Wildlife seen heard and enjoyed

[DonTom]

Gila Monster

-Don- OPCNM, AZ

 

[Jackiemac]

View attachment 2412314



-Don- OPCNM, AZ

I forgot to look for the photo.

Did you see it recently??

 

[DonTom]

Did you see it recently??

I cheated. It is cute fake Gila Monster I purchased from the Visitor Center yesterday. On the hike back, I laid it on the ground and took a photo.

The Gila Monster cost me $30.99 and it is made in China.

I have never seen a real Gila Monster in the wild.

-Don- OPCNM, AZ

 

[DonTom]

Did you see it recently??

I normally have the time and date show in my photos.

-Don- Why, AZ (@ Granny's Kitchen)

 

[Jackiemac]

Lol

 

[Romer1]

My patio yesterday, a daily visitor.

 

[jymbee]

Both below at State Parks in S/Central TX.

 

[IBTripping]

Typically at my stationary travel trailer in the RV resort, I'll see Canadian geese, ducks, foxes, opossums, deer, bears, and the resort's official mascot, skunks. And, 2 nights ago my neighbors tackled a suspected robber which they turned over to the sheriff's deputies. Neighbors videoed the whole thing.

 

[garyb1st]

We're in the the city of L.A. A typical residential neighborhood in the midst of 3+ million people. Almost every night we have opossum, racoons and an occasional skunk wandering across our concrete pad behind our house. We hear coyotes frequently but haven't seen any.

Mountain lions have been seen in the hills maybe 5 miles south of us. We've hiked those hills many times and fortunately have never encountered any. There are also bears that scavenge the neighborhoods east of us. Most recently a rather large bear made the news when he decided to seek shelter n the crawl space beneath an Alta Dena home. Alta Dena is the area ravaged by fire January 2025. It is a residential area at the base of the foothills. Lots of wildlife displaced because of the fire.

 

[Chef Duane]

I'm a city kid born in the 'burbs of LA. But I'll never forget the summer I spent with cousins on their farm in Minnesota. All new experiences for me... big corn fields, farm animals, chores, the whole routine. And they won't let me forget the 2 hours I spent tryin' to milk the bull. Darn thing followed me around for 3 days after that.

 

[DonTom]

Now for wildlife I did NOT enjoy seeing today.

I decided to stay at a different RV Park I never been to before. I am now at the Bear Mountain RV Park in Bakersfield, CA. I decided to stay here until Sunday and then drive back to Auburn from here, which is less than six hours away.

Anyway, getting here an interesting but sad thing happened. First I got the RV shinny clean at the Blue Beacon in Barstow for $109.40 (the full package deal). My front window WAS very clean. Perhaps too clean.

While I was on Hwy 223 to get here, a large moth, inside, was flying around my windshield. I only saw this moth for a few seconds, but . . .

A big fat hawk came out of nowhere, seeing the moth, and flies into my windshield and smashes into it very hard. I am surprised it did not crack my windshield, it made a large LOUD bang. I have some small feathers on my windshield, perhaps stuck there in blood, no sign of what happened to the hawk, but no doubt it was killed by the impact. I was driving at around 60 MPH when this happened. I think what was left of the hawk was bounced to over the motorhome.

-Don- Bakersfield, CA

 

[Joezeppy]

A big fat hawk came out of nowhere, seeing the moth, and flies into my windshield and smashes into it very hard. I am surprised it did not crack my windshield, it made a large LOUD bang. I have some small feathers on my windshield, perhaps stuck there in blood, no sign of what happened to the hawk, but no doubt it was killed by the impact. I was driving at around 60 MPH when this happened. I think what was left of the hawk was bounced to over the motorhome.

Reminds me of a camping trip with my grandparents when I was about 13. Grandpa had a 1980-ish Caprice Classic towing a pop-up and took us from Rome, NY up to PEI. At one point a bird hit the windshield. Didn't think too much of it until grandpa stopped for gas. The bird got stuck between the roof and the rooftop carrier! He pulled it out expecting to toss it in the garbage can but as soon as it was free, it flew away!

 

[Chef Duane]

Hit a small does once on Alvardo-Niles Road in NorCal once. It just jumped out of the brush right in front of me and stopped and crouched down. I had no time to stop and just ran right over it. Poor thing. I pulled over and a guy in a truck behind me also pulled over. He asked me if I wanted it and I said no so he put it in his truck and drove off. He said he would harvest it for meat. I called Fish & Game when I got to my destination and told them what happened. They asked who, what, where, when... etc. for census purposes. They weren't real happy about me letting a guy cart it off but they said there wasn't a whole lot they could do. I wanted to put a silhouette of a jumping deer on my front quarter panel but my wife wouldn't let me.

 

[Seilerbird]

Here is my encounter with two white tigers:

 

[Jackiemac]

Here is my encounter with two white tigers:

Beautiful animal. Well done for staying calm.

 

[Seilerbird]

And then there was the time a buffalo charged me and my van:

 

[Jackiemac]

@DonTom

Here's Steve's photo

 

[jymbee]

@DonTom

Here's Steve's photo View attachment 2413714

Huh? Where?? I don't see anything... Oh, wait...

 

[Larry N.]

Here is my encounter with two white tigers:

Nice shots, Tom. Thanks...

 

[DonTom]

Here's Steve's photo

It looks exactly like my toy Gila Monster!

Where did Steve buy it?

More seriously . . .

Can you provide more details, such as where was the photo taken and which month and time of day, temp & etc.?

BTW, Gila Monsters are not rare within their range, but like many other reptiles they spend most of their time underground and therefore, not seen all that often.

And many desert reptiles like to come out during a warm summer rain--or just after. There are many reasons why common reptiles are not seen often.

-Don- Bakersfield, CA