Ha! Yea-Yea, Juss' please don' t'row me in dat briar patch!!!
You might be thinkin' my bunnies are nuthin' special. Well, they gotta name, they are: Sylvilagus audubonii, or Desert cottontails. Most likely, Bugs was one-a these. Common American Southwest wabbit, known for it's tricksy ways and zig-zaggin' escape plan. The 'Bush' strategy is a time-honored tradition with them, as shown;
...it's a lot more convincing at night, I tell ya!
Just as not all bushes are perfectly round, not all Bunny Bush-ouflage™ is perfectly circular, neither. One night’s scanning the field, and I saw that a low-lying, skinny scrub brush had a perfect ‘V’ of fronds forking from its tippy top. Most of the field is of low-lying, skinny scrub brushes; you can mow or munch them down but they keep coming back! So, now of course, they’re the perfect bunny-hiding height. I might not have noticed the difference, but for the back-lighting of the bush/bun by the parking lot lights at the time.
‘I see you!’, I called out to the scrub bunny.
(You can see why I may have been confused as to whether these were hares or rabbits? These buns are obviously close cuzzins to the jack rabbits.)
‘Aw shucks’ his body language said, and he dropped his head to nonchalantly nibble the grass nubs, ‘Well… I meant for you to see me. Yea,nom-nom-nom.’ …and with that he turned his bunny-butt on me, to continue grazing.
Sometimes, just freezing in place is enough to achieve the illusion of plant-life, especially in the dark, and these urban BunRabs never come out during the daylight, but I lie. As soon as I assured myself I’d never see DayBuns; I saw one: lopping causally among the sheep & goat herd. Seems the rabbits like the giant fellow herbivores, and feel comforted by their woolly/billy presence. Enough to come out during the day, anywayZ. By night, the rabbits aren’t even bothered by the electrified sheep fence, because maybe it’s not electric at all. I’ve seen them dart right through it, without a snap. (Maybe, I could snatch a sheep, afterall? Shhhh!)
By day, the new goat members are more people friendly; come right up to the fence and expect hand outs. Hey, get back to work and eat your grass, you kidder you!
Here I thought I'd be showing my buddy Alpha Dog, the 'Owlito Field' and instead we find it's infested with city-slicker sheep.
Told ya there was going to be a special guest. Didn't lie about that. See: Alpha had R & R from Iraq in early August and had arrived just in time to see the awesome owls.
Part of the thing that keeps Alpha Dog and I together as friends is; we're both avid avian-watchers. No, I'm serious! Back when we both were stationed in Wisconsin, in '05, much of what we did off duty was nature-walk and try to photograph the wildlife.
He has 'The Eye' I tell ya. We'd be driving in the duty van, and suddenly he'd cry "Owl!", and sure 'nuff, there'd be a Great Horned sitting in a tree on the side of the road. We'd jump out like crazed Japanese tourists and try to 'Take pict-cha! Take pict-cha!', which the mighty owl would not be amused by. Off he'd fly off into the woods.
This did not deter Alpha, who'd cry, "Com'on, he went this way!"
Thinking we were just humoring A.Dog, because who could find a Barn Owl(real scientific family classification) in the dark bark, in a forest of dark brown trunks and barks? …but we'd good-naturedly march off-road a few yards, when Alpha would yell, "There he is!"
Where!? Orale pues! There was the Great Owl, a few trees back and so well camouflaged, you'd have completely missed him otherwise if Alpha hadn't pointed him out.
A. Dog says this is one of his primary sources of relaxation; something he's been doing since his childhood in Massachusetts. He used to love to bike under the powerlines till he was well, way out of civilization, then he'd pull off into a meadow; be still ...and wait. Soon the wildlife would come out; where he'd sit, watch and wonder.
Nothing deters his fascination, not even war. When one of his tours was once to Afghanistan, I got a disk full of pics of the native wildflowers and the mountainous landscapes known as the 'Foothills of the Himalayas(Home of Mt Everest)’, very well photographed. (Okay-okay, I'll dig out the disks, somewhere here...)
