wildlife sighting

mergs

Spokompton's Finest
JORBA.ORG
I was out my backyard trails on Sunday with my biking buddy Misty and saw something I've been hearing for years, but have never seen: a barred owl.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barred_Owl

800px-Strix-varia-005.jpg


Man, this thing looked huge, and fully capable of taking on a red-tailed hawk (should they decide they'd want to do such a silly thing and battle, I only mention it to give you perspective on the size). My bird book said they're 22" high and I'd say that was about right.

I think the only reason I saw it was because initially I heard this massive thing take off from one tree and move to another tree (a nice bare snag in fully view), and he/she was clearly interested in my dog because he ignored me and as my dog ran around circling me, giving me the look of "c'mon man, let's run" the owl would spin its head around following her every move.

A really cool moment in the woods.

edit: the picture above is from WikiPedia, not me :( but this is essentially/coincidentally what I saw.
 
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Shaggz

A strong 7
Wow. Brad, Tim & I saw an owl "eating" on the trail one evening. It was dark and we could not identify it, but it appeared to be very small, so probably a juvenile.

While I didn't see any wild like this weekend, we saw plenty of carnivore scat at MD on Sunday. We also saw a LOT of beaver activity around the pond, a 'coon rail, minus the 'coon...
 

VelocityBoy

"Sleeveless Joe"
The closest I got to potentially harmful wildlife was last July at Wawayanda when we caught this fellow chowing down on a field mouse, rattling like crazy when we were trying to get by.
:getsome:
 

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gtluke

The Moped
awesome. i actually had a close encounter with one of those my first time at blue mountain, and i was by myself!
I have a cell phone video of the noises and hisses and clicks he was making. would NOT let me pass. I was scared, honest. I ended up just turning around.
I was going down the trail and the bastard JUMPED out of a log and spread his wings across the trail to stop me.
I hung out and chatted with him about Mrs. Brisby for a solid 10 minutes before I left, crazy experience!
I have another cell phone pic where you can see my tire, and him about 5 feet away. pretty cool.
owl.jpg
 

THATmanMANNY

Well-Known Member
luke, that thing looks kinda weird.... like two owls back to back. Or is it just hunched over or something.

On the canal I've seen this HUUUUUGE bird once. Someome told me what it was but i forget. It was flamingo size. Also, seen a snapping turtle that was decades and decades and decades old on canal path too. Musta been 4 feet long. It freaked me out. I literally hurdled over it just in time. (i was running and just minding my on biz
 

RNG1

Well-Known Member
Wow that is really a beautiful picture like a magazine quality shot.
I agree with that other comment about lukes photo, why does it look so weird?
 

mergs

Spokompton's Finest
JORBA.ORG
Wow. Brad, Tim & I saw an owl "eating" on the trail one evening. It was dark and we could not identify it, but it appeared to be very small, so probably a juvenile.

While I didn't see any wild like this weekend, we saw plenty of carnivore scat at MD on Sunday. We also saw a LOT of beaver activity around the pond, a 'coon rail, minus the 'coon...

you said, "beaver", on my post no less. thanks shaggz!
 
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mergs

Spokompton's Finest
JORBA.ORG
awesome. i actually had a close encounter with one of those my first time at blue mountain, and i was by myself!
I have a cell phone video of the noises and hisses and clicks he was making. would NOT let me pass. I was scared, honest. I ended up just turning around.
I was going down the trail and the bastard JUMPED out of a log and spread his wings across the trail to stop me.
I hung out and chatted with him about Mrs. Brisby for a solid 10 minutes before I left, crazy experience!
I have another cell phone pic where you can see my tire, and him about 5 feet away. pretty cool.
owl.jpg

Wow! What a story... I wonder what the deal was... nesting season? eggs, or chicks, maybe ? In any case, great story. That owl might "leave a mark" if messed with! :)
 

743power

Shop: Bicycle Pro
Shop Keep
I've always had an irrational fear of owls, but an absolute fascination and love for all raptors. I actually saw my first owl in real life 2 weekends ago. I got ahead of our group for a bit and something caught my eye on top of a ladder on a silo. The scary white face of an owl. It was quite cool. We saw a fox @ mercer one day. It spotted us and started running, jumped clear across the creek. Darty little fella he was. I was attacked by a wild turkey a long time ago when I was riding some dirt jumps on my bmx bike. Nothing like having a 3 foot tall bird running at you @ 20mph while you are sprinting as hard as you can to get away from it. Now whenever I see them on the mtb, I am always ready for an attack.

Coolest thing I ever saw was a pair of bald eagles at mercer last spring. It was an amazing 70 degree early spring day and I got done work early, so I got out for a ride and had the whole park to myself. I was right near the dam and I heard something flying out of the water. I turned around and saw a bald eagle. It was amazing. I crossed to dam towards the golf course to see if I could find it and I found two eagles perched on the power lines.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Some creatures I've ran into, or almost ran into...

Bat at 6-Mile.

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Salamander while warming up at the Ringwood race last year. He was pacing me.

n1291834825_214181_5643.jpg


Turtle at 6-Mile. If he fit in my jersey pocket I would've taken him home!!

n1291834825_214185_6508.jpg


-Jim.
 
G

Greenman

Guest
While hiking in Weiss is saw a Barred owl along with some of it's young ones.
It was a awsome experience, I just hung out and watched them for the longest time. What caught my attention to them was the noises they were making, never heard anything like it.
 

southernerinnj

New Member
No Eagles or Owls, but I did get chased by a ground hog in MCP the other day he came charging at my trailer from the field near the cricket pitches. Scary brown blur hard charging at me = RUN!

Also on saturday saw this at Holmdel during the TM session there. I was a little concerned until I realized it was just Frank from Jorba.
 

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Oldgoat

New Member
I have a little bit of experience with birds. Sadly, this looks to be an owl with a broken wing which would explain why it seemed like it wouldn't let you by. In that condition the best it can do against anything it sees as a predator is to act aggressive and hope you leave. That strategy worked with you but unfortunately would not work with a raccoon, fox, dog, etc. The other possibility is that it was sitting on a mouse or something it had just caught and was telling you to step off. Raptors will often "fan" their wings out over caught prey, but usually both wings. I hope i'm wrong about the broken wing because the prospects are any wild bird with a broken wing are not good at all.




Wow! What a story... I wonder what the deal was... nesting season? eggs, or chicks, maybe ? In any case, great story. That owl might "leave a mark" if messed with! :)
 

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
no pics from me but i cam REALLY close to hitting (yes that how i meant to type it) a deer, groundhogs are not uncommon, neither are birds or (idk if it counts, but i passed like 3 horses in one day :O ) saw a bear one day, he was walking away from me, so i turned around and left :)
 
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