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What Animal have you seen in the wild, that was a rarity for you ?

For me it would have to be a Black Bear. We have them here in the Ozarks, but it's not often you see one. I managed to see one a few years ago as it made its way across one of my pastures between two patches of woodline.

It's said we have Mountain Lions here as well, and trappings and valid sightings confirm it, but I have never seen one although I have heard them a few times.

Some people we know swear they have seen Bigfoot several times. I cannot confirm or deny the existence of such a creature, but I was born and raised here, and have spent probably half of my life in these woods. I have never came across anything resembling a Bigfoot. :001_huh:
 
Not really in the wild, in a farm field.

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I saw an Oryx between Alamogordo and White Sands, New Mexico. But of native species, I'd say I was most excited to see the little Key Deer in the Florida Keys and the seals off the coast of Northern California.
 

BigFoot

I wanna be sedated!
Staff member
Bigfoot is real, just look at my Avatar!

My rarest sighting happened about 2 weeks ago, I was coming home from work I was about 3 blocks from my house within the city limits of Carrollton TX. There is an open field on one side of the street and a wooded walking area on the other side. It was 4:15 in the afternoon and a Bobcat ran across the street from the field toward the wooded area.

I know Texas has a large population of them but to see one in daylight within the city was pretty cool. Let me tell you them dudes can run, he was flying across the road.
 
Seeing a Black Bear here in Arkansas. I'm an avid bird watcher, seeing Wood Storks for the first time in Oklahoma was special, the first time I saw a Golden Eagle.

The other sighting would seeing four Gators in South Arkansas.
 
Been thinking of other animals spotted. Living in a region with over 1000 miles of waterways and pretty unique climate means lots of species are fairly common in or around the cities.

Burrowing owl, hardly a rare bird, but to see them in the day time in th city is pretty cool. Sandhill Crane, saw a bunch on migration a couple months back. Yellow billed magpie, not rare around here, this is its natural region, but also its only habitat. Golden eagle, swainsons hawk, stotes, fox. Also western skinks which are just beautiful creatures!


-Xander
 

Toothpick

Needs milk and a bidet!
Staff member
I've lived in the city most my life.

in rarity terms for the city...

fox
deer
coyote

There was a Bald Eagle nest in a big ole tree off a main road close by but I don't ever recall seeing the Eagles, just the nest.

