Coolest Wild animal experiences

[TZDugong]

Seeing as a lot of people on Zoochat do trips trying to see wild animals, I thought it would be cool to see what fascinating and amazing creatures Zoochatters have seen in the wild.

So I'll go first. Around a year ago I did a trip to Chile. On that trip we went to Patagonia to see Torres Del Paine National Park. This park is known to have Pumas but there is such a slim possibility of seeing one that I didn't bother looking intensley. However as I was doing a long meandering hike through flat terrain, I saw a baby Guanaco lying in a bush. At first I thought it was sleeping but when I got another look a Puma was holding it down less than 20 feet away from me! Shocked I stayed watching it for 20 minutes but then sadly having to leave to finish the hike.

So that was my experience and I'm excited to hear what some other Zoochatters experience was .

 

[Zoovolunteer]

My most memorable experience was in Norfolk (UK) many years ago. We had gone out into the Broads on a very misty day and were watching some Golden Plovers in a field when we heard a strange trumpeting sound in the mist, and our leader Bryan said those are cranes! They eventually landed not 100m from us and did a victory dance - parents plus the first chick to fledge in the UK in 300 years. Still one of the best days birding I have ever had

 

[Pertinax]

Many from around the World but being attacked by a wild Capercaillie in Scotland took some beating....

 

[Philipine eagle]

Brown bear in Georgia's Tusheti national park and Belgium's most iconic bird, the black grouse, in the High Fenns regional nature park. Probably pretty common species for most northern people but I was both times blown away.

 

[Zygodactyl]

I grew up in the country, so we had black bears come into our yard a lot (one time they stole the Thanksgiving turkeys and took one bite out of each), but I only saw them a couple times in the day and they were always a fair ways away. One night I was reading on the couch by the songbird feeder (which was a model that attached to the window), and a black bear stuck its snout in it. I was startled but it was also really cool. My mother always took the window feeder in at night after that.

Also, one time we had an opossum in our yard in the daytime during the winter. It was trying and failing to get at the lamb fat in the woodpecker feeder (for some reason the bear never went after that), so I took some lamb fat from the freezer, thