Lynn Barber's Birding Blog

I really like dogs and most of my life we have had a dog at our home. But I now know for fact what I feared might be true – a dog that is not on a leash just may bite you! That is what happened to me this afternoon. A few bikers, accompanied by three or four dogs running freely along with the bikes, passed me on the edge of the path where I had stepped aside to get out of their way toward the end of my birding walk, and one of the dogs circled around behind me and bit me on the leg. It hurt and it drew blood at the fang marks on my leg. I had to call animal control, the police interviewed me, and I had to go to the doctor and get a tetanus shot. PLEASE EVERYONE- keep your dogs on a leash, even if they have always been nice and friendly. You don’t want anyone to be wounded by your dog. It could have been worse than just a fang puncture. And BIRDERS and other walkers, watch out – those dogs running along with their masters/mistresses might just decide to circle back to you.

The birding itself was not all that exciting today until the dog-bite incident. It was about 22 degrees and sunny, a very pleasant day and walk. After about a 1/2 hour I heard my first bird, a distant Pine Grosbeak.

After that I had a couple of mixed chickadee flocks (Boreal and Black-capped), a few Common Ravens in the distance, three Brown Creepers spread out along the path, and a Black-billed Magpie in a tree near my car as I limped back to it.