yeah...that's about it.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
I have been within a few feet of a black bear that I surprised in California. We were both somewhat startled to say the least. Walked up on a mountain cow (tapir) in Belize while stalking a quash (coatimundi, or tepizquintle in Kekchi Mayan, see pic elsewhere in thread). My son at the age of 4 when the wife at the time was managing Gallows Point resort, wandered off and wandered back towing a 9 foot boa constrictor by the tail. I have hunted curassow, a large turkey like bird in Belize. Both spider monkeys and black howlers are common and from my house I could see them in the treetops sometimes. The wife had a nightwalker as a pet, and they are fairly rare. These are also known as kinkajou. We lost livestock to predators, namely jaguar (tiger in Belize) and cougar (red tiger) and various smaller cats (collectively called tigrito, usually). We often caught iguanas too. They would sun themselves on branches overhanging the river, and when spooked they would dive into the river and cross along the bottom to avoid predators, then climb up a tree on the other side. Once they make the leap they are committed and are easy to catch if you dive in where they will hit the water. Fine eating, believe it or not. Was on a shrimp boat about 15 miles off the Mexican coast back when we could still fish there, and went forward to lead the anchor line back to the winch and an eagle had declared the 2 foot high and 8 feet wide coil of remaining anchor line off limits to humans. I tried to shoo him off with a deck brush and he attacked the handle with surprising violence. Took the deck hose to him and he finally had enough. On a ship on the West Bank, an owl buzzed me late one night, REALLY close, as in inches. Don't know what that was all about. We see gators all the time so they are not really rare here. Like the iguana, alligator is fine eating. Wild hogs are sometimes seen, and I have seen them both hunting them, and hunting deer. They are pretty nasty customers with really bad attitudes. Louisiana is home to both water moccassins and rattlesnakes and I have found myself to have been distressingly close to both on occasion. Speaking of snakes, in Belize I found a coral snake sunning on the road early one morning walking into the village for supplies. I stepped on its head (it was only about a foot long, and I was wearing boots) and picked it up by the neck so it couldn't bite me. My Comadre, who was also the village shop owner, gave me an empty jar for it because I was going to take it to the zoo if they wanted it. (They didn't... they already had a dozen or so!) so I let this tiny but very potent little beast loose where no barefoot kids were likely to step on it. The same ship where I got owl-buzzed, was a good place to watch beavers. Yes, there are beavers in the river. They apparently burrow up into the batture, the land between the levee and the river. Some of them were really huge, over 5 feet long. They would come out at night if there was no activity. I have seen sunfish, whale sharks, and other rare fish and ocean dwelling critters. We see whales of all sorts quite often. Saw a huge jellyfish, about 8 feet across, one time. I don't know if it was a rare species or if it was just a freaky big one of a common species but I haven't ran across anyone else who has seen any 8 foot jellyfish. Caught a shark with horns on its head, and a shark that could curl up like a snake. I have waded in the shallows in Belize and poked sleeping nurse sharks with a stick. They are totally harmless. I once shook an 8" centipede out of my boot. Took an elephant ride in Thailand. They are really cool critters. You look in their eyes and you feel like you are looking at a person, somehow. They have this thing like they KNOW stuff. I got within about 40 feet of a small herd of antelope in west Texas once, while bicycling from California to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. They never heard me until I was close enough for them to hear the wind of my passage and tiny creaks from the bicycle. Their sudden flight was something beautiful to behold. Seen lions, elephants, (different species) and giraffes in Kenya. Arctic foxes in Greenland. I was hoping to see polar bears but no joy on the bearsie-wearsies. Last but not least here in New Orleans, when I lived and sometimes worked in the French Quarter, I saw drunks, crackheads, hookers, strippers, pickpockets, hustlers and conmen, mimes, street musicians, shot girls, tourists, and other strange creatures. This winter I will be going to Antarctica and I hope to share a tin of sardines with some friendly penguins. So I guess I have seen a lot of odd or rare critters and it ain't over yet.
 
A "Kamoshika" or Japanese serow.

They're all around my area but the first time I saw one was late at night and it was HUGE!
$japanese_serow_berlin_zoo_8th_september_2011-162408.jpg


Also seeing a "nihonzaru", macaque in the woods behind my apartment was pretty strange, since they typically live in much colder regions

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We stumbled across an armadillo near the beach while walking around Ft. Pickens in Pensacola FL. Pretty unusual animal. Not something I've ever come across up north.
 

Slash McCoy

I freehand dog rockets
Armadillos? Drive south through central florida and you see them alongside the road all the time. If there is a lot of traffic you can even sneak up on them. Touch them and they jump straight up and scurry away. Great way to amuse yourself. Beats shooting up traffic signs. In the hill country of central Texas you often hear them making a big racket in thickets and Yankees deer hunting invariably stake out the thicket thinking it is a trophy buck LOL! BTW they are one of the few animals that can contract and spread leprosy. Just sayin.
 
Last winter I saw an otter in my back yard. I live in the city and have a fenced in back yard but the gate happened to be open that day. I was standing in our dining room talking to my wife when some movement caught my eye outside the sliding glass door. It was scampering really low to the ground and at first I thought it was a dachshund but it looked too long. I was thunderstruck when i realized it was an otter! It would take a few steps then slide in the snow on its belly. It went to the top of the slope and slid down a few times. Then it climbed our wood pile, jumped over the (low) fence and scampered away. I had never seen an otter in the wild before so it was really odd to see one in my back yard. The nearest habitat that might support otters is a river which is about 2-1/2 miles away.
 
I see otters several times a week here. About 10 years ago, there was a California Sea Lion that made the 70 NM trek up stream from the SF Bay to the head of the deep water channel following the stripped bass run. Now there are several that stay year round in the fresh water up here. Had a Northern Pike take several fish off a stringer I had tied to the dock while I wash fishing, imagine my surprise to pull it up and only have half a dozen fish heads left! Beaver are common too.

A great white shark off the south island of the Farralones once.


-Xander
 
The occasional Fischer-Cat around here. Mostly hear them, but sometimes spot them when bicycling. They do keep the squirrel population down!
 
Hump back came up for air about 20' from our boat, startled me had camera in hand and didn't take one shot.
 
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