# What kind of wildlife do you see? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 11, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025 "2007-11-11T17:00:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/41 "2007-11-12T14:43:20Z")
Columbia - Fairly common: Squirrels, squirrels, squirrels! Some raccoons Opossums House finches Goldfinches, in the winter Chickadees Robins Cardinals Titmouses/meeses/mice? Blue jays Mockingbirds Crows Yellow-bellied sapsuckers Tree frogs (well, when I was a kid - don’t know if they’re not around anymore or if I’m just not looking) Snapping turtles White tailed deer Giant golf course bullfrogs Garden spiders Giant cockroaches that fly Bunny rabbits Ibises, egrets, various water birds Gulls in the Wal-Mart parking lot Less common: Hawks - there was I think a red tailed one on my block a year ago, but it moved on - I did see it score a _huge_ rabbit not more than ten feet from me, though Bald eagles, if you hit the swamps Gators - there are some in the Columbia Canal now! Foxes - seen one once, ever ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/42 "2007-11-12T14:43:47Z")
I’m in central NC. Besides the more common stuff already mentioned, we have: Bluebirds (LOTS of them) [Five-lined skinks](http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/VHS/Southeastern%20Five-lined%20Skink%20(Eumeces%20inexpectatus).jpg) - really beautiful little critters. They live under our decks. Lots of spiders - including the [golden orb spider](http://www.spiderzrule.com/spiderphotos/Orangespider_small.jpg). Huge spiders with huge webs that have a golden sheen in the morning light. Black snakes - ours tend to be very laid back We also have a bat that lives in the loft in the garage, but I don’t know what kind it is. There are quite a few species in this area. ---
**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/43 "2007-11-12T17:00:24Z")
In Atlanta, I have seen: chickadees goldfinches house finches titmice doves mockingbirds robins brown thrashers blue jays cardinals cow birds wrens pigeons hawks of several varieties owls raccoons possums wild turkeys squirrels chipmunks flying squirrels snakes lizards toads bullfrogs rabbits herons Canadian geese snapping turtles tortoises buzzards crows woodpeckers bats Sadly, I’ve only run across foxes and deer and even an armadillo as road kill. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/44 "2007-11-12T17:12:49Z")
Outside of Chicago: Coyote Deer Wolves Eagles - there’s one in my smoking courtyard at work! Some other kind of bird that sits on top of the light poles along the expressways - I can’t think of it’s name but it’s really really big and eats field mice. Geese. God, the geese. There are far too MANY geese. Skunk Mice Turkey (friends have a turkey farm) Horses (but they are at farms and tracks and stuff) Racoons Opposums Squirrels Bats Groundhogs Chipmunks Turtles Frogs Democrats 😉 Uh - there are lots of other things too but I forget what they are. And my mom in Prescott has Javelinas!! I think that would be cool - to look outside and see a Javelina. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/45 "2007-11-12T17:15:08Z")
No one beats **Colibri** in this thread. I live in the city, and so see city wildlife – house sparrows, starlings, squirrels, racoons, skunks, rats, house mice, the occasional possum, etc. However, the office is in an industrial landscape by the water, so I can throw in some aquatic birds as well – gulls of various kinds, cormorants, terns, Canada Geese. And, somewhat unusually this summer, I saw a flock of piping plovers feeding at the water’s edge. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/46 "2007-11-12T18:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=ShibbOleth] Tampa: Deer Osprey Pelicans Cormorants Seagulls (although mostly near the water) Brown anoles Alligators Turtles Gopher tortoises Great blue herons Egrets Spoonbilled Ibis Scarlet Ibis Somekind of hawk / falcon a couple of streets over, not sure which kind. Raccoons Possum (mostly dead) Armadillos Woodlands storks Vultures (not sure type) Morning doves Woodpeckers Jays Squirrels (although not that many as one would expect) Rabbits Coyote (once) Foxes (rare) Occasionally you’ll see dolphin, but have to really watch for them. We saw a couple corraling fish on the Homossasa a couple of years back, which was very cool, but not that close to my home. You can also see manatee around here, although it’s been a long time since I just happened across one in the wild. If you spend time looking at or in the water of course you’ll see sharks. [/QUOTE] You beat me to it. But you forgot the mockingbirds, the tree frogs, and the toads. My neighborhood also has a couple of guineafowl who I think belong to a family down the street. Quite entertaining watching them roam the yards whenever they get out. And I see bald eagles whenever I go up to my dad’s in extreme northern Pasco. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/47 "2007-11-12T18:41:24Z")
