What's the coolest species you've seen in 2023 so far?

[Sicarius]

Hi there,
A couple of months in 2023 have passed, and I was wondering which rarities/cool species you have seen up until now? I understand that most of you don't actually count the number of species seen, but for any of you, I would like to know which species you encountered for the first time this year?
Like a few others on this forum, I search for animals I have never photographed before. So far it's been quite limited but I did see a bunch of new freshwater fish and reptiles. The coolest species so far is the red-throated barbet (Psilopogon mystacophanos) that I saw at a private bird breeder. Since I haven't uploaded a picture of that one yet, here's another gem (see picture).

The idea is to show each other which species we are most proud of that we managed to see this year. I hope to present more cool taxa throughout the upcoming months and I look forward to you to do the same.

Silver-eared laughingthrush (Trochalopteron melanostigma)

• Sicarius
• 1 Apr 2023

 

[RatioTile]

American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)

• RatioTile
• 15 Mar 2023

Wild in Bryant Park, New York City. 03/2023.

I've seen some cool stuff so far this year, like brown-throated three-toed sloth, tuatara, paradise flying snake, and Guianan red cotinga. But my favorite accomplishment thus far was seeing a wild American woodcock (Scolopax minor) in Bryant Park, Manhattan, after nearly an hour of searching.

 

[Bengal Tiger]

So far I've seen a Mangshan pit viper, a giant panda, a Vietnam pheasant, a purple honeycreeper, a yellow-casqued hornbill, a crested coua, a spider tortoise, and an aquatic box turtle.

 

[Zoofan15]

In New Zealand (and Australasia in general) many species are a rare sight in the sense we’re restricted in what we can import. Auckland Zoo has the region’s only flock of Greater flamingo for example; and regionally, we have five Fishing cat held between two facilities.

Tuatara:

In the spirit of the thread, I’ll say Tuatara. Several New Zealand facilities hold them; but few display them as well as Auckland Zoo and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, where you actually see the Tuatara. This is a photo I took at Auckland Zoo:



They’re such a unique species and one I never tire of seeing.

 

[birdsandbats]

Just looking at wildlife, I think my favorite species so far this year is my long-awaited lifer Boreal Chickadee.

 

[Fallax]

Nothing super exciting or new for me this year so far, it was nice to see Chester's tamanduas finally go on show and a random spotting of a little egret last weekend was certainly unexpected.

 

[Davdhole]

My favorite I've seen this year so far is the tayra, closely followed by the bat-eared fox, downy woodpecker, lowland paca, and peacock mantis shrimp.

 

[CMTM]

If I could squeeze in one from the very end of last year, the Eastern Mole at Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City was a real treat. I don't remember the last time I was so excited about seeing a single animal.

 

[PossumRoach]

Blue-streak cleaner wrasse. two reasons:

1. I am in a country that is not zoologicaly advanced in the trade and the sciences. I also am not in the state where I can just organize a big trip to see new species due to a lack of a job and that I have to jelp my mother move out before I move out abroad.
2. Blue-streak cleaner wrasse will never be not cool.

Honorable mentions include:

• a Mandarin fish (despite that I don't see this fish as often it is still not a blue-streak cleaner wrasse)
• a rainbow lorikeet I saw in a dubious pet shop.
• A Eurasian jay I saw on a visit to my mother's relatives
• A raven I saw outside my mother's car when I was feeling sick. Thisis the first time I ever saw a wild raven.

Here is a picture which is just a screen shot from a video I took.

 

[Ned]

Spangled Cotinga, Barcelona Zoo.

