Forums >General Running>Weirdest thing you've ever seen on the ground during a run..?
Although this doesn't really count as "found on the ground", I had one of my more interesting wildlife encounters on Sunday during my long run. As I went by a telephone pole I had a red tailed hawk come off his perch and swoop down right in front of me, really really close. I could have reached out and touched him with a yard rake. At first it startled me, but what an awesome view of an awesome creature.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
rectumdamnnearkilledem
They really are awesome. We see a lot of them where we live. I probably see at least one/month, frequently pretty close, too. I've had a few runs where I'll see close to a half dozen in as many miles.
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
This was during my run on some evening that was nearly dark. As I ran through some trail between neighborhoods when I heard some strange squeaking noise so I stopped and froze. I looked at it for a minute and I couldn't tell what it was until it turned and I saw the white stripe on the skunk that was ready to spray me if I took another step.
I had a similar experience. I missed kicking a skunk by less than six inches on one dark night. So I went out the next day and bought a good bright LED flashlight. The next skunk encounter, I saw it from far enough away to be safe.
Ostrich runner
Because C-R is considering wimping out on Tecumseh, I'll bring up an oldie. The skinned raccoon carcass on the trail at Tecumseh Trail Marathon. What's worse, I've seen it more than once on that trail.
http://www.runningahead.com/groups/Indy/forum
Had this happen to me on a quiet winter run two years ago. The hawk swooped in to grab and kill a bird in the driveway next to me. That's nothing. If my memory serves, Mikey had a hawk do the same to his head on a run.
RA's cranky old teenager
This wasn't me, but a guy on my team kicked a deer. A full-on jump kick to the side. Apparently it wouldn't move off the trail he was on, so he, being incredibly smart, did a flying jump kick. Then it moved...
That's probably maybe mostly true.
I accidentally kicked a bird - a small one, like a sparrow. It was crossing in front of me and the toe of my forward swinging foot caught it squarely. The bird flopped to the ground in front of me and then flew off. It was very odd...
Oh roo roooo!
I can contribute to the hawk stories--once when running I saw a hawk and his (apparently recently caught) prey off to one side of the road, sitting on the ground. He gave me a really menacing look, and I detoured W I D E around him, wasn't going to cross his personal boundary!
Another time I noticed some small gray feathers drifting down from the sky. This was near the end of a long run, so my mind was even less razor sharp than normal and it took me a moment to even get to the "WTF?" stage, but when I glanced up, I saw a hawk with what appeared to be a mourning dove or similar bird clutched in his talons. He must have just caught his breakfast right over my oblivious head and were it not for those drifting feathers, I would never have known!
They are cool birds, very large and majestic.
Bumping for all the new peeps.
Drink up moho's!!
Found a porno movie once. Found a Sony DS once (broken screen so not usable).
Over this past summer I had 1 spot in my route that a red winged blackbird must have had a nest nearby as he would dive bomb me every time I ran by there.
not bad for mile 25
Not exactly (human) running-related, but there was a red-winged blackbird that really had it in for our Doberman. It was one of the few things that dog ever showed any fear of.
I've been known to refer to red-wings as the assholes of the bird world.
old woman w/hobby
Oh, but I love them.
steph
I agree with you; dog agrees with Zoomy.
That particular bird I was glad he moved on. Actually felt him hit my hair on 1 of the dive bombs. Just new it was coming and made that an extended stride-out location.