Inspired by this thread.
We’ve all seen wildlife. Certain wildlife attracts our attention more than say, a raccoon or an opossum. There are bears around here that are becoming pests, but I haven’t seen any. The only wild bear I’ve seen was years ago in Canada on the road back from Kelowna. I see lots of deer, lifeless roadkill on the asphalt. But there was this one time…
I was driving down Squalicum Parkway one cool and overcast morning. As you may tell from the map, it’s a narrow wooded drive down to the harbour. As I drove toward the water, a buck ran in full flight toward me along the right side of the road. I don’t know how many ‘points’ it was, but its antlers were impressive. One of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen up here. I wish I had been randomly taping the drive so I could have caught it on video. Or at least that there was someone to see it with me.
I saw a mama grizzly and her cub at uncomfortably close range. They wandered through our camp on a backpacking trip with my parents in Glacier National Park circa 1978. My dad saw them first, and said “Don’t move” in his command voice. Mother and I froze, he nodded in the direction of the threat, and there the bears were. Fortunately, they ignored us, and went on about their business. This happened on the morning of Day 2, of a 3 day trip. We finished the remainder of the trip in bear defense mode…which largely consisted of making extra noise as we hiked, to avoid surprising another bear. After we hiked out on the third day, we heard that a bear had attacked another set of campers on a nearby trail during our trip.
I’ve been lucky enough to see lots of North American animals in the wild. Elk, moose, buffalo, deer, grizzly, black bear, mountain goats/sheep, gators, boar, sharks, whales (not sure they count as North American, but still) wolves…well, may have been coyotes, but they were kinda big for coyotes, etc. Small game, too…foxes, jackrabbits, chipmunks, gophers, beaver, raccoon, possum, prairie dogs, etc. No big cats, though. Always wanted to see a mountain lion, cougar, something like that.
I was kayaking two weeks ago in Malibu. The red tide was absolutely disgusting but I did get to see some wildlife. I probably saw a total of 10 jellyfish. They were the same size and color of pancakes. I didn’t touch them though. 
If anyone can ID the jellyfish, I would appreciate it. I’m guessing it’s some sort of sea nettle? Couldn’t find much info on The Google.
I regularly saw coyotes and foxes in central Denver.
The most memorable was the coyote with a piece of pizza in her mouth.
(For some reason I became convinced that she was female.)
Now I live on a barrier island in north Florida and see lots of marine life.
I’ve seen baby loggerhead sea turtles hatch and crawl to the Atlantic.
I’ve seen nesting ospreys, bald eagles, squadrons of sting rays and pods of dolphins. I’ve seen the wild horses on Cumberland Island (which aren’t all that wild.)
I regularly see river otters frolicking in the nearby pond or scuttling across the road.
My goal is to see a whale here–I’ve seen humpbacks before, but have never seen the right whales, which spend time here.
I would also like to see a manatee, my husband has seen them several times, but I never have.
When I lived in CA: Mojave Green rattlesnake, tarantula (some friends caught it in an empty Doritos bag and gave it to our HS Science teacher) desert tortoise, king snakes, garter snakes, Red Tailed Hawk.
Since i moved to CO: Mule deer, Elk (wapiti), Bald Eagles, Golden Eagles, Mtn Lion (I think. What else has green eyeshine at 10000 ft?) Coyotes, Mourning Dove, Robins (I had only ever read about them in books!), Brown Bear, Mountain Marmots.
Probably more I can’t remember right now.
I’ve seen all sorts of critters in the hills and mountains of Southern California, but then both my vocation and avocations keep me out of doors much of the time. The most unusual sighting for me was a juvenile mountain lion in the foothills of Glendale about a mile west of the Rose Bowl.
I regularly see deer, and often see rabbits. Raccoons are around, spotted occasionally. I hear owls and have seen a garter snake and a snail in my garden.
My most unusual sighting was a white peahen. I thought I was hallucinating. A peahen? A white peahen? In the woods behind the house?
It did explain the funny poo piles in the driveway, though, and hung around for a few weeks. It looked… odd, perched on the roof of our place.
–Greater Victoria, BC
In other places and while travelling: great snowy owl, bears, black, brown, grizzly, moose, elk, coyote, and lots of other critters! I love critters!
Can’t help you on the jellyfish, but the waters up here are full of small ones. When I dove I wore a drysuit, so only a small portion of my face was exposed. No stings. I’ve seen brittle stars on the wreck of Saskatchewan, and various fishes and scallops. But diving, I was in the wildlife’s habitiat so I don’t count them as ‘wildlife sightings’. Same with the porpoises I saw while boating in the Strait of Georgia. I don’t know if they were Dall’s porpoises or Harbour porpoises. I suspect the latter, since they are known to avoid boats and they were pretty far off. I tried to find a great white shark while kayaking off of Venice Beach, but I think it was farther south.
The only Mojave Green I’ve seen was in a glass box at Edwards AFB, where they kept several specimens of the local fauna in their survival school.
Recently seen a brown recluse spider. I’ve been around quite a few wild amimals in my time, but for some reason he really put the fear in me. I have seen first hand what can happen in some of the bites. My neighbor got bit on the calf while trying to towel dry after a shower. She said she didnt feel the bite but saw the spider fall from the towel. She knew she was indeed bit about 12 hours later when it became itchy and slightly painful. She figured it would subside soon…WRONG. Necrosis set in a day or two later. It was pretty nasty, I’ll save the details. ewwww
I live in the middle of the suburbs of Minneapolis. But we are close to the Minnesota River and some large parks.
In the last 2 years we’ve seen in our yard; Deer, fox, raccoon, several species of hawks and owls, at least 2 different kinds of woodpeckers. We’ve hear coyote. The neighbor saw a cougar about 1/4 a mile from the house, and we saw a mink/ermine/weasel type of animal maybe 1/3 of a mile from the house.
When ever I start to get annoyed with the deer for eating my flowers, I remind myself that I moved here long after they did, largely because they are here.
A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were out for a walk. About 1/2 mile from our house we saw a Gila Monster…but there is one (seldom seen) that lives in the neighbor’s yard. We have rattlesnakes, javalina, desert tortoises, lots of other snakes, and hummingbirds by the gallon. We even have deer! I see coyotes about 2x week.
Of course, my particular part of the suburbs has 40% of the land set aside in greenbelts, never to be touched, so it is a haven for critters. They benefit from the plants we grow, and the food/water that we set out for pets.
Early mornings when it is still cool I love to stand in the shadows and watch the parade at the birdbath and bird feeders.
I saw one toddling down the road one morning when I was on the way to work. I thought it was the strangest thing…until I realized that the farm on that road sold game birds too.
A couple of weeks ago I saw an indigo bunting for the first time. They’re pretty neat!
Got a mated pair of eagles living in our woods, they occasionally grab one of our chickens. We also have red tailed hawks, some form of buzzard, various owls and there used to be a pileated woodpecker that I killed because it was hammering on the house while I was trying to sleep. After a week of no sleep for me, it died.
I live in Colorado and have done a bunch of camping and climbing in the mountains, so I have seen a lot - elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bear, ptarmigan, etc. But in 25 years in the state, I have only once seen a cougar/puma/mountain lion, and that was while I was driving. It was crossing the road between Estes Park and Allenspark near dusk.
Right about here.