While he does the photos, I've told him: I'll record his story via bread form to -'make him famous', is what I said. Here's where this thread arches with the 'Alpha of Arabia' thread (now I'm going to have to update that one too.) Being as he’s in Iraq right now, mostly what I get are photos of snakes! <bleh!>
The tales of the Bunnies and the Burrowers was what he had been hoping to hear; I'd forwarded him a link to 'Happy Trails', so to sunny California he headed on a special detour to photo-document them. While here, we'd also walked the local creek to capture the waterfowl: White Herons, Grey Herons, Kingfishers, Ducks, and I swear to you, we were strafed by a squadron of Canadian Geese. Alpha was so pleased! Pues sí, he got pictures of the Owlito family!
Of course, I'd have loved to have posted those pics. <sigh> Yea, no, what you see is what I got; he did some photography with his trusty, dusty, digi-cam, then had to return to Iraq. I’ve seen’em, you can’t. The emails I’ve received have the photos embedded, but not added as attachments so I can't download them and link them to you. <wah!>
Unfortunately, at the moment, he's kinda busy keeping himself alive so, I don't want to bother him with re-sending the shots. Maybe some day, when we’re both bodaciously rich and famous, 'eh?
Stay tuned Bun-fans, to this same Bun-channel, same Bun-time!
Woo-Hoo-Hoo! The good news is that Alpha Dog is still alive; the better news ;
We have piccies!!!
With what the FedEx Kinkos™ employee had told me; I had thought the embedded pics were unrecoverable, but he was wrong, you-lucky-peeps-you! (Geek Squad, he was not!)
I declare this day a National Owly-day: Happy ‘Happy Trails’ Day!
Break out the band and the booze! 'Tis Time to sing loudly and dance drunkenly!!!
♪ Felicidades <Happy Trails> a ti, hasta que nos volvamos a encontrar.
Felicidades a ti, sigue sonriendo hasta entonces.
¿Quién se preocupa por las nubes cuando estamos juntos?
Sólo cantar una canción y llevar el tiempo soleado.
Felicidades a ti ", hasta que nos encontremos de nuevo. ♫♪
<hic>
While at the library, I was forwarding the Owlito email to a friend;
(Come forward friend, and take a bow!) where I thought I'd try, once more on my own, to download the pics. OMG, if this time persistence paid off and it worked! <insert more singing and dancing here> The images have been locked and loaded, and so mis amigos, I give you:
La Señora Mama Owlito;
...sitting 'Hen' style at the entrance to Post #2 burrow
You see the Safety Cone in the upper left?
El Capitán Papa Owlito; ¡Claro! Calmly in command
He sits atop the same diamond sign in my other crap cell pics, except in close up.
They are way cool, no?
El Capitán: always keeps in complete control;
An array of undisciplined, enlisted, underling bunnies and ground squirrels? He’s above them all.
An invasion of city-sheep? He confidently orders, ‘Hold our ground at Post #2!’
La Loca lurks too close? Time for an object lesson por los niños:
“Pues sí, hijo” Papa says to his son, “This is how you must deal with these putos…”
To which, Papa glared into my eyes; straightened his knees and stretched to his full-feathered height of a whole towering ten inches! He stood tall, bold …and <gasp!> bobbed! That’s right! Bobbed at me!
“This is mine! My land! My family! You see!? Mio!!!”
“But Papa… ”, replied his son hesitatingly, as he looked at me, then looked at his proudly posturing Papa. Pero, El Capitán was not deterred, and continued to tower and bob intimidatingly.
‘I must be brave’ thought the young, stalwart owl, ‘Like me Papa!’; as he turned towards me and also began towering and bobbing. Both of them! Towering AND bobbing!!!
At that doubly awesome display, I could no longer advance: the combined might of Los Machos was too much, and I backed down in deference!
As my bike and I turned away, I had to glimpse back, to see how they were handling their victory over such a larger adversary.
Hijo Owl was in awe of his da, who was smugly fluffing his feathers in satisfaction; ‘There you see? Ándale pues, mijito.’ <huff-fluff>
You may be, or may not be, wondering- whichever, I’m going to tell you anywayZ:
Why do I think the Owlito family speak Spanish?
