Wildlife seen heard and enjoyed

[Vanbrat]

Last night it was cold crisp and a very quiet winter night when I stepped outside. At first, I just breathed deep as I had been stuck inside doing important but unhappy stuff. Then a heard an owl in the tree across the street and another one behind the house answer and another one down the block talk back at them and then the coyotes from behind our place started and a small squirrel in the tree made a soft sound in the tree beside me. I loved it all and it helped. So, I started thinking of all the wildlife we have around us the 5 point deer buck that likes to tease the old dog. the birds at the feeders, the chipmunks and bunnies that are often pests but very cute, the racoons that are very secretive and of course the eagles that fly over the house so often. they are what sold us on this being the forever home so many years ago.
I am looking forward to getting out again this spring and now I have something to add to the journal that I sometimes write in "What animals we see." Last year we went to the Oregon coast... so a black bear, lots of seagulls, a few Friendly mutts, 3-whales swimming close to shore, and a park alongside I-5 we will now be going out of our way to eat lunch at just to see all the many squirrels that joined us for lunch one day.
We've stopped at small zoos a few times and I enjoyed that. But the most fun was the racoons that came and said hi one night when my kids were young and they entertained them for over an hour trying, successfully, to get a treat from us. Yeap, I know never feed a wild animal. But it was the kids first camp out in 3-4 years, and we let them just because they needed it. And they only got 3-4 bites before we stopped the kids from feeding them.
So, what about you do/did you have a time when the animals were the highlight of your trip? Tell us the story please.

 

[TheBar]

After moving to the suburbs after living in the country for 40 years in 2 different states I do miss the wild animals. Like having a giant endangered woodpecker in our trees and a family of 8 racoons in our back yard every night. But I don't miss the fleas and ticks .

My favorite country story was calling an outside cat to dinner after dark. She was running with a weird bounding motion like there was something wrong with her. Then I froze when she got within 3 feet and I realized it was a wild skunk instead. Who came right up and started eating out of the bowl.

I don't know if it was someone's pet but there had not been any rabies cases for decades. So I wasn't too afraid. Maybe just a juvenile skunk who didn't know better. But I very slowly stood up and moved away. From then on I brought two bowls of food outside every night and put them about 6 feet apart. The cat and skunk were both waiting and ate at the same time.

When I sold the house 8 years later the buyers did not consider the resident skunk to be an asset. But the wife thought the story was cute and I like to think she continued to feed the skunk.

 

[LarsMac]

I was walking daughter's dog last night around 1 AM. There were several Hoot Owls nearby. They were having quite the conversation.
And over the ridge across the highway, There were several Coyotes having another conversation. Dog and I both stood there listening for a few minutes, until the cold got to us, and we had to get on with our original task.

 

[old_toys]

one of the koa's we stayed at every year had a doe with little spotted ones come through the campground about 7am every year for 3 years. kinda neat watching her procedure transgressing the field. the little ones would always stay just inside the wooded area and when she made it to the other side she would signal them somehow and here they both would go to her. I always had to go outside the trailer to get my laptop to connect to their internet and that was always a treat.

 

[RayIN]

I don't like coyotes. Besides killing and eating newborn calves, the also like domestic cat and dog meat.
Many years ago all the livestock farmers in the township would organize a coyote hunt each spring. We met at a sheep farmers place to begin the hunt; he was losing the most livestock.

 

[Jackiemac]

We've been very lucky with wildlife and have seen many different types. It's one of the things we really love about our visits.

Bison
Wolves
Coyotes
Moose
Pronghorn
Elk
Deer
Squirrels several types including Kaibab
Marmots
Pikas
Raccoon
Chipmunks
Foxes
Badgers
Skunk
Great Horned Owl
Great Gray Owl
Burrowing Owls
Pygmy owl? It was in a saguaro
Eagles - Bald & Golden
Crested Caracara
Sandhill Cranes
Beaver
Otter
Black and grizzly bears
Various bird species and we even got involved with a group banding hummingbirds and we were allowed to hold them.
Snakes
Lizards
Gila Monster
Great Horned Toads
Kangaroo Rats
Armadillo
Pesky mice

Probably a few other things I've not thought of.

Haven't seen a porcupine yet though.

