Lucky sightings

[olesma]

Once again - the postings have gotten me thinking (always a dangerous and iffy experiment)

The recent flurry of postings about snakes and what you have seen and where got me reminiscing about all the nifty wildlife sightings I have had in my day. Some of them definitely stand out as being highlights of my wilderness experinces.

I enjoy seeing wildlife almost as much (and occasionally more) than seeing the beautiful vistas you get when out in the wilderness.

What are some of the coolest wildlife you have ever seen/encountered?
(Touching, surprising, scary, terrifying, alarming, unique, unexpected, majestic, awe-inspiring - whatever your reasons)

[olesma]

I actually fondly remember one day above all others for uniqueness.

I was hiking along a jeep trail along a nice meadow, when all of a sudden a big wild turkey and about 5 little baby turkeys scurried accross the road. Coolest little train you ever saw. And only one of two times I have ever spotted a wild turkey (heard some others, never seen them).

About 50 yards later a doe crossed the trail with her 2 (!) fawns - they still had the spots and everything. Couldn't have been more than a couple of months old at best. I understand that seeing a pair of fawns is exceptionally rare - I was really impressed. I froze, and got to watch them feed on some of the meadow grass for about 5 minutes before the doe got spooked by something (probably my smell - I had been out for 4 days at that point!)

As with the turkey's - I have only seen a fawn one other time, and it was not nearly as young as the two I spotted.

That day still remains a highlight in my hiking career.

(there were actually an astounding number of deer in the area - I actulally managed to coax a doe into eating some grass from my hands at one point. I was always running into deer of all shapes and sizes - including a couple of "kings-of-the-forest" bucks with just MASSIVE racks - any hunter would have been pissed - they were all on totally protected land)

[Larry Bolton]

Sometimes the best things are right in your own backyard. Over the Memorial Day weekend I spotted a Western Tanager. To quote "Western Tanager - The brilliantly colored Western Tanager, the symbol of the Northwest Shade Campaign, was first recorded on the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803-1806). Its habitat in the Northwest is open coniferous forests, where it feeds on insects, often like a flycatcher. It winters in fruiting and flowering trees of shade coffee plantations in Mexico and Central America. "
I guess it was migrating north and stoped for lunch at my house. I'm a native AZ but this is the first time I have ever seen this bird.
Check out this picture to see what I mean
http://www.ems.org/graphics/ western_tanager_153_116.jpg

[MaryPhyl]

Wow--this is a really broad topic--I mean if you spend enough time outside you will see all kinds of wild things. I have seen:

Coyote
Wolf--in the zoo at window rock
Red Fox
Bobcat
Mountain Lion
Bighorn Sheep
Elk
Deer
Antelope
Many kinds of rabbitts
Skunk
Porkypine
Ringtail
Raccoon
Beaver
Brown Bear
Many kinds of squirrel
Prarie dogs
Many kinds of mice and some bigger rodents
Various rattlesnakes
lots of other snakes
Big and little lizards
frogs and polywogs
humpback chub
California Condors
Bald eagles
Bats
Woodpecker
Owls
Turkeys
umpteen other birds
bees and butterflies
scorpions
tarantulas
umpteen other crawlies

As I write this list I am reliving times and places I ran into all these guys. Fun for me--probably does not do too much for you. Sorry.

[olesma]

That's quite the laundry list. I am missing a few of those animals myself. Outside of a zoo I don't think I've ever run into a ringtail or a "humpback chub" (which I will not even begin to question you on - I just don't want to go there :twisted: )

I'm not so interested in the laundry list (although that might be something for another topic some time) - but more to discover what were some of the highlights. What do you remember most, and why. What sightings are you particularly proud of.

[Daryl]

Some of the more rare and interesting Arizona encounters:

I seen a Gila monster in the mine shaft at picket post a few years back. He looked pretty fat. There use to be a rattle snake that lived in there but I couldn't find him the last few times I've been out there.

I was at tonto natural bridge once and a pack of javalina walked right through the picnic area. There were at least 10-12 of them.

While hiking to Reavis ranch I saw a big horn sheep standing on top of a ledge about 100 yards away and 200 feet up.

While hiking the grand canyon I had a squirrel climb up on my leg when I opened a rice krispy treat. He heard the krinkle of the wrapper and came running to me. I know you are not suppose to, but I gave him a little. How could I not?

In Aravaipa I saw a bright green frog about the size of a quarter scaling a vertical cliff wall. I'm guessing it was some sort of tree frog.

There's a bald eagle nesting on the salt river right now.

And living in my drip system box is an Arizona banded gecko.