Well, okay it’s Strigiforme[owl]-Spanish, but they are native Mexícanos, and not Mestizos, therefore more original to the Meso-American desert than even I. (Perhaps, even cuter than I am? [We're not cute!] ¡Orale! ) They are the indigenous Indians of the avian kingdom to California. They haven’t had Caucasian conquistador owls take over their territory and implement foreign falconiformes values and culture, that the olwitos have had to rebel against for a hundred years of Revolución. No, nobody ever called them banditos. Not that owls don’t ever make war, they exercise Command and Control after all, but more on that later…
The Southwest/Mexican desert is their home, and this region of NorCal is the tip of the spear of their territory. While they are found all over Central and South America: in El Norté, man’s encroachment has dwindled their numbers so much so that they are considered ENDANGERED in Canada. (Another good excuse to Blame Canada!)
Depending on which conservationists you talk to, the populations in California and the Southwest are what are keeping the Burrowing Owl off the US Endangered List, and classified as just a ‘Species of Concern’. (Which translates as: ‘We’re not killing them off, just giving them nowhere to live.’)
Shoot, even I didn’t know that, pre-bread! Me Owlito Ambassadors are truly something special and I should call someone about this. I could get an award, the key to the city …A reality show!!! A breeding pair is a sign of a growing community and that’s cause for celebration! Finally! Mexícanos are taking back their homeland!
¡Viva La Raza-Raptor!
There’s someone out there who’s been paying attention, and is pouting, ‘Hey, didn’t La Loca say she saw Owlitos further north, up in the East Bay?’
…
Now, that’s a funny story. Gather ‘round vatos, and I’ll tell you a secret…
Keep this on the down-low but; The East Bay Owlitos are wetbacks! That’s right; illegal avian-aliens who were coyoted into El Norté to work for gringos. Pues sí, it’s true, I got no reason to lie to you; they got no papers!
Seems they were a re-introduced species according to a source who speaks on condition of anonymity, since he is not authorized to comment on trafficking in Athene cunicularia. In a brilliant move, the burrowing owl population was brought in on an artificial advance to meet the requirements of ‘Federally Protected Land’, by the Commanding Officer (who’s retired now, you can’t touch him) to keep the base from being closed down, during the downsizing of the ‘90’s. Once they adopt a nesting site, Los Owlitos never leave it and will defend it! Meaning it was those illegal Owlito irregulars WHO saved the Seabees in NorCal.
Did I say 're-introduced'? I meant 'translocated' which is what you do when you bring a threatened species back to where it originally was. 'How?' I inquired of my anonymous amigo, '...Did the military do that?' It's not like you can go down to PetSmart and shop for Endangered Owls on aisle 8 next to the hand-fed cockatoos and balsa wood bird toys, ready to ship FedEx™ via livestock box!
The base Commander may simply have gone through official channels and requested the assistance of the Owlitos. Branches of the service occasionally do favors like that for each other;
Back when I was in the fleet, on my first ship, we had a long stay over in Japan in the middle of typhoon season. As expected, a large storm was going to hit our port, so standard procedure is to head out to sea and avoid the whole system all together. (Large ships have too great of a chance of being bashed against the pier by the high sea conditions.) While we were a few nautical miles out, one by one we began collecting stowaways- blown off-course birds of all kinds began landing all our fair ship. They flocked to us like a life boat, which to many of them we were; for these were more than just seabirds. I recall exclaiming aloud, "We've covered in birds!" There were sparrows, magpies, robins, swifts, doves etc. perched all over the upper decks ...and one owl. If memory serves, it may have been a Scops Owl. He took up a position of authority right over the quarterdeck, and reported for duty. As we sailed for a few days; from his station, the Owl Officer granted permission to all of the weary flyers from the storm; to come aboard.
They rode us all the way back to port, where most of the birds flew off for the mainland, but not the owl. He'd found a position he liked, and as I said, once territory is claimed they don't like to leave it. So, he stayed a few more days acting as OOD - Owl on Deck. He would have joined the regular crew if he could, however the enlisted sailors weren't too happy with having to clean up beneath his watch post so, unfortunately he was made to cast off, since his duty was done.
Last edited by loCAtek on Wed Dec 01, 2010 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
Love the owl pics and stories! It's amazing how much is going on all around us when we take a moment to stop and really look at it. This is a beautiful world.
Nice job with the pumpkin-art. Going to try to carve it?
What is a "COBY"? And are you welding again? Those are compressed gas tanks in the background but the room looks too clean for welding. Wayyyyyyyyyy too clean.
Ah good, questions! I was wondering if anyone was wondering about my misadventures
The pumpkin still sits uncarved atop my COBY radio at work, (yes, I'm welding ,Yay!)they're a very cheap home electronics co. I wouldn't bother with better quality audio equipment, I don't even use the CD player on this little guy. Electronics take a beating from all the high frequency welding rays, and also speakers suffer from all the soot, smoke and grind dust. Even my cheapo cellphone has to be blown with jets of compressed air occasionally, to clean the crap off it. So, it's not really so neat there as it appears; those tanks are stored behind my machine. The welder, my toolbox and the rest of my station get pretty dirty; I just wiped the surface of the radio for the picture... Some folks bring in good stereos, but then wrap them plastic to try and spare them the worst of it.
I'll take this opportunity to explain one other thing;
My accounts of Los Owitos are time-delayed, due to long shifts at work at the end of summer and early fall. Plus, posting the pics was frustrating me, and giving me welder/writer's block. Oh, I kept notes and could have written bland, boring, blah:
"I saw this." "I saw that."
In the long run, it was better to wait since I also got a few more trivia tidbits like the base rescue by Los Owlitos and such. Don't worry, all of this really happened, it just happened earlier in the season. Of course, I'll keep you posted.
He'd found a position he liked, and as I said, once territory is claimed they don't like to leave it. So, he stayed a few more days acting as OOD - Owl on Deck. He would have joined the regular crew if he could, however the enlisted sailors weren't too happy with having to clean up beneath his watch post so, unfortunately he was made to cast off, since his duty was done.
You might want to have kept the owl on board. They help the rodent population in check.
Autumn is creeping in...
Oh, it has to creep, no one wants it here.
Señor Summer keeps sticking his head back into the Bay Area and grumbling, "I'm not DONE yet, dammit! An I no leave without a fight!"
Post labor day and the light is lessening, but the lushness lingers on; and you can rush through hot and cold pockets of air on the trail, as the seasons continue their battle like Luchadores for world domination on into the night. In fact, these snatches of unseasonable warmness have lulled los críquets into a false sense of security; they think Summer is going to win. [ho-ho!] To aid in his struggle, they've increased their numbers exponentially to engage in a symphony of late-season insect assault.
The timing couldn't be better, for the fledglings have been foraging further and further out by themselves, and los críquets are ensuring they're finding an ample food supply of fanatical fools to feast upon. Looks like Fall will 'win by fall', naturally. One owlito was so pleased with his performance, he sang a song about it <queue the guitar-strings>; ♪¡No puede ser! ♫
This was one of the fledglings of Los Otro Owlito familia, that I hear up by my work. Usually, I'll only hear them as they 'Skreeeeeeee!' from the trees above me. I have no idea where their burrow is, but I think it's down by the train tracks behind the parking lot.
So, one night, I'm out on lunch break, riding to the nearby Supermercado before it closes. (I can't go shopping after work because everything is closed by then. Well, not everything, but that's not important right now.) ...when I hear a familiar skree, not just once but a string of sing-songy skrees like SKREEskreeSKREEskreeSKREEskree... that sounds like one resilient raptor. Lifting my sight to the source, I see it is indeed a Burrowing Búho, sailing over the sodium lights, simply happy to be alive, singing; 'It's good to be an owl'. What a great song; it's sure to go Top Feathered-Forty!
Seriously, the Owlito family is still together (for now). This species is no hurry to leave the sanctity of their home, and will stay together for three to four months; learning and studying survival strategies. Not like the Peregrine Falcons who separate almost as soon as they're fledged. (Which is why, unfortunately, once they've flown, the webcam loses the fab footage) Scientists say the smarter a strain is, the longer their childhood phase will be (with human childhoods being the longest in the animal kingdom.)
