When I first moved to FLA, Aligators were a big deal for me. Not so much now that I know where to find them if I really want to. Same deal with Ibis, wood storks, herons and the like. But seeing a Florida Panther in the wild was very cool and a little alarming since I was alone, hemmed in by a major canal, and only armed with a knife.
Hmmm… too many of the unusual to go into detail but mountain lion, lynx, Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep, Dall sheep, Arctic fox, grizzlies, wolves, Sika and Axis deer, wallaby and quite a few marine animals from the Caribbean to the Sea of Cortez to the Beaufort.
Perhaps the coolest though was one afternoon when I was driving the haul road up to Prudhoe and came across a herd of Musk Ox. There were about a dozen and for probably an hour and a half I laid out on the tundra watching them almost as intently as they watched me. I was probably as close as 45 yards away and got some fantastic pictures. They were fascinating, beautiful creatures. I also collected about a Ziploc full of their hair from where they’d bedded. That was a great day, one I’ll not soon forget.
Timed out… meant to add wolverine too. Had to run that sonuvagun off with a shot fired over his head.
Hoofing it around the United States, the most interesting things I’ve seen were coyotes, quail, armadillos, elk, and snapping turtles. Nothing electrifying. Probably the most memorable sightings for me are always eagles; a bald eagle on a power line–an eagle killing a large snake–two eagles swooping and calling to each other.
A couple of years ago, though, we went scuba diving in Bonaire. Saw octopus, cuttlefish, rockfish, eagle rays, dolphins, sea turtles, eels, and too many schools of gorgeous tropical fish to count. My favorites were the cuttlefish, which were cute, and the huge tarpon which would follow you around like friendly dogs. I feel seriously privileged to have had that experience.
I swam with dolphins in the Red Sea, at Nuweiba’, Egypt, in the Sinai. There was quite a story about these dolphins - a local Bedouin guy had somehow managed to befriend this family of dolphins and they liked to hang out at this beach. It had become something of a tourist attraction, and my friend and I went there specifically to see them (and swim with them) when we lived in Israel. It was pretty much one of the highlights of my life. The dolphins were extremely playful - they would swim right up to us and then dart away before we could touch them. But at one point, I was sort of dog paddling in place, and the baby dolphin popped out of the water and bopped me on the palm of my hand with its nose. It was amazing.
I was also once very surprised to see a whole herd of monkeys wandering around my street in India. My coworkers were amused by my surprise (“you’ve never seen a monkey before?”), but not so much that they didn’t come out of the office to look at the monkeys, too.
Dunno. It’s the only one I ever saw in the wild. How many would you have seen if that cat hadn’t brought them to you?
Besides, the OP didn’t ask for rare, it asked for exotic. Star-Nosed Mole still seems pretty exotic to me.
For me it’s no so much the animal itself, but its behavior.
For example, seeing a Moray Eel sitting with its head jutting out of its hole is normal. Seeing one snaking rapidly through the coral, madly trying to find the Octopus that just inked nearby, now that’s awesome.
Compare that to the relatively rare Spanish Dancer I get to say I encountered, but it didn’t do any dancing, so it was a non-memorable letdown. A bigger thrill was the White-Tipped Reef Shark that was laying motionless on the seabed, then suddenly started swimming around me. (I have video of that one.)
As a kid, I saw an Osprey on the hunt. It was really cool watching its process: circling overhead spying into the lake, then taking repeated dives, over and over until it finally flew off with a fish. It was the only time we got to put a checkmark next to “Osprey” in our bird book.
Brazilian wolf. Perhaps more mythic than exotic.
We apparently have a population of California Tiger Salamanders living on our property. We generally see them a few times a year when they move from their burrows to their breeding areas. They are endangered in California and I’m currently working on a project over in Monterey County that may be scrapped if they find any of these little guys. Interestingly, where we live seems to be a bit out of their range.
That reminds me of the time I was doing a beach cleanup and there were some folks hip deep in the water fly fishing. I wasn’t looking at them until I heard the woman shout and a splash. I turned just in time to see an osprey with a fish it had caught right next to the woman. It then flew inland almost right over my head.
I also remember finding a conch shell with a golf-ball sized octopus in it. I picked up the shell in the shallows and thought it was weird that it had a conch in it even though there was a sizable hole in the back of the shell. The hole was, not coincidentally, in the spot where the conch had formerly lived. As I held it, the octopus slowly emerged and sat tightly on the shell. Where its tentacles brushed me was like velcro when I pulled away. I didn’t realize it at first, but it was mimicking the rusty-orange color of the shell perfectly.
Let’s see, bear, moose, whale, bison, pileated woodpecker, spawning salmon, wintering Monarchs, eh…
If I can expand the category to ‘not actually an animal, but it does eat things’: I’ve seen carnivorous pitcher plants growing in the wild.
While hiking in the Lost Creek Wilderness area in Colorado I took a break on a small rock outcropping about 20’ above a stream when I saw a Mountain Lion seemingly appear out of nowhere to get a drink of water directly below me.
I must have been down wind of him for him not to be aware of me. Then I thought, Oh shit, what if he continues upstream and comes up around the outcropping? He was probably 140lbs or so, not huge but large enough to ruin my day.
So I banged my small hunting knife against a rock and he looked up with this wtf look and tore ass up the opposite hill side.
It made my day for sure. Awesome and beautiful cat.
I’ve seen manatees, dolphins, stingrays, barracuda and other assorted sea life while on vacation.
I’ve also seen coyotes, red foxes, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and skunks near home.
I’ve seen a pileated woodpecker and armadillos while traveling for business.
As a matter of fact, I often remarked on how I had never seen a live armadillo, only dead ones on the side of the road. I know they are common in the south, and are nocturnal. Well, I finally saw a live one last year. Unfortunately, he was out at night on the highway and he was only alive for a couple seconds longer after I saw him. Stupid armadillo, turning me into a killer.
Bad Google Image search then, but trust me - it was a Nutria. They were introduced to Portland for some forgotten purpose and now are thriving.
A kangaroo, I suppose. Or an emu.
Hm.
Snowy Owl
Elephant Seal
Pilot Whale
Peregrine Falcon (up close, skyscraper window)
Bowfin
Pileated Woodpecker
The first Wolf seen in Quetico for over 20 years
Black Bear
Bald Eagles (lots up here)
Painted Bunting
Quaker Parakeet
Albino Crow
Melanistic Mallard
Clemmys guttata
Monarch Butterfly cloud over my house, and carpeting my lawn
I once saw an Osprey pass overhead with a HUGE fish, held streamlined facing forward
I once saw a hummingbird poke a Robin in the butt with its beak
Python. And he was home.
Lake Tahoe has a bunch of 'em. They seem to be the most common raptor around Emerald Bay.
Not exactly “the wild,” but . . . I was walking past the Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhattan, and I saw a string of several elephants, holding onto each other’s tail, walking along 58th Street. Yes, the circus was in town.
I also saw a pair of California Condors circling over the Grand Canyon.
And monarch butterflies within the eye of a hurricane.
For me it would be:
- Pels Fishing Owl - seen in the Okavango Delta of Botswana
- Black Stilt - one of about 50 living in the wild, near Twizel, NZ
- Blue Duck - seen near Nelson Lakes, NZ
