Unknowns When Riding Known Roads

another wild life encounter was with swarms of locusts yrs ago , was on a honda 4 and the first time ever had a fairing on a bike , was a bikini fairing , was traveling from mildura in vic to syd in nsw which is about 1000 kls or a bit more , most of which is long open planes of boring straight rd ,there was locust swarms at the time and sometimes would have to go through 20kls of them at a time , the only thing could was hunker down behind the screen with just the eyes poking over the top (and yes open face helmet and no glasses :) ) after getting clear after a swarm would start getting higher and higher above the screen when WACK fair between the eyes would collect a stray locust ... just great at 100kph (we grow big locusts here) , so then back behind the screen and push on , swarms went for about 500kls of the trip ,dead bodies everywhere on the bike especially cooked on the motor and between the fins
 
Flea - I remember a locust plaque travelling to Mildura about 12 years ago - car was a mess no idea how the radiator coped.
Coincidentily - I was reading in a forum a thread about how the guys in America have to dodge Deer and sometimes hit them. I remember thinking how lucky I am in Adelaide to not have to dodge them. (our biggest problem is Roos but nobody would even think of riding through roo country at sundown).
Anyway, the next day Im riding through the Adelaide hills and what runs across the road, a bloody Deer, very close/lucky miss , obviously escaped from one of the hobby farms.
p.s. we sometimes have to dodge roos in the middle of the day, but its rare.
 
Flea - I remember a locust plaque travelling to Mildura about 12 years ago - car was a mess no idea how the radiator coped.
Coincidentily - I was reading in a forum a thread about how the guys in America have to dodge Deer and sometimes hit them. I remember thinking how lucky I am in Adelaide to not have to dodge them. (our biggest problem is Roos but nobody would even think of riding through roo country at sundown).
Anyway, the next day Im riding through the Adelaide hills and what runs across the road, a bloody Deer, very close/lucky miss , obviously escaped from one of the hobby farms.
p.s. we sometimes have to dodge roos in the middle of the day, but its rare.
yep those big reds down your way are deadly , some parts of the country you just dont ride or drive at sunset
 
Riding in the in the midwest where there is a lot of animals that can cause you trouble. Deer, cattle, swine, large dogs. raccoons even pheasants and wild turkeys. I've learned to not just watch the ditches but also the fields. In town watch curbs and lawns. Never know where trouble will come from.
 
My favourite road hazard appears quite suddenly every year with no warning on a sunny day in Spring or early Summer.

Years ago when I was at Heriot-Watt University I knew a chap who had driven into a parked car suffering severe contusions & nasty abrasions. Plus damage to his DT175. Had a few close calls meself. I refer of course to that sunny day when the entire female population decides by common consensus to dress in lighter, skimpier clothing. With apparently no thought to the dangerous distraction caused thereby.
 
I had a buddy that was taken clean off his bike by a goose at 70 mph luckily he was wearing leather and escaped serious injury. It did shred his jacket though. Just last week I took the wife for a ride and while cruising a nice curvy back road I watched a deer running along a fence line right towards us. I was able to slow enough there wasn’t an incident but if he had come out of the woods where I couldn’t see him it could have been bad.
 
I had a buddy that was taken clean off his bike by a goose at 70 mph luckily he was wearing leather and escaped serious injury. It did shred his jacket though. Just last week I took the wife for a ride and while cruising a nice curvy back road I watched a deer running along a fence line right towards us. I was able to slow enough there wasn’t an incident but if he had come out of the woods where I couldn’t see him it could have been bad.

We have a surprising amount of Canadian Geese here in Arizona, they winter here on their migration, they tend to clump up around golf courses and man made lakes. And we do have Mule Deer here but you don’t see them much unless you’re in a forested part of the state.
Ahh, but we do have Turkey Vultures! A close cousin of the California Condor, but a little smaller. They have a habit of congregating in groups around a road killed rabbit.
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There have been many times , riding in the desert, when I’ve come over a rise in the road or around a corner at highway speeds and there is a flock of vultures in the road. When they all take off at once, with their impressive 6’ wingspan, they can present a challenge to avoid them. And as you can imagine, it takes them a moment to gain altitude!
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We have a surprising amount of Canadian Geese here in Arizona, they winter here on their migration, they tend to clump up around golf courses and man made lakes. And we do have Mule Deer here but you don’t see them much unless you’re in a forested part of the state.
Ahh, but we do have Turkey Vultures! A close cousin of the California Condor, but a little smaller. They have a habit of congregating in groups around a road killed rabbit.
View attachment 218261
There have been many times , riding in the desert, when I’ve come over a rise in the road or around a corner at highway speeds and there is a flock of vultures in the road. When they all take off at once, with their impressive 6’ wingspan, they can present a challenge to avoid them. And as you can imagine, it takes them a moment to gain altitude!
View attachment 218262
Yup, we've got Turkey Vultures here too, along with Blue Heron, Red Tails and Barred Owls (almost hit one at night). Wildlife is fascinating but dangerous.
 
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