As you have seen, the Owlitos have had much to learn: night and day flight training; vocal and visual communications; threat assessment and hunting techniques. Musical composition to round out the curriculum, and of course time to work on their signature moves. These are really some brainy birds!
Since discovering Los Owlitos were a Species of Concern, I have been trying to locate the proper organization to report their presence to. There's good news and not so good news; turns out my particular Burrow Base is already known to none other than the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and they are making every effort to protect and preserve the Burrowing Owls.
Just this September, Google of all people, tried to encroach further into the land of Los Owlitos;
An environmental report for the city by ESA and Albion Environmental describes the project as having a "potentially significant impact" on the burrowing owls, which numbered just over a dozen last year. But it also says says mitigation could make the impact less than significant.
"The loss of foraging habitat and potential nesting habitat at this site would be a significant impact but this impact has already been mitigated through the creation and management of 19.5 acres of burrowing owl habitat north and east of the project site as discussed above. However, the proposed project could have additional indirect impacts on burrowing owls nearby as a result of increased lighting and predation that could result from increased raptor perches on light poles and trees," the report states.
The report adds that the owls could disappear from the area entirely if their numbers continue to decline as they have in recent years.
"A recent population viability analysis of the three largest burrowing owl colonies in the south San Francisco Bay Area" at "San Jose International Airport Moffett Airfield and Shoreline Park showed that all three colonies have a high risk of extinction if population trends observed in the last 11 plus years continue," the report says.
Partly in response to pressures from the Audubon Society, the city proposed Google to pay $10,000 (council members upped it to $20,000) towards the city's burrowing owl preservation efforts, a sign that says why dogs won't be allowed in the area, "anti-perch measures" to keep other birds from preying on the owls, an "owl occupancy survey" during construction and limits on construction during owl nesting season.
The SCVAS are doing their best, but El Capitán Papa's family was smaller this year. On the other hand, I hope to hear back from the Society because it doesn't seem that they're aware of the Owlito family in the area behind my work. That my be a bit of good news.
In the meantime, not just pics, but video that includes me Owlito familia and even a cameo by the city sheep!
The Fight to Save Santa Clara County's Burrowing Owls
"From fields, highways and sidewalk curbs they are watching. You may drive past them every day and not even know they exist. Yet everyday they emerge from underground to stand sentinel on the outskirts of the city. These are our neighbors, the Western Burrowing Owls and soon they may be moving out for good..."
- Filmmakers Caroline Armer and Jonathan Armer
Hosting a cast of thousands of owls, on top of that, one of the main protagonist co-stars was a Burrowing Owl, and how could I resist? I forked over my hard-earned cash to actually sit in the movie theater, rather than wait for the DVD release (which has happened by now, you can rent or buy it if you want; but shoot they jacked up the price! My suggestion is to rent it.)
My love of animation and owls had me thoroughly enjoying it, but I understand if you-all don't share that sentiment. While not a kid's movie, (it was rated 'PG' and there were lots of teenagers in the audience at my viewing) you definitely have to have a fancy for fantasy; or to have read the books that this movie is based on. Re-creating three of the fifteen books of the young adult series 'Guardians of Ga’Hoole ' it's a sweeping, moving, epic; that beats the pants off Avatar in creating a believable alternative CGI world, populated by familiar but unique digitally-generated creatures.
Animal Logic the studio who produced Guardians, has had decades of practice creating life-like images, from animating the owls in 'Harry Potter'; to completing their own fully animated feature film 'Happy Feet'. They can pride themselves in organic realism, something that was once elusive to Computer animation; so, kudos to them.
That was CGI's greatest flaw; computerized movement was so slick and fluid, it didn't look natural. Early CGI was mainly used for animating mechanical things like machines, cars and in Pixar's case: toys.
Earliest example of CGI usage, Lensman 1984;
For the record, 'Happy Feet' only had it's animation going for it; for the script was weak and most of the acting mediocre. While there was lots of top name talent on the bill (including the final appearance of the late, great Steve Irwin) it was saved only the manic thespianism of Robin Williams (voicing not one, but two characters) who kept this movie moving; [He's known for ad libbing much of his cinematic material, so much so, that commonly hours of his impromptu performances are left on the cutting room floor.] ...other wise I can't imagine enduring this film in theaters with young'uns in tow. Kidlets must have been bouncing off the walls after the first act, when the penguins paused in their dancing. Williams managed to generate some story/character interest, but the animated action sequences [which would have made better, SHORTER, music videos] were what made this movie bearable. In spite of that, 'Happy Feet' won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Not that The Academy Awards have any credibility anymore ...but, I digress.
The point is: Animal Logic is the most talented CGI studio in the world; and Guardians is their finest work to date; they've finally found a story perfectly suited to their abilities.
LOTGOOG'H, which is a really long title even in abbreviation; was also directed by Zack Snyder of 'The 300' fame(which also had SPX from Animal Logic); so the action sequences are doubly superb in this film. Using natural avian movements in believable aerial battle sequences (between armored owls and warrior bats) nearly makes you gasp in awe. If I had been able to see this in 3D, I would have been shocked AND awed.
If you haven't clicked on the link yet, do it now. A very splendid webpage, that opens with a slide show of stills from Guardians and those are not touched up; the film in it's entirety looks that detailed and vivid. Clicking on their work and opening the LOTGOOG'H link, you'll find an awesome clip of the movie that isn't found anywhere else on the net. Go forth, and be amazed;
A little something was lost in the anthropomorphizing of the Owls. Oh, the flights were beautiful to behold; every pectoral pulse portrayed; every nuance of wing stroke accurate; and they even captured the ethereal ability of owls to float in midair; while the plumage was intricate down to the last barbules on the feathers. (That's really the underlying theme of this allegory; the Magic of Flight)To stay true to their principles, nothing was animated to appear cartoonic, or contrary to nature (Other than forming armies and waging war, of course) ...except for their eyes. Someone decided to completely forget one of the most endearing traits about Owls which are their Owl-eyes! Of course, the raptors had to be able to project engaging emotions in order to tell the tale, but in my opinion too much was lost when they gave them human-like eyes. Why? Because a whole range of avian expression was taken away.
In studying real-life owls and researching their distinguishing characteristics, I've discovered that an owl's eyes can't rotate in their sockets, they're fixed forward. So, an owl's vision may be binocular, but to change it's field of view, it has to move it's whole head. That's what gives an owl their particular head bobbing and weaving behavior ...which is conspicuously absent in Guardians.
In their place, are some very marvelous jewels of movable irises ...but it's just not right.
Lastly, the biggest beef of all: sadly they got my inspiring hero Athene cunicularia, the Burrowing Owl all wrong. For one, they named him 'Digger', then all throughout the movie he's depicted as a silly buffoon who loves to stick his tail feathers in the air and dig, dig, dig! All the head-tilting is done by Digger as some kind of joke! [Wha …?] I love how in Crackpot's posted song they call them 'Burrow' Owls, losing the 'ing'; that makes more sense, to say they live in burrows, but don't dig them, per se.
I know that's not the studio's fault; they had to follow the original storyline so, it's the writer, who I'll be hunting down and slapping repeatedly.
She doesn't even have Digger, nor the Elf Owl, properly speaking Spanish as they should. (For some reason, every kind of species of Owl is now found in Australia. At least, that was a good excuse for some very stunning background landscapes ...which I don't have space to laud about, right now.)
That said, I feel better having vented my spleen, and still do highly recommend LOTGOOG'H if just for the intricate artistry alone ...might win Animal Logic another Oscar.
It's won about a bazillion awards, but the animation tour hasn't come to this area yet.
mike roush 1 year ago
Not sure when I'll be able to get this one online. Starting in Feb. it will be touring with the Spike and Mike animation festival.
Found a nice clear cougar print alongside a dirt road at Wilder Ranch last week. Took a quick picture of it with my wife's boot alongside for scale.