 

[Old_Crow]

Love me some of those Kaibab squirrels. Lynn and I spent 2 years hosting at DeMotte campground outside the gate of the North Rim. They were everywhere up there.

 

[Jackiemac]

Love me some of those Kaibab squirrels. Lynn and I spent 2 years hosting at DeMotte campground outside the gate of the North Rim. They were everywhere up there.

I've only seen a couple. Fast movers. Don't recall seeing them at Jacob Lake Campground when we were there unfortunately but maybe they preferred your spot.

We camped at Nizhoni near Blanding UT and they have the Abert's squirrels roaming around. Fun to watch.

 

[Old_Crow]

I've only seen a couple. Fast movers. Don't recall seeing them at Jacob Lake Campground when we were there unfortunately but maybe they preferred your spot.

We camped at Nizhoni near Blanding UT and they have the Abert's squirrels roaming around. Fun to watch.

Yeah, they have the Alberts on the south side of the canyon and down into Sedona also.

 

[Domo]

We've had a shiny ibiss making a racket for the past few days. They usually grunt, but when looking for a mate they can sound similar to a child screaming... Had us concerned when we first moved here a few years ago until we found all the kids were still unblemished...

Cold in Southwest Florida this morning ->> ~43°F EEEEEK!

Went out early to try and find iguanas that had shut down due to the cold and have either fallen out of the trees or just stopped..

No luck on the iguanas - did scare the bejabbers out of an alligator that was trying to sun itself to get some heat - it jumped into the water pretty quickly...

Got home and found this 7' gator basking happily across the water from our house...

 

[Tulecreeper]

I went duck hunting yesterday and the birds were the highlight of my trip.

 

[Joezeppy]

Lots of white tail deer around our rural home. This one has been chilling for about 2 hours under a tree about 150' behind our house.

 

[jlhog]

This is me feeding deer sweet rolls last spring. One of my delivery stops raise deer. My first time hand feeding a deer.

 

[DonTom]

My favorite country story was calling an outside cat to dinner after dark. She was running with a weird bounding motion like there was something wrong with her. Then I froze when she got within 3 feet and I realized it was a wild skunk instead. Who came right up and started eating out of the bowl.

That reminds me of what happened to me while on backpacking trip in the Zion Nat'l Park High Country around 30 years ago. I was in a tent trying to sleep and I heard some small animal very close to my tent. I expected it to be a ringtail as the Zion high country has thousands of them, very common. So I grab a flashlight to check. It was a skunk right outside my tent by a foot or so. I very quietly closed the tent as I turned off the flashlight. Anyway, nothing else happened but I was not expecting a skunk!

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

Gila Monster

Where did you see that? I have yet to see one in the wild, but perhaps because most of my hiking is not in the springtime. Most of my RV trips are in the middle of winter, such as now.

This area has many reptiles that are found nowhere else in the USA.

Gila Monsters too, and I was told one was seen here several months ago in the springtime. Also several Western Diamondback rattlesnakes and a few Mojave Greens. People with doggies off leash need to be very careful then, but so far, no bites.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[Jackiemac]

I think it was in Saguaro NP. Not the Gilbert Ray side but the other.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

Haven't seen a porcupine yet though.

We saw porcupines at Snowbird ski resort in Utah when I lived there. The guys in the restaurant kitchen were feeding them and they, the porcupines would line up outside and wait.

On our picnic table yesterday and in the tree by our camper. Ochlockonee river state park. There’s a bunch of them here. They aren’t albinos but rather a color variation of the eastern gray squirrel. The coloring is the result of a genetic mutation. This park is one of the rare places you can see them apparently. I had no idea they existed until we got here. They look like little ghosts running through the trees.

 

[DonTom]

I think it was in Saguaro NP. Not the Gilbert Ray side but the other.

Yeah, I have been to the one on the eastern side too, but only in the middle of winter when seeing such is unlikely.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

I think it was in Saguaro NP. Not the Gilbert Ray side but the other.

Did you get a photo of the Gila Monster?

-Don- Bisbee, AZ

 

[Jackiemac]

Did you get a photo of the Gila Monster?

-Don- Bisbee, AZ

Steve did. I'll see if I can find it.