[Randy]

There is a ringtail who lives near Charlebois Spring in the Supers. After everyone else went to bed one night several years ago, he came up to the fire pit and rose up on his hind legs to see if anything was cooking. He was real surprised when I greeted him.

My favorite animal encounter was a mountain lion on the Humphries summit trail. After we watched the sun go down from the summit, we found that it was very dark in the spruce about half way down. The cat crossed the trail about 100 feet in front of us only about 3/4 mile before the trail crosses the bunny slope. I think he was a bit angry with us for being there, as it was very dark, no moon, and I think he was hunting venison. Very impressive sight in the modest light of a AA Mini-Mag flashlight. -R

[olesma]

I have only encountered one bear in my time - and he (I'm assuming here) was only a little guy.

I was hiking along a jeep trail when I thought I saw a porcupine off on the side of the trail. I got closer and saw that it was a little bear cub - wasn't taller than my knee at the shoulder. Well, we had a bear attack in the area earlier that month (some idiot went to bed with chapstick in his pocket, the bear made a sizable hole in the tent he was in and a pretty good mark on dude's cheek - butt cheek - in trying to get at the good smelling stuff), so needless to say, I didn't hang around to ask questions or take pictures - I high-tailed it out of there as fast as I could (full pack, hiking boots and rough terrain notwithstanding). The little guy was cute - and I'm sure his mother was highly attractive (for a bear) but I really didn't want to offend...

NEVER get between a mother bear and her cub - that is the main reason for most of the really bad bear maulings out there. That and moronic trourists trying to feed the "cute" bear.

Ranks in the top 5 most scary moments ever for me.

[MaryPhyl]

OK--One of the bears I saw was in West Fork Oak Creek. I was hiking with my Mom and Robert and a brick sized chunk of turf came rolling down and plopped right in front of us. We had heard a branch crack a second before that. Looking up to see where it had come from we saw a bear walking on it's hind legs maybe 50 feet above us. He (she?) was checking us out. The bear walked upright for perhaps 20 feet and then went down on all fours and ducked back into the woods. We figured the bear had been in a tree and the branch gave way causing it to fall and knocking the turf loose when it did.
That the kind of story you want? I could keep you up all night with that kind :roll:

[CindyC]

Let's see; probably the snake I asked for info about on another forum. A King Snake I believe was the final I.D. I have always wanted to see a bear somewhere out there. The closest I ever came was as I was driving up I 17 just past Munds Park a black bear very cautiously crossed the freeway. I have come across javelina and once a very cute, timid fox on the trail to Fossil Springs. I once had skunks attempt to share my lunch with me at West Fork. Of course the many elk on the jeep road that I bike to Chevelon Creek on are always a welcome sight. Wild turkey on the way to Hellsgate on the trail outside of Young are usually plentiful,along with the cattle (I know not wild, but they stand their ground)

[evenstarx3]

Recent awesome sight was the five California Condors soaring over the Bright Angel trail as I was checking in for my trip to Phantom Ranch. Bet MP sees them all the time.

[MaryPhyl]

The humpback chub. We were on a river trip in the GC and stopped to talk to some folks at their camp. They were studying the chub and had huge nets for catching them They were in the western part of the canyon and were surprised to find the fish because they did not think there were any there. They were using a fish shocker that an uncle of mine had invented so they treated me like some kind of minor celebrity like I had anything to do with it. The fish I saw was in an ice chest--in water--quite alive. They held it up so I could get a good look at it--ugly dude.

[MtnGeek]

These are some of the coolest wildlife I have seen and the places I have seen them.
black bear at Mount Lemon
really small jelly fish in the Pugent Sound of Washington
Porkipine in the Inner Basin of the San Fransisco Peaks
a skunk about 4 feet away from me (skunks are my favorite animals)
Sea Lions in Sea Lion Caves Oregon
Seal in Newport Beach Ca
a whale off the coast of Oregon (not sure what type, it was too far away)
a mountain lion in Colorado. I saw it from about 1000 feet away. It was on top of the mountain I wanted to climb. That would of been frightening if I found if after conquering the mountain. Glad I saw it from a distance.

[Mike]

Great topic! My most memorable ones include:

The red fox that ran by my dad & I while hiking the woods along the Saluda River in northwestern South Carolina when I was a kid would probably rank as my first really cool sighting.

Wild horses on the island across the inlet from the little town of Beaufort (bow-furt), N. Carolina, where the pirate Blackbeard had his home. And also on Ocracoke Island, N. Carolina, where Blackbeard met his fate. Ocracoke is only accessible by water (ferry) or air, very cool place!

A female bighorn, followed momentarily by her mate, in the cliffs above the trail about halfway to Supai, my first trip there.