 

[CMP]

I've seen too many cool species this year to list them all, but of them include:

What I first thought of as the coolest species I've seen this year:
Lion’s mane nudibranch (Melibe leonina)

Lion's mane nudibranch (Melibe leonina)

• CMP
• 8 Apr 2023

Water planet, Feb 2

Spoiler: The rest of them

Honeycomb stingray (Himantura uarnak)
Dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia bandensis)
Riggenbach’s reed frog (Hyperolius riggenbachi)
Peter's Elephantnose fish (Gnathonemus petersii)
Caucasus beetle (Chalcosoma caucasus)
Burmese vine snake (Ahaetulla fronticincta)
Short dragonfish (Eurypegasus draconis)
Spotted cusk eel (Chilara taylori)
Fat innkeeper worm (Gusano mesorero)
Ghost Shrimp (Camarón fantasma)
Leaping blenny (Alticus saliens)
Sea gooseberry (Hormiphora californiensis)
Spotted comb jelly (Leucothea pulchra)
Pelagic Stingray (Pteroplatytrygon violacea)
Yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus albacares)
Pelagic red crab (Pleuroncodes planipes)
Snow globe jelly (Modeeria rotunda)
Purple-lipped jelly (Earleria purpurea)
Bloody-belly comb jelly (Lampocteis cruentiventer)
Salmon snailfish (Careproctus rastrinus)
Big-eye octopus (Octopus californicus)
Basket star (Gorgonocephalus eucnemis)
Elephant-nose ghost shark (callorhinchus milii)
Laysan Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis)
Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)
Allen’s Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)
Red-breasted Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus ruber)
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)
Ridgway’s Rail (Rallus obsoletus)
Button’s banana slug (Ariolimax buttoni)

I had to make a spoiler for the rest of them, the list was ridiculously long and could honestly be much longer, as I think nearly all the species I see are quite cool, but every species in the spoiler list I think are completely amazing.

 

[Bisonblake]

This year has already been off to a great start. I have already been to five different facilities, including a trip down to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I have already seen many lifers with more possibly coming later this year.

Mammals:

Spoiler

- Maned wolf Chrysocyon brachyurus
- White-faced saki Pithecia pithecia
- Spectacled langur Trachypithecus obscurus
- Collared lemur Eulemur collaris
- Ringtail Bassariscus astutus
- Red Bolivian howler monkey Alouatta sara
- Greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis
- De Brazza's monkey Cercopithecus neglectus
- Northern tree shrew Tupaia belangeri

Reptiles: I, unfortunately, didn't see the perentie monitor at the Dallas Zoo herpetarium.

Spoiler

- tuatara Sphenodon punctatus
- Philippine sailfin lizard Hydrosaurus pustulatus
- False gharial Tomistoma schlegelii
- Indian gharial Gavialis gangeticus
- Orinoco crocodile Crocodylus intermedius
- Morelet's crocodile Crocodylus moreletii
- fer-de-lance Bothrops asper
- snouted cobra Naja annulifera
- black mamba Dendroaspis polylepis
- green mamba Dendroaspis angusticeps
- Dwarf shield-tailed agama Xenagama taylori
- Home's hinge-back tortoise Kinixys homeana
- Ethiopian mountain adder Bitis parviocula
- Cape cobra Naja nivea
- Red spitting cobra Naja pallida
- Vietnamese leaf-nosed snake Rhynchophis boulengeri

Birds:

Spoiler

- Harpy eagle Harpia harpyja
- Andean condor Vultur gryphus
- Capuchin bird Perissocephalus tricolor
- Wattled guan Aburria aburri
- Shoebill stork Balaeniceps rex
- Great argus Argusianus argus
- Fairy penguin Eudyptula minor
- Lesser bird of paradise Paradisaea minor
- Blyth's hornbill Rhyticeros plicatus
- Sunda wrinkled hornbill Aceros corrugatus
- Great Indian hornbill Buceros bicornis
- Burrowing owl Athene cunicularia
- Spectacled owl Pulsatrix perspicillata
- Maguari stork Ciconia maguari
- Red-legged seriema Cariama cristata
- Crested caracara Caracara plancus
- Great-tailed grackle Quiscalus mexicanus (wild)
- African crowned eagle Stephanoaetus coronatus
- Palm nut vulture Gypohierax angolensis
- African fish eagle Haliaeetus vocifer
- African pygmy falcon Polihierax semitorquatus
- Australian brush turkey Alectura lathami
- White-necked raven Corvus albicollis
- Plain chachalaca Ortalis vetula
- Old-world comb duck Sarkidiornis melanotos

Fish:

Spoiler

- Flashlight fish Photoblepharon palpebratus
- Humphead wrasse Cheilinus undulatus

 

[CMP]

If I could squeeze in one from the very end of last year, the Eastern Mole at Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City was a real treat. I don't remember the last time I was so excited about seeing a single animal.

Oh wow, a live mole! Can you please tell us more about this experience?

 

[CMTM]

Oh wow, a live mole! Can you please tell us more about this experience?

Sure, I posted a full account of the visit in the thread "Moles in Captivity" but here's the bit where I describe seeing the mole:

"...yesterday I was able to visit the Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City, home to the only mole of any species on display in North America, as best as we can tell.

LNC has been home to an Eastern Mole Scalopus aquaticus of unknown sex and age for approximately 5 years. In addition to having a public facing enclosure, the animal is occasionally used for programming both on site at LNC and around the community."

I also posted several pictures of the animal and it's enclosure in the gallery and in the thread itself.

 

[pendraig_milnerae]

There’s a few harder-to-come-by species I’m particularly fond of I’ve seen this year that I have also seen before, including ploughshare tortoise (Astrochelys yniphora), Mindanao water monitor (Varanus cumingi) and Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus) to name but a few. I’m always excited by the prospect of new species, but I’m struggling to remember which those are for 2023 just at the minute, and sometimes it’s those you don’t expect that end up being the coolest, usually due to the nature of the individuals observed. In this regard, I’d also add fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox) for the, as a friend of mine put it, ‘cuddle pile’ of cubs at Chester, fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus) at Port Lympne for actually being visible and active - in all of the years I’ve been visiting I can count on half a hand the number of times this has happened - and of course any turtle, tortoise and terrapin I’ve come across.

 

[JezP100]

I've been to a few zoos before! but for highlighting cool species I'd have to go with the Tuataras, Aye aye and Caecilian at Chester zoo

 

[Bactrian Deer]

Aardwolf at ZooWorld Panama City Beach and twin infant Binturongs at Mesker Park Zoo

 

[Zoofella]

Nothing new as a species, but chesters young coquerel sifaka was treat while it was with them

 

[Osedax]

Wild - Australian Pratincole, White-winged Triller, Freshwater Crocodile, Short-eared Rock Wallaby, Antilopine Wallaroo, Red-winged Parrot, Brown Falcon, Banded Tree Snake, Banded Archerfish, Silver-backed Butcherbird, White-quilled Rock Pigeon, Northern Fantail, Yellow-tinted Honeyeater, Red-collared Lorikeet, Green Oriole, Olive-backed Oriole, Helmeted Friarbird, Silver-crowned Friarbird, Grey-crowned Babbler, White-gaped Honeyeater, Crested Tern, Humpback Whale, Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin

Hunter Valley Wildlife Park - Black-fronted Dotterel, White-winged Fairy Wren, Splendid Fairy Wren, Great Bowerbird, Dusky Woodswallow, Spotted Bowerbird, Red-handed Tamarin, Patagonian Mara, White-fronted Chat

Featherdale Wildlife Park - Yellow-rumped Mannikin, Black-faced Woodswallow, Red-vented Blue Bonnet, Yellow-vented Blue Bonnet, Spotted Bowerbird, White-naped Honeyeater, Brown Quail, Stubble Quail, Northern Blue-tongue

Sydney Zoo - Spotted Mandarinfish, Banggai Cardinalfish

 

[Fallax]

Nothing new as a species, but chesters young coquerel sifaka was treat while it was with them

This is probably my highlight as well, shame it didn't live too long.