What Shib and Bambi listed, plus iron-head cranes and several smaller species of birds not listed. Also, moles, gophers (pocket and tortoise), a huge variety of non-poisonous snakes and a few poisonous (rattlesnake, moccasins). And tourists. And snowbirds. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/48 "2007-11-12T21:03:29Z")
Quasi-rural Will County, IL (outside of Chicago) Squirrels Rabbits Raccoons Opossums Woodchucks Skunks Saw an otter once The occassional fox Lot of coyote around here but they’re shy. I see them sometimes Beaver Muskrat White-tailed deer A host of birds but I couldn’t name most except the most obvious. But, on the larger side, we have hawks out here (one was in my tree eating my squirrel the other day), herons, crows, geese, egrets (I think they’re egrets), etc. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/49 "2007-11-12T21:21:05Z")
By my house: Deer Squirrels Rabbits Coyote Long-haired teens Red-tailed Hawks Geese NASCAR fans Starlings Robins Turtles Frogs Toads Opossum (these last three always wind up in my window well) Wolf spiders Black widow spiders Field mice Bats Downtown: Rats Foul-smelling street people Pigeons Drunken bar patrons Cockroaches Back-stabbing co-workers ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/50 "2007-11-12T23:00:17Z")
I live in rural south Georgia, swamp/river/pineland/hardwoods. I live IN the woods and commute to a small city. I have seen the following: Rattlesnakes (timber and diamond back) moccasins various non poisonous snakes, most significantly, Indigo snakes box turtles snapping turtles gopher tortoise all manner of bird, including pileated woodpeckers, various hawks, osprey, anhingas, buzzards, owls and eagles white tailed deer bobcat coyotes the very occasionally panther (cougar) bear possum raccoon fox squirrel gray squirrel red fox grey fox armadillo pocket gopher weasels otter That’s a good list to start. I see wildlife everyday. Hawk ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/51 "2007-11-13T02:30:20Z")
I’ve got tons of Cooper’s Hawks near where I live–I think every Cooper’s hawk west of the plains spends the winter in Albuquerque. Starlings, kingbirds, sparrows, finches, and even hummingbirds harrass them at every available opportunity. We also have : Sandhill cranes Canada and snow geese Mallards Ring Neck Ducks Widgeons Coots Pied billed grebes chickadees (mountain and black capped) goldfinches flickers Kestrels Ravens Crows quail pheasants hundreds of white crowned sparrows rock squirrels jackrabbits desert cottontails skunks raccoons occasional bears coyotes coyotes with mange, also known as chupacabras weasels Prairie dogs During droughts bobcats and cougars sometimes come to town looking to eat domestic cats. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/52 "2007-11-13T04:02:25Z")
Pigeons Seagulls Cardinals Blue jays Sparrows Foxes Hawks Squirrels Chipmunks Raccoons Skunks Feral cats Otters Beavers Frogs Grasshoppers Cicadas Ants Dragonflies Minnows Trout Spiders Butterflies Moths I’m sure I’ll get more soon… ---
**Author:** ![Suda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@Suda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suda)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/53 "2007-11-13T06:25:00Z")
The last place I lived was right on the edge of the desert, there were kangaroos everywhere, they used to sit in the shade of my balcony. And the university I go to at the moment doubles as a kangaroo wildlife preserve, so they’re all around. Its hard explaining to all the foreign exchange students that no, this is really bizzare, 99% of australians don’t have kangaroos hopping around where they work/goto school/live. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/54 "2007-11-13T10:00:46Z")
Bird life abounds in my backyard. Blackbirds, mynas, butcherbirds, lorikeets, white cockatoos, friggin’ pidgeons and seagulls of course. I’ve got possums that eat my parsley (but funnily enough leave the silver-beet, spinach and zucchini alone) in my veggie garden. Big buggers they are too…they’re the brush-tail variety rather than the little ring-tail possums that I used to have in the inner suburbs. The rest of the wildlife is of the human species. My local ‘centre’ for those who know the region is Frankston. It’s got some wonderful zoological specimens for study if yer’ feeling brave etc. Far more interesting than the possums and seagulls really. Hehehehehe. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/55 "2007-11-13T14:59:32Z")