Another bighorn I saw about midway between the Tipoff and the Colorado on the N. Kaibab trail. It came straight down a drainage, starting a small avelance, hit the trail, ran down a switchback below me, turned and looked up at me. Later, I passed it along with it's family and a small herd of deer, grazing next to the trail. None of them seemed to care that I was there.

A fairly large buck that I surprised about a hundred yards from the Widforss Trailhead at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Was he ever surprised to see me.

The ringtail that hangs out at the edge of the Flatiron.

A squirrel I spotted as it ran up a dead tree, into the lower end of a hollow limb, and then popped it's head out at the upper end of the same limb. It just sat there, about 15 feet above me watching me curiously, while I stood there talking to it. He was cute little guy, didn't seem at all afraid. This was about 1/8 of a mile from the end of the Boynton Canyon Trail.

And the winner is....
A HUGE buck standing directly below the Redwall Bridge, three miles from the top of the North Kaibab Trail. This was on my first rim to rim dayhike, and the sun was just going down. It would've made an awesome photo but the light wasn't very good. We were on the bridge looking down at it and he either didn't know, or didn't care, that we were there. Probably the latter.

[BoyNhisDog]

One of the most breathtaking sights would have to be the huge owl hovering with a snake in it's talons. It finally lit on top of a sahuaro. I saw this one right out in reddington pass quite a few years ago.

The most frightening was the black bear who walked right up on us while we were setting up camp in the dark on Mt Graham many years ago. That thing ended up chasing us halfway down that mountain. We didn't have flashlights either and actually became really lost for a while. The night was very dark so we couldn't see the bear except for every once in a while. It was like some old horror movie. Every year my old college buddy calls me up from California to talk about that one.

[kurthzone]

An encounter that really clings to my memory is one that happened when I was quite young. I don't remember how young, but I was on my dad's shoulder's when it happened. Me, my brother, my mom and dad were hiking out near Table Mesa. I don't remember why I was on my dad's shoulders; probably cause I was whining and tired. I remember my mom yelling at my dad to come back and look at the pretty rock that she had found (my dad was always way ahead of everyone). So we went back to see the pretty rock where my mom and brother were bent over looking. Before my dad was ten feet away from that rock he was telling them to get away from it. Turns out the rock was really a Red Diamondback asleep in the shade of some sage. Of course my mom and brother jumped back ten feet in a flash. I've seen lots of rattlers here in Arizona but never another red one.

[MtnGeek]

A few that I forgot about in my previous post:
gold eagel summiting Fremont Peak
ringtail cat in the Grand Canyon
diamondback in fossil springs crossing the trail. It was so beautiful I wanted to hold it, but knowing better then that.

[olesma]

Down in Brazil I ran across a type of toad called a Cururu (coo-roo-roo) - just the biggest damned thing you ever saw.

We were walking home one night and I saw a large rock that was somewhat out of place in the middle of the street - I mentioned it to my partner, and then the thing jumped. Startled me out of my socks - the thing was HUGE - nearly the size of my head (which I know will generate a comment or two...). I mean this thing was a monster toad.

I took it back to our appartment and took some pictures. I'll see if sometime I can scan it in and post it here. Still kind of shocking to this day - I've never seen a toad/frog that big. I knew pictures were the only way to prove it.

[Larry Bolton]

I also should mention the Mountain Lion I startled (never a good idea) while hiking just north of my house in Deems (sp?) Hills. They're west of I-17, north of Happy Valley Road (near 43rd Ave) and south of the CAP. I hiked to the top of the second highest peak, ate lunch there, and then started to hike towards the highest peak. The Mt Lion came out of some brush ahead of me and a little below me (about 50 ft away) and looked back at me. What a thrill (or chill)! I let him go his way as I went mine; back! I went back to where I had lunch and was able to follow him as he made his was west. The AZ Game and Fish told me later that he was probably a juvenile looking to establish territory. Never saw him again.

I also have seen many coyotes near my house although not as many now as a few years ago before all the construction began. One time I saw a Coyote with dinner in his mouth - a house cat I suspect. If you own a cat keep it indoors.

[nealz]

It's hard not to see wildlife when you get out often enough but one of my more memorable encounters was in the Huachucas on the Hamberg trail above the Nature Conservancy's property. One fall as I was headed up there, I spotted a Coatimundi. These aren't particularly rare in the Huachucas but I had never seen one before. As I stood there and watched, the coati was joined by 5 more. They were very aware of my presence but it didn't seem to bother them. They looked to be foraging in the leaves for nuts possibly as there were some walnut trees in the area. Their movements were so graceful and at ease in the rough surroundings that it was great to just watch 'em. I'd give a lot to be able to move like that.

-Nealz