Fauna

     I leave the house early to go on my rides. I do this to beat the heat and the traffic. This time of year I accomplish little of either. The temperature at 5 AM is 82° with 90° humidity  and the school traffic starts early now. Still, I am out earlier than most people and I get to see animals most people miss. It's all part of paying attention when you are on the road.

    Lately there has been a coyote on my route, a young female or juvenile male. I kinda like coyotes and they leave me alone, not like dogs. There are plenty of dogs in the early hours but this is about wild animals not wilding pets. I frequently spot owls, ghosting across the road from field to field. Spring and fall there are skunks, delightful and humorous creatures if you don't bother them. They do bounce around like Pepe Le Pew.

    I sometimes ride over to the state park. The hours just before and just after dawn are magic. The bike path has its own special hazards. Suicidal cottontails are the biggest threat. They are surely cute but they dart from one side to the other, change their mind and dart back, then make one last dash right in front of your wheel. They don't always make it. The nighthawks wait in the middle of the path and take off just before contact. They will sometimes give me a fighter escort for some distance, swooping like a spitfire just off the deck. Beware the lost glove you have just found! If it crawls off it is a tarantula, like skunks fun if not bothered.

    On morning there was a menagerie for my delight. Inside the park was a coati (very rare down here, like a skinny raccoon with glasses) armadillos, raccoons, javelina, tarantulas, an indigo snake and a very confused pug. The pug was just sitting there in the middle of the park road saying "beats me boss, I just got here myself" Then there were the birds. Wild turkeys, chachalacas, cardinals, green jays, owls, hawks kiskadees and roadrunners. Lots of tweety birds I have no ability to distinguish.

    So there are some good reasons for getting out early. The heat is not too bad, they traffic a little better and the fauna is frisky. By noon, it is over 100°, the traffic is homicidal and most of the animal sightings are roadkill. Get up and get out early but by all means pay attention. You don't want to be the morning's fresh kill.