost. MUP is on an old rail corridor, parallel to a still-active track, lots of ground-pounders to hunt. Couple years ago, heading to work on that MUP, I passed under this fella(?) (Melvin, maybe?):

He's perched on the arm for a light that overhangs the MUP. Looking straight down the track. Shot with a pocket-sized Nikon point-and-shoot. Almost missed the shot, as the first battery came up dead as soon as I powered it up.

Link to the peregrines' history - https://www.mge.com/our-environment/falcons/history

Two blue heron sightings right in town recently. One alongside the same MUP as above, out by the botanical gardens, group of three just poking around in a spongy wet field. Other was while test-riding the Ironman I got this year, back field of a local middle school, about 4-5 doing the same thing. No camera on hand in either case. Kids playing basketball just a few feet away didn't even notice them (and vice-versa, evidently).

Spotted a hawk watching over the dam on Lake Wingra on our Christmas ride. SD card failed, so had to use internal camera memory, only two shots capacity, both were out of focus.

Unca_Sam

This looks like a Red-Tailed hawk. Falcons hunt on the wing, hawks watch the ground for vittles.

stardognine

Yeah predatory birds are really cool to see, if you’re lucky enough. I had a half-decent pic of a golden eagle, that I saw this last summer, but foolishly lost all my touring pics recently (stolen phone, not backed up to iCloud, too bandwidth-hungry). 😒

I also saw a pair of hawks attacking a crane, last summer, but didn’t get pics of that.

EDIT: I seem to have a knack for starting fresh pages, in threads. Dunno if that’s a blessing or a curse. 🤔😉