What kind of wildlife do you see?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been thinking about this while on my nightly drive home as I dodge various animals in the road. Contrary to popular belief New Jersey isn’t completely paved. I live in a pretty rural area in the west of the state and I see a lot of animals on my ride home from work at 2am.

So what kind of animals do you routinely see in your area? For me:

Of course squirrels and rabbits.
groundhogs
millions of white tailed deer
raccoons
fox
coyotes
black bear (not in my neighborhood but in the state)
turkey vultures
wild turkeys
chipmunks

2

Deer
Fox
Turkeys
Pheasants
Coyotes
Racoons
Possums
groundhogs
porcupines
Bald Eagles
Peregrin falcons
hawks
Sandhill Cranes
Swans
Geese
Blue Herons
seagulls
quail

And over the past decade, we’ve had two bears wander thru.

3

I should have said it would help if you mentioned where you are from.

4

Wisconsin, along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

And all the animals I mentioned have been spotted on my property. Including one of the bears.

5

Along roadsides (including dirt roads) or in and near towns around here I have seen:

White-nosed Coati
Crab-eating Raccoon
Mantled Howler Monkey
White-faced Monkey
Geoffroy’s Tamarin
Brown-throated Three-toed Sloth
Hoffmann’s Two-toed Sloth
Northern Tamandua
Nine-banded Armadillo
Jaguarundi
Grison
Collared Peccary
Variegated Squirrel
Red-tailed Squirrel
Central American Agouti
Capybara
Green Iguana
Black Iguana
American Crocodile
Spectacled Caiman

Among the larger birds:

Parrots
Toucans
Pigeons and doves
Caciques
Oropendolas
Peregrine Falcon
Chachalacas
Caracaras
Herons
Pelicans
Cormorants
Frigatebirds
Gulls

6

I live in Tennessee and drive approximately twenty miles to Chattanooga each day but don’t see very much wildlife as it’s mostly city and interstate driving. I have passed what looks like a dead deer while travelling southbound the past two days, though, and I had to change lanes to avoid further mutilating what I’m assuming was a dead possum today.

There’s also a flock of ducks that apparently live somewhere near the Wal-Mart about a mile from where I work and they sometimes hold traffic up while crossing the street from it to the office buildings across the road. I think they might live in the stream a little further up the road but I never see them anywhere near it and have no idea why they always seem to cross at that particular spot.

7

I’m from the Bronx. :slight_smile:

8

Not surprisingly most of your list. I am down in Monmouth County in NJ. I live near a reservoir and I take a sailboat out on the Navesink River.

I have seen everything on your list except the wild turkeys & coyotes, but foxes are rare and only one bear. I think you missed opossums. I have seen muskrats and big ugly wharf rats swimming. Do feral cats counts?

I will add: Ospreys, Eagles, Red Tailed Hawks, Great Blue Herons, Cranes, Swans, Egrets, Cormorants, Seagulls, Crows, Cardinals, Blue jays, Black Birds, Starlings, Canadian Geese (way too many), Orioles, Red Wing Blackbirds, Robins, rarely Hummingbirds, Doves a cooing in the morning, etc.

Rarely stumble upon small snakes, turtles, frogs, red salamanders & toads.

Mammals living in my yard are squirrels, rabbits, too many groundhogs, 4-6 white tailed deer, raccoons, opossums, chipmunks, moles & mice.

Jim

9

smartass

10

Yep missed possums. I didn’t mention too many birds because I am not that up on them. I’m sure I have seen quite a few. Completely unscientific but it seems that there is a big surge in the fox population. I don’t remember ever seeing one while I was growing up. In the last 10 years it seems like I see one every night. This is either where I live in Hunterdon county or where I work in Middlesex county. Same with coyotes. I drive around a lot at night.

11

At my house we don’t see a whole lot, since we’re in the city (technically suburbs, but pretty close to the city). Squirrels, birds, rabbits, and every once in a while a random turkey, which is odd.

At my mother’s house in rural New Hampshire there are a lot more squirrels, birds, chipmunks, black bears (she has a bit of a bear problem), the occasional deer, raccoons, porcupines, turtles, toads, frogs, newts, and lots and lots of black flies, mosquitoes, deer flies, and no-see-ems. Going a little farther afield we’ll see the occasional moose.

I’m sure there are others.

12

small rat terrier chihuahua
finnish boyfriend
homeless hipsters in haight-ashbury

13

I still haven’t seen a coyote, but they have been reported in my town and the next two towns.

I forgot the most impressive mammal I have ever seen in the wilds of NJ.
On the Shrewsbury river, a large Dolphin took refuge next to our old wooden sailboat. It was seeking protection from the “crazy motor boaters”. This lady of the sea had wandered through Sandyhook Bay and all the way up the Shrewsbury to Monmouth Beach. She was getting chased by “crazy motor boaters”, including one slightly drunk one that asked if we had seen the seal?

The dolphin was large, larger than Flipper, it was black. I never have figured out what it was. Maybe a large common-dolphin.

Jim

14

I suppose the various sea creatures I’ve seen off the coast of NH might count. So add humpback, finback and minke whales, Atlantic white-sided dolphins, and a couple of basking sharks.

15

Here in my residential neighborhood in uptown Santa Barbara I see:

coyotes
raccoons
opossums
mice
rats
rabbits
skunks
lizards
frogs
toads
salamaders
hawks
quail
woodpeckers
buzzards
ravens
finches
jays

16

Wolves, Bears, Tigers, Webelos. :slight_smile:

Coyote, fox, deer, racoon, in the neighborhood. Golden & occasional bald eagle, redtail hawk, bear, coyote, fox, and once a tiger salamander, at work. Elk and antelope outside of town a couple miles.

17

I live in the High Desert of California and spend part of my commute in the Angeles National Forest.

In my neighborhood:
quail
crows
red-tailed hawk
roadrunners
goldfinches
turkey vultures
barn owl
great horned owl
some kind of falcon I haven’t identified
coyotes
Mojave Green rattlesnake
common Western rattlesnake
gopher snake
gophers
field mice
rabbits
Jackrabbits (hares)

On my commute I can add: muledeer, foxes, racoons, mountain lions, black bears

18

Animals I see almost daily:

Mexican free tailed bats
Grackles
Coots
Mallards
Herons
Ibis
Nutria
Swans (mute and black, do they count as wild?)
Squirrels
Buzzards

On occasion:

Possums
Armadillos
Deer
Coyotes

19

Bald eagles
Various raptors
Crows or ravens
Herons
Raccoons
Rabbits
Squirrels
Deer
The occasional deal opossum
Coyotes

20

Oh and I saw a bobcat once.