Cougars have been in that area since the mid-1980s that I know of. The park is very heavily used by equestrians, mountain bikers, and pedestrians but no reports of conflicts, so far.
(The following happened months ago in the Fall. If you must know, I'm finishing up the tales of Los Owlitos so, that the fate of La Familia is finalized.)
….The other night there was a human on the trail.
Now, that was different. That was only about the third or fourth time that I’ve seen one of them there, since I’ve started night-riding on this whole nocturnal adventure.
I’ve never mentioned them before because frankly, people are boring, you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all.
So sayin’, I’m sayin’ I ride in the dark? Um, yea. It’s like after midnight , and a bike light ain’t much of a lantern. They're only used as an indicator that I’m there.
Like the Buddhist legend says:
There was an old blind sage who walked the paths at night, carrying a lantern. A young student came across him on evening and exclaimed, “Old fool, why do you carry a light when you can’t see?”
Replied the sage, “Young fool, I don’t carry a light so that I can see you, but so you can see me.”
In spite the fact that I have enough bike-lights to be considered a low-flying UFO; people don’t freakin’ pay attention at all, until your right on top of them and are about to shove a gear shift up their nose.
However, I've been very lucky- no night collisions yet. Most moving on the path are wise enough to make way, even if it's at the last minute. Such as 'the man and his dog', who moved aside because he (the dog) sensed I couldn’t see them and alerted his human that I was approaching. They were both hugging the chain-link when I whizzed by in the darkness.
The baby raccoon was just lucky.
As per my method of noting what wasn't there the night before to deduce what might be a critter crouching in the corner; one evening there was a blacker blob up ahead. What was it? As I've alluded, not so subtly to, it was probably a baby raccoon. They'd been exploring the bike path, in a little clump of four before. Mama and I had even freaked each other out by accidental, unanticipated, proximity. Otherwise know as, 'Oh Shit! What are You doing here!?'
I shouldn't really have been surprised- raccoons are everywhere! They'll never be endangered, because they easily adapt to human encroachment. In fact, as many already know, they thrive in our habitat. They love sewers and trash containers, and hold the market on clever cuteness.
I was downtown about 2 o’clock in the morning(don't ask) and thought I saw a fat cat and friends in the commercial gutter. As I approached they scampered and turned out to be a posse of 'coons, who took to the nearest tree, which happened to be a young hot-housed, decorative sapling held up by a stick. It was so funny watching them cling to the lower branches that could barely heft them. One kit didn't even try and just stood up on his hind legs and cocked his head at me, asking, 'Really? We panicked for You?' ...and whiz, I was gone!
The baby that night on the trail, tried to run for home with meant dashing in front of me -dummy!
I braked but it was too late; he was literally underfoot; and looked up at me from beneath my pedal. My wheel had missed him by a whisker! ~whew~
Frankly, I like the darkness, it’s probably good for my eyes to get the rest from the bright light I’ve been staring at all day at work. My only issue is with my visibility: what else do I have to do to be noticed on the road? I have the regulation white and red blinkies, fore and aft (as the SJPD had advised me of, after they’d pulled me over for being an ‘over-compassionate conservationist’, but more on that later…)
…as well as more non-regulation, eye-catching glowsticks on my wheel-spokes (orange and purple for Halloween [like I said this happened in the Fall]). Regardless, at a well-lit intersection, while I had the 'cross' signal and 'walk' chirp; I still nearly got flattened! That wouldn’t be so bad, seeing as I could sue the driver's asses off, since contrary to popular AndrewD; in the State of California, hitting anyone in a crosswalk is against the law. Look it up: you could be walking, cycling or riding in a kangaroo pouch; if you’re crossing in a California crosswalk, you have right of way.
BUT!
I’m allergic to automobiles, and should keep out of contact with them to avoid complications to my health. I'm about ready to strap a cherry ‘Oh Shit!’ light to my head and go “Weeee-ooooooo-Weeeeee-ooooooo”!!!? to keep the cars away.
The raccoons know how to cross, they do it underground. I've seen them emerge from one sewer grate to surreptitiously disappear down another. It doesn't matter what man tries to concretize; the 'coons will overcome!
