Easy one. In the mid-1970’s Mrs. Cretin and I were exploring the coastal mountain back roads north of L.A. and spotted a California Condor soaring in the updrafts. Unambiguous 100% positive ID, in exactly the right area. At the time, the dwindling CC population was still wild.
Upon further consideration, our runner-up critter would be Desert Pupfish. We’ve snorkeled in a particular spring-pool which has them (and have some underwater photos). Never mind where, it’s below the radar, and better off for it. Ran into a uniformed BLM guy there once, who confirmed the species. Also told us about the location being deliberately kept quiet. Although now that I think about it, this was in the late 1980’s. God knows what the site is like now.
I envy your leopard sighting! That was the one species I didn’t see. But I had great luck with gorillas. I went out twice and viewed 2 different groups. At one point I had the silverback come within a few feet of me! Possibly the highlight of the trip was watching three lionesses stalk, chase, kill and eat a zebra. It was awesome, frightening and sad all at the same time. I agree that the list of amazing animals viewed in Africa would be too long for this thread. Ditto for my trips to the Amazon…
Cool! That is a species I’d love to see in the wild!
Our bet was for escapees (quite a few immigrant populations around, from parakeets to crabs to algae), but it could be.
Our bet was for escapees (quite a few immigrant populations of “exotics” around, from parakeets to crabs to algae), but it could have been some of those, with the differences in size being due to different birthdates rather than to being a family. I doubt the camera in my phone would be good enough to “catch” one, so it will remain a question for the ages. The flowers in my T-shirt kind of looked like pink clover, so like a pink version of this one.
I just noticed the OPs comment about seeing black rhinos in Ngorongoro crater (truly one of the most wonderful places on the planet). I was there when Tanzania had invaded Uganda, and there was next to no tourism. We would be in the park all day and not see another vehicle. We were lucky enough to see 8 out of the 10 rhinos that survived in the park at that time. One young bull took exception to our truck and mock charged us several times. Then he relaxed and just hung out near us. At times he was almost close enough to touch. Eventually he started to sharpen his horn on the radiator and we had to drive away before he put a hole in it! LOL!
Nice username/post combo!
I have seen a number of grey whales and sea otters spending a lot of time in the Monterey Bay Area. The first thing that came to mind in this thread was a huge beetle, but I couldn’t name which type. I was on a trek in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 25 years ago. I was on an elephant as part of the excursion, when our guide angled the elephant over to a small tree, reached up, and plucked off the beetle. It was burnt orange in color, about 3+ inches long and must’ve weight 8+ ounces. It had a noticeable mass when the guide put it on my hand.
Nava, are you sure that what you were seeing were hummingbirds? I can’t find anything online about Old World populations, and a few fellow Dopers are in agreement… http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19443014&posted=1#post19443014
Whooping Crane
California Condor
Mountain Lion
Grizzly Bear
Not really rare, but I saw a badger in a field when I was driving the back roads near Soda Lake in central California.
Also not very rare, but I was really excited to see an echidna in Tasmania while hiking in Cradle Mountain National Park.
There is a polite and well mannered teenaged boy down the street. That’s pretty fucking rare. 
Ring tailed cat.
We lived 8 miles from the nearest neighbor. I learned from the dog’s bark what kind of animal was in our yard (we had chickens, ducks, rabbits, etc). They had a different sound for porcupines, skunks, etc. I learned this from going out with a flashlight to observe.
One night it was a different sound. I went out to observe, and there was a ring tailed cat. The dogs had it sitting on a post. This was pre digital camera days. I don’t have a photo. They are nocturnal, and difficult to see in the wild.
I’ve worked with pupfish in Nevada and Death Valley for the better part of the last decade, looking at the interactions between climate change, groundwater management, and the ecosystems that the fishes occupy. Devils Hole pupfish would be the rarest species I’ve seen in the wild, with an unfortunately close second a tie between warm springs pupfish and Shoshone pupfish (thought be extinct until they were rediscovered in the mid-late '80s).
There are a couple of publicly accessible places to see pupfish, although not Desert pupfish. You can see Death Valley pupfish from the boardwalk at Salt Creek in Death Valley National Park, and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge has a relatively new boardwalk/trail at Point of Rocks spring that takes you to the springhead where you can see Amargosa pupfish.
Missed the edit window: You can’t swim with them, though. Don’t know any place where you can.
Not really sure. We were crossing the pass at around 3am in September – the pass is about 5500ft, a two lane road that sweeps around a lake and twists along the mountainside – when we came around a coiner and there was this critter lounging in the road. We said “ARGH!” it said “Yikes!” and it made its way to the trees.
It was about 2~3’ in body length, shaggy, curly brown fur on its rather long forelimbs, a medium or short snout, and I seem to remember hairy round standing ears. Near as I can guess, it was an ewatch.
I was very excited to see a couple of Woody-style woodpeckers, which I thought were the possibly extinct kind, but were probably the mundane common look-alike kind.
Would these be the Bay Point colony of peacocks? I saw them a lot when I lived nearby.
One of my most unusual sightings was a red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the Berkeley hills (intersection of Grizzly Peak Blvd. and Fish Ranch Rd./Claremont Ave) just at dawn. They are decidedly not rare, but according to wikipedia, we’re outside of their range.
An interesting encounter was when a red-tailed hawk dropped a 14-inch trout into my swimming pool. My wife refused to allow me to clean and cook it. It went to waste.
That reminds me of another rare species I’ve seen. In the late 1890s the crested myna bird was introduced to Vancouver, BC. It bred successfully and eventually there were thousands of them. Then they declined. By 2003 they were all gone. I saw them a coupl of times around Vancouver in the 1990s. The first time I saw one I had no idea what it was and had to look them up…
7 year old me is in awe; he wanted to have one. Especially since every time I went to the zoo, there was a low chance of even seeing them in the enclosure, being shy and nocturnal.
Gray foxes can appear reddish, although Fish & Wildlife says that there are introduced populations of red foxes in California. There’s a pdf map in the second section, and you are in the range.