Animals I see almost daily - various birds (ibis, pied crow, guineafowl, songbirds, etc) quagga (zebra - well, [_almost_-quagga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga_Project)) various antelope including gazelle, grysbok & gnu Animals I see at least fairly regularly: lizards snakes mongoose squirrels various small rodents -mice & rats sundry raptors - hawks, kites, harriers kingfishers waterfowl Animals I see less regularly, but often enough to count, within easy reach of me: Other antelope Cheetahs Mole Rats (not the Naked kind, though) Dassies (Hyrax) seals whales (Southern Right) Great White sharks (from the shore, of course!) penguins ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/56 "2007-11-13T15:13:41Z")
I drove out to our transmitter yesterday afternoon to check on some things; enroute I spotted several antelope, cottontails and jackrabbits, and (rare these days) a lone coyote. We see so much wildlife around here we rarely notice it, unless it flashes into our headlights. Skunks, foxes, all kinds of rabbits, mule deer. There are a few beaver coming back to the lower reaches of the South Platte. We frequently see chickenhawks, golden eagles and owls. ---
**Author:** ![Foxy40](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a9a28c/32.png) [@Foxy40](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foxy40)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/57 "2007-11-13T15:35:04Z")
I live in a little subdivision right by a major lake in Florida. Of course we have lots of wild life but the neatest thing is the five or six pairs of sandhill cranes and one pair of whooping cranes we have that wander around the community. We were very worried about our whooping crane couple after the hurricanes but they did come back and we see them regularly. They are tagged and I guess someone is keeping an eye on them. The sandhill cranes are a constant and they tend to like my lawn for some reason. If you’ve never seen these things wandering around, they are HUGE. Four or five feet tall and it is like a person walking past your window when you see them out of the corner of your eye. They run the neighborhood and will wander up and down our little street in the middle of the road knowing we will all wait for them to get where they are going. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/58 "2007-11-13T16:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Missy2U] Some other kind of bird that sits on top of the light poles along the expressways - I can’t think of it’s name but it’s really really big and eats field mice. [/QUOTE] Hawks. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/59 "2007-11-13T22:59:18Z")
Northern Ontario near the Minnesota border: Smelly squished skunks Deer (thus the new front-end on my vehicle and my neighbour’s vehicle) Smelly squished skunks Moose (thus my friend being a widow) Smelly squished skunks Bear (thus my right front wheel needing alignment) Smelly squished skunks Ravens Seagulls Bald eagles Various hawks An occasional lynx An occasional wolf An occasional racoon up from the south And smelly squished skunks ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025/60 "2007-11-15T15:48:38Z")
I’m definitely jealous of some of the wildlife y’all get to see - I’d love to visit Australia and South Africa someday. > [@Muffin](#): > > Smelly squished skunks Do you see many of these, **Muffin**? 🙂 I live along central/northern California’s coast, so in general I see: Regular wildlife: Blacktailed deer Racoons Skunk Opossum Red-winged blackbirds Gulls (various types) Turkey Vultures Harbor seals CA sea lions Harbor porpoise (not to be confused with the more frightening Horror porpoise) Sea nettles Moon jellies Southern sea otters Squirrels Snowy Egrets Great Egrets Dall’s porpoises Pacific white-sided dolphins Common dolphins Bottlenose dolphins (a recent addition to our fauna here) Surf Scoters Surf perch Leopard sharks Great Blue Herons American Kestrels Cooper’s Hawks Red-tailed Hawks Swainson’s Hawks Peregrin Falcons Northern Harriers Merlins Brandt’s/Pelagic/Double-crested Cormorants Common Murres Curlews Dowitchers Godwits Sandpipers Avocets Black-necked Stilts Mallards Western/Clark’s Grebes Common/Pacific Loons Coyotes Seasonal wildlife: Canada Geese (not Canadian - they’ve got no passports! 😉 ) Golden Eagles Brown Pelicans White Pelicans Greater Yellowlegs Red-necked Phalaropes Stellar’s sea lions Northern fur seals Northern elephant seals By-the-wind sailors Tufted Puffins Blackfooted Albatross Laysan Albatross Pigeon Guillemots Ocean sunfish Humpback whales Gray whales Rarely seen wildlife: Blue whales Great white sharks Blue sharks Brown Boobies (no, not those - the birds, silly!) Horned Puffins Red foxes [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-wildlife-do-you-see/426025.md?page=2)