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  #1  
Old 07-18-2015, 09:04 AM
catdaddy catdaddy is offline
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Default Strange Day On The Bike Trail

What started out as a pleasant riding morning on the State Forest bike trail near my home quickly turned into one of those all too common Florida bizarro world experiences when a Cassowary showed up at a trail/road junction.

For those not familiar with this particular bird species let me just say that it stands about 5 feet tall, has dagger sharp foot long toes on the ends of its feet and a disposition that makes it as likely to try to eviscerate a human with a kick as to avoid contact with the person. It's also worth mentioning that the closest this bird comes to Florida in its natural habitat is approximately 9.000 miles away in Australia.

My wife and I managed to successfully evade the bird, warn on-coming cyclists and joggers and contacted the county authorities. Just another day in paradise

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Old 07-18-2015, 09:52 AM
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Kitchen Guitars Kitchen Guitars is offline
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Cool bird outa place. Reminds me about reading a few weeks ago a guy in Germany that went for a walk in the woods at 5am and was attacked and killed by an Elephant. Can you imagine the disbelief and confusion? The Elephant had escaped from a circus. It would be like seeing a Lion in Pittsburgh. Although, there just was a Furry convention in Pittsburgh.
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Old 07-18-2015, 09:58 AM
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It even looks mean.
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Old 07-18-2015, 10:09 AM
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It even looks mean.
But tasty! Can you imagine the breast meat in that bird !
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Old 07-18-2015, 10:30 AM
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But tasty! Can you imagine the breast meat in that bird !
Maybe so. But getting it to part with it's breast meat could be problematic.
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Old 07-18-2015, 11:10 AM
Kerbie Kerbie is offline
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Wow… that is a cool bird! What a great sighting…

I've birded for years… never seen one of those. Those legs are really something, to say nothing of the purple neck.
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Old 07-18-2015, 11:33 AM
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Very, very cool sighting. What trail were you on???
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Old 07-18-2015, 11:36 AM
architype architype is offline
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That thing looks a bit prehistoric. Maybe his great great great great great grandfather was a Velociraptor.
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Old 07-18-2015, 11:56 AM
RustyZombie RustyZombie is offline
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That thing looks a bit prehistoric. Maybe his great great great great great grandfather was a Velociraptor.
They really are a bird that still thinks its a dinosaur. There have been cases where they cut through windshields to get to people. But fortunately there has only been one documented death from them, and that was mostly a fluke.
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Old 07-18-2015, 11:58 AM
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If it's closest natural habitat is Australia, I'm surprised you knew what it was. I would have had no idea...
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Old 07-18-2015, 12:53 PM
3rd_harmonic 3rd_harmonic is offline
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...wonder if they can be taught to dance.
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Old 07-18-2015, 01:06 PM
catdaddy catdaddy is offline
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Originally Posted by RP View Post
Very, very cool sighting. What trail were you on???
This was on The Withlacoochee Forest State Trail. It's a 50 mile 'rails to trails' bike trail through Central Florida. I've been an active birder for more than 50 years and have had an interest in them that includes species worldwide so other than the surprising location it was an easy ID. Nothing else really resembles a Cassowary.

Some years ago there was a ranch close to the trail that housed some exotic animals such as camels and peacocks which was sold. The former owner either released or abandoned the peacocks because my wife and I continue to see them or hear them on that section of the trail from time to time. The place where we encountered the Cassowary was about a mile from that ranch. It's got me wondering what else might be on the loose out in the forest.
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Old 07-18-2015, 01:07 PM
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A little out of place, a little out of time...
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  #14  
Old 07-18-2015, 01:08 PM
catdaddy catdaddy is offline
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Originally Posted by 3rd_harmonic View Post
...wonder if they can be taught to dance.
yes they can can...
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You can listen to Walt's award winning songs with his acoustic band The Porch Pickers @ the Dixie Moon album or rock out electrically with Rock 'n' Roll Reliquary

Bourgeois AT Mahogany D
Gibson Hummingbird
Martin J-15
Voyage Air VAD-04
Martin 000X1AE
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  #15  
Old 07-18-2015, 02:06 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by catdaddy View Post
What started out as a pleasant riding morning on the State Forest bike trail near my home quickly turned into one of those all too common Florida bizarro world experiences when a Cassowary showed up at a trail/road junction.

For those not familiar with this particular bird species let me just say that it stands about 5 feet tall, has dagger sharp foot long toes on the ends of its feet and a disposition that makes it as likely to try to eviscerate a human with a kick as to avoid contact with the person. It's also worth mentioning that the closest this bird comes to Florida in its natural habitat is approximately 9.000 miles away in Australia.

My wife and I managed to successfully evade the bird, warn on-coming cyclists and joggers and contacted the county authorities. Just another day in paradise

It's likely ancestor.....
http://phys.org/news/2014-03-chicken...feathered.html

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Taylor 514ce FLTD, Sitka/Tasmanian Blackwood from Ted at LA Guitar Sales
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Taylor 526ce, all Mahogany (2014)
Baby Taylor, mahogany (2014)
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