Wildlife2016

Introduction/Definition/etc

Long early ride on Friday, July 1, 2016, and encounter some wildlife, not just the 2 legged ones either...

Body

Out for some exercise, and doing errands, over 20+ miles in a couple loops, and encounter some wildlife...

Surprise!: a bunny rabbit, usually too quick for the camera to startup, and get to the right movie, or still setting, and all while controlling the bicycle in motion, stopping, turning, avoiding something in the trail/sidewalk/road, and traffic sometimes too...

Further along another bunny rabbit, this one small, and with a fish eye camera, checking latter, a squirrel crossed the path, but can't see it, probably already passed, and it hopped away, hoping learn some to no be on the trail/sidewalk, others may have other opinions, like someone talking about me, behind my back, yeah, we know him, etc...

Probably conflated the two bunny stories and got them out of order...  Time stamps on photos/video might help with that fact checking, as well as GPS tracking myself, giving calories, route, maybe times, if I figured out how...

And at the end of my day, decided to return, didn't have something at a farmer's market 20 miles out, or so it seems, probably 9+ by then, back in the mid day heat, past 10 am, and a kid along the side of the trail, wondering what he is doing, nobody else around, that I could see, and then see what he's looking at, taking a photo, not of a woman in a window (older kids might, wrongly), but a deer, with antlers and everything.  He gets photo credit, got there first, saw it and I would have missed, but I try getting a shot, and probably missed, won't know until later...

About 175 photos and video total that day, and didn't check much, problem is the more you do, at least me, the more tired I am and less energy I have to take photos/videos, wear a clown nose, at every kid I pass, honk horn, and be personable, much less funny and witty, and then less time and energy to document what happened, when, why, with whom, etc...

And then return home, and get attacked by someone(s) claiming I'm taking photos of kids, and wants something besides beating up on me for some unknown reason, like those old white people are bad, we should get something from them, you hurt us, give us stuff, scams, etc...

After rest and uploading, it turns out the kid was in it, he turned around and ran to his bike, which I didn't see as looking back,  I was thinking he would stay there and get a good photo/video, I didn't see until later, when back home, action cameras mostly don't have displays, so you see later, maybe, and not as distracted by what you are getting, like Texting While Driving, and similar.  Just capture , check later...

Most of my errands were accomplished, that kid got a good photo, hopefully only of deer, I'm guessing, and gets photo credit for that, but I get bashed for stopping to see what was going on, maybe protecting the kid from a deer charging him, protective of it's young, big against big, and/or just looking up and around while eating, twitching big ears like a rabbit, amplified to hear, and turning like radar antennae, at whatever noises those bipeds were making...

Wondering if those things are going to try to take my food... ?  The deer might be wondering...

Still safe to be here, or move along, hopping along and have to find food elsewhere?

They sure are noisy, and there are a lot of them...  They travel in packs, you know, you see one, there mght be others around...

Earlier in the week, saw one deer run across the trail, jumping, and not sure where it went, but too slow to get a good photo, (camera went to 000 when 999 should have been, too quick to check all the files, directories, can't push buttons too fast, it freezes, and have to pull out the battery to reset, losing clock time/sequence) But, If I leave it on all the time, like some say a security camera should be, one it runs out battery and memory, and really large files, Gigs, huge uploads and storage requirements, which you have difficulty editing, takes too much resources, time and effort, plus a camera in many people's faces which they vehemently object to, instead of from behind without faces, (does it make my butt look big?), and wondering about a project to know if someone is a Friend or Foe (Mil airplane protocol is IFF, ID FF, incoming bogie, (sp?)), like police trainings where they need to know in split second to fire on something  or not...  Drama, but training opportunities too.  Is the trail frendly?  Are all people good?  If you were attacked, and people want you out of the park, and/or encountered some gang like activity, wouldn't you be wary?

Riding along, last weekend , on moto, on Interstate 66 inbound, and geese, about three of them, one big, two smaller, along the highway, I honk, worried they are going to be hit, could not stop, without creating more problems, high Jersey walls in the way, might be able to shoo them to the ramp and off...  Not yet ready to fly, not sure...  And/or raised along the highway?  And about ready to move along...

Conclusion

Summary of experience or similar

Encroachment of land developers, construction, mowing, etc, and the wildlife have less places to be, the end of spring time, and newborns growing up, starting to move around, learn their habitats...

Memorial Day weekend, went back thru , told security with RollingThunder (BakingStallingDraggingRollingThunder2016  was a later part of the day, upon return with moto) at the Pentagon I was going to harass the geese, joking, had seen them a previous week with DC Bikes going on the HOV lanes, they were doing OK and further off the trail, this time, not a busy section there, as I recall, but once published, hopefully , later on and they might have migrated further along, and matured enough to go fly away, vacay in better less populated areas.  Yep. the parks are for the animals, and we all have to get along...

Later that day, a guy down in Franklin Square park, police all around, didn't seem to be beating up on him, already incapacitated, by the time I was there, they were yelling at me, no photography, he has privacy, but I'm on a sidewalk, going about my business, where the World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) started the last year in DC, as I recall, had done one or two WNBR before, full of gawking photographers, while a press event, I didn't want to be photographed, so much so, that going back to WNBR was questionable, then it seemed to stop locally, no one deailing with permits, etc to make it happen,

And I didn't photograph the Franklin Park guy, a big black guy, as I recall, mixed police, rather angry, and an ambulance came the other way, he may have died, some said, maybe that is DC, and other places, IDK.  Someone seemed to know me from the nearby StreetSense,  back in the day, and protests in the park, probably wanted to have it documented...  IDK.  Too tired and busy to do much and yelled off and threatened by police...

All the while people are saing DC is getting beet with homelessness? True?  And/or Politics and/or PR/Marketing?

I remember thinking he was probably kicked out of Franklin Shelter back in the day, as it closed and developers, took over, gentrified, developed and supposedly cleaned up the park(s)...

Discussion

A place for feedback on the page presented

What do you do when you see an animal?

What condition is it in?

Smooshed along the road?

Stray cat killed?

Dog running scared among cars?

Can you stop?  Have others already stopped?

Can you do so safely?

Do you photograph it?

Essentially find dog tags, and get reported to ASPCA, that their animal was found?

Strays located?

Like MIA, KIA for Military?

Or better, more heart warming stories of saved, in nature where they belong?

Animal Planet lives, and it's in your local parks, even if just squirrels and birds, instead of exotics, busy keeping themselves fed...  They eat pretty much full time, as I recall, kind of like human animals grazing throughout the day, finding good food, where they can, when they can...

Also mice, rats and bugs, for those more citified...

License

Creative Commons Share and Share Alike, Non Commercial, Non Derivative, for the whole site's contents unless otherwise explicitly stated

Page History

20160702 Jerry

• Jerry created this page to log an encounter, can't be a former journalist, and not comment on such things, not identifying , and not predatory, though others may think so.  Names, location, and bad photos/videos withheld...  Bragging rights go to the kid(s)...
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