My absurd claim, that caused me to make a total double-take, was the first time I saw an oppossum crossing the street in Toronto. Looked like a gigantic mutant rat! :eek:
Later, I discovered that, in fact, their range has extended north as far as Toronto.
Of course they do!
We took my son’s scout troop skiing in NC one weekend, and while driving back to the hotel, we saw a cougar sunning on the rocks within 40 yards of the highway twice in two days.
And, on more than a few mornings, I’ve seen foxes playing and sunning on thewarm rock plain east of the helipad here inside Stone Mountain Park.
But they’re not cats…
I’ve seen beavers in various locations, the most surprising being along the banks of the Colorado at Lees Ferry in Arizona. There are reports of beavers in the Guadalupe River near San Jose, but I haven’t seen them in person.
I once had a porcupine waddle through my campsite in the middle of the night. This was outside of Moab, not too far from the aptly-named Porcupine Rim Trail.
I’ve had a pretty suburban upbringing so I’ve seen a bazillion raccoons, possums and skunks. Since moving to my present neighborhood (still suburban but a bit more outlying), I’ve seen lots of deer, wild turkeys, groundhogs and all manner of birdlife. Once I saw a fox. Once I saw a coyote, strolling through my backyard. Once I saw a bald eagle soaring overhead. While fishing, I’ve see the occasional river otter (my ex husband always called them ‘water dogs’). I saw a hawk take down a starling, pluck it and eat it in my backyard. :eek: Once, I saw a pheasant. And one memorable time, I saw a couple of peacocks! But although I hear them frequently, I’ve never been sharp enough to spot an owl…
I gather they do not have skunks in England - my brother’s wife, who is English, was visiting Canada, and out walking one night she ran into a skunk - it was so nonchalant (and pretty) that she thought it was some sort of domestic pet, and was going up to pat it (when I warned her off!).
Being sprayed would not have made for a fun visit …
Forgot the strangest one … I was in a car, and saw what I thought at first was a stature of an elephant in a field by the side of the road. Then it started walking, and yes, it was an adult elephant, completely alone, strolling around a field in central Wisconsin.
The first and only time I saw a beaver it seemed so large that at first glance I thought it was a pig swimming in the river. Got a better look and it was definitely a beaver. I didn’t even know we had them around here.
The first and only time I saw a porcupine (in Wisconsin) I was also shocked at how much bigger it was than what I’d imagined.
One rainy day last summer I was walking home in an inner-ring suburb, and saw what I at first thought was a squirrel on the sidewalk ahead of me. It was a little on the large side for one of our orange squirrels… But it was black with a white stripe down the back. I stopped and waited for it to go about its business, and get well out of the way before I proceeded.
I’ve also seen a wild turkey strutting about in my apartment complex.
I think I’ve only seen a beaver once, and that just the nose poking above the water. It was in a fairly wild and rather marshy park, though, so not at all surprising.
A good friend got chased by both a badger and a bison. Not at the same time.
Well, that makes me feel a bit better about my sanity. 
I saw a badger in Calgary once, and when we visited Yellowstone Park, we saw a bison giving birth.
Oh, another weird animal sighting. I was driving on I-64 between Louisville & Lexington KY, and traffic had slowed to a crawl. THere was a cut out rock wall, pretty much straight up & down to the left. At the top of that wall were several large brown goats with BIG horns… they did not look like domestic goats at all. No idea what they were… there are no wild goat species in that area to my knowledge.
The traffic slow down was caused by people staring at the goats.
I may have once hit a beaver with my golf shot. See my thread about it here.
Otherwise? Well, I live not far away from a mountain national park, and have seen plenty of wildlife there. Had to stop the car once because a black bear had chosen to have a nap on the road. He woke up as I approached, and sleepily walked off into the forest.
Another time, on the same road, a grizzly bear ran across the road in front of the car. Good thing I was going slowly.
And I once drove into the park’s little town at a walking pace. I know it was a walking pace, because I was following a bighorn sheep who was just walking along. When he got to the intersection, he stood in the middle of it, as if deciding which road to take. He finally decided; and thankfully, it wasn’t the direction I was going.
I couldn’t have resisted phrasing that as, “the people who stare at goats.” 
Your comment about the the porcupine is what I thought when I first saw a beaver. Damn! They are big.
I have encountered grey foxes, which are like little dogs that can climb trees. They may be prey to coyotes, but they are gods to squirrels!
I’ve seen my share of wildlife, but I think my most memorable “good” animal encounter was with wild horses in the foothills of Alberta. A friend and I were hiking along a forest trail that came out into an open valley, and there they were maybe two hundred yards away, about twenty of them milling around. The first thing I noticed was that they were hairier and shaggier than domestic horses. And it was cold enough that we could see their breath. When they finally saw us, the leader trotted all business-like to the front of the herd to scope us out, erect and attentive. After a few moments, he whinnied and spun and galloped away at full speed with the rest following, long manes flowing out behind. It probably sounds corny, but I remember it mostly as a vivid metaphor for “freedom”. It was quite a sight.
I saw a porcupine down by the river once–I initially thought it was a bear cub. (We do sometimes get bears in Albuquerque. One walked through my neighborhood once but I was asleep and missed it.) I’ve also seen weasels, beavers, eagles, coyotes, and chupacabras by the river.
Okay, the chupacabra was just a mangy coyote.
I used to live in a pretty rural area, but now live in a decent sized city. A while back, half a mile from the centre, by a dingy stream, full of old bikes and junk, I noticed a flash of bright blue out of the corner of my eye. My immediate thought was- kingfisher!
Then, of course, I realised it was just a bit of blue plastic, caught in a bush… and perched just behind it, a kingfisher.
Another weird animal incident was when working at a zoo. We had a meerkat that used to let itself out of the enclosure every morning, and have a bit of a wander. He’d stay within the fence, and always went back in for food, and none of the others ever got out, so after a while, until we worked out how he was doing it, we pretty much just let him get on with it- for the first few weeks though, we chased him back in every morning.
I was chasing him back one morning, when suddenly, a stoat burst through the fence on one side and smashed into the meerkat running along the path. The pair of them rolled along the path for a few meters, then the stoat dashed back out through the fence, leaving me and a very bewildered meerkat looking at each other going ‘What just happened?!’.
They haven’t been seen for a while, it’s thought the family moved downstream from Lexington Reservoir. There has been occasional sightings in the creek in Campbell too.
The best place to see wild beaver in the Bay Area is Martinez. Go to the Amtrak station, walk toward the park across the footbridge over Alhambra creek, then stop and look down. We’ve visited them a few times, at or just after sunset, and haven’t failed to be entertained by them.
I’ve seen beaver constructions in San Luis and San Joaquin NWRs. I also saw river otters at the latter. I’m hoping to see a badger! Apparently Petaluma is the place for them.
