favourite animal you've seen in the wild

09-06-2008

I have a new favourite reptile, leaf-tailed gecko Saltuarius swaini, found in Queensland's Lamington National Park about a week ago. I put his photo here: leaf-tailed gecko Saltuarius swaini - Photo Gallery

10-06-2008

@Chlidonias: great photo! Geckos are wonderful lizards...

10-06-2008

I encountered a red fox in my backyard. I did gave him some food and he took it timidly. This was the largest carnivore I ever met in the wild. It was very special to me.

28-08-2008

I've just spent a couple of weeks in north Queensland, round the Cairns/Atherton Tableland area with a quick sidetrip to Undara. None of the birds I saw managed to knock ground parrot off the top spot for "favourite bird seen" but some of the runners-up included Victoria's riflebird and spotted catbird (so now I've seen two species of bird-of-paradise and four of bowerbird), superb fruit dove, white-browed crake, black-necked stork, double-eyed fig parrot, brolga and sarus cranes, and 21 species of honeyeaters. The main misses were golden bowerbird and tooth-billed catbird, and cassowary (bad luck followed me everywhere in the search for a cassowary but its still embarrassing....I mean, what sort of birdwatcher can't find a six foot tall bird!?). I spotted 162 bird species in all so I'm not really complaining; it just means I'll have to go back and try again.

I saw 22 species of mammals which is a reasonable haul, considering most of them are nocturnal. I'd seen a few of the species before but most were new for me: platypus (7 of them); echidna; northern brown bandicoot; long-nosed bandicoot; musky rat-kangaroo; rufous bettong; red-legged pademelon; Mareeba rock wallaby; whiptail wallaby; agile wallaby; antilopine wallaroo; common wallaroo; eastern grey kangaroo; Lumholtz' tree kangaroo; common brushtail possum; coppery brushtail possum; green ringtail possum; yellow-footed antechinus; spectacled flying fox; eastern horseshoe bat; bush rat; fawn-footed melomys. Of the species I was particularly looking for the only ones I missed were Bennett's tree kangaroo and striped possum.

28-08-2008

Were you out camping the entire time? Did you see a lot of snakes or reptiles?

28-08-2008

not the best time of year for reptiles really, even in north Queensland:
saltwater crocodile
Kreft's turtle; saw-shelled turtle; green sea turtle
northern red-throated skink; straight-browed ctenotus; house gecko
eastern water dragon
lace monitor; spotted tree monitor
red-bellied black snake; common tree snake
cane toad; green-eyed tree frog; rocket frog; torrent frog
(plus some other frogs and skinks not identified yet)

28-08-2008

For me it was a Jaguar in Mexico, and when I went to Hawaii I got to swim with green sea turtles. I also got to see a Black Bear while camping in Big Bear, California.

28-08-2008

I have had my share of animals as well.But the most memorable is the family of otters that live in the river behing our house.There are currently 8 and they've been living here about three years.The first year the arrived it was the adult pair which I named Marshall and Amanda.How they arrived is unknown to us but i was jsu teating supper on the deck with my sister one night when suddenly we saw the two in the river.They never left and had two pups in the fall named Erin and Gina.They have now given birth to two more litters.One was in summer 2006 which had three pups,Boise,Mina and Milo and then a singleton named Byron in April 2008.

28-08-2008

Are town is very much rural so we have alot of animals coming through including deer,foxes,rabbits,raccoons,skunks,otters,muskrats ,herons and lots more

28-08-2008

i'm jealous. Did you get a good look at them.

28-08-2008

Chlidonias, How did you get to see the smaller nocturnal animals such as the Bandicoots, Bettong, and Antechinus. Did you spend a lot of time wandering around at night with a spotlight or were they coming out during the day. I have recently spent a bit of time camping in the bush where I know there is at least Bandicots and Antechinus. I did not see any but heard at least 3 distinctive calls at night, One was a possum but the others were not anything I have heard before.

28-08-2008

You guys down under are so lucky! No disrespect to UK natives but most of my top wildlife moments have been abroad. Having said that, watching two male adders fight it out last spring in the New Forest was pretty cool. In no particular order, some of my highlights have been

Mallorcan midwife toads in , surprisingly, mallorca.
Black and White colobus in Korup National Park, Cameroon
Proboscis Monkeys, bearded pigs, and mudskippers in Sarawak
Going for a p**s in Borneo and tripping over a macaque
Black Bear and Moose in British Columbia
Australia.... where to start! As a herpetologist there's no end of stand out species although I don't think you can ever quite forget your first encounter with a moloch! Also more than a little impressed by fruit bats in Sydney Botanical Gdns. Had a memorable encounter with a red belly black snake swimming towards me as i was skinnydipping in a waterfall!
Xenopus frogs in Cameroon. I know they're common as muck in the aquarium trade but there was something a bit special about coming across one in a roadside puddle!
Closer to home i'm quite lucky to live in a fairly rural area so often take for granted things like stoats, owls, and hare. Sometimes i guess you just have to take a moment, sit back and appreciate whats on your doorstep (especially with air fares as high as they now are!!!)

Its always interesting (and often somewhat depressing) to see species that are familiar from zoos in the wild. Spending an hour watching a lace monitor in Oz five years ago had a real impact on my views regarding how these animals should be kept. Kind of highlights the inadequecies of the conditions in some collections as it makes you more aware of how certain species have evolved to live.

28-08-2008

Just realized I havent mentioned anything feathered, would hate to offend any bird nerds! I think my favourite bird moment was again in Australia, just sitting in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney and seeing so many species that to us in the UK are always seen in captivity. Ibis and rosellas stand out in my mind. Likewise seeing wild budgerigars and zebra finch was awesome for the simple reason that I only ever see them as rather dejected little specimens in cramped pet stores whereas in the wild they're completely different animals.

29-08-2008

*Theloderma, you make a very good point (a couple of times, actually) about how seeing an animal in the wild gives you a different slant on how it SHOULD be kept in captivity, (but rarely is!) Food for thought....

*yangz - You described how you met a red fox in your backyard in Wichita, Kansas.
Well, yesterday I met a red fox in my backyard right here in Sydney, Australia. Just shows how widespread the species is (or else your guy is out here on vacation!)

29-08-2008

double-eyed fig parrots can be seen quite readily in the trees alongside the Cairns Esplanade. I suspect the girls sunbathing underneath the trees were a bit mystified as to what I was doing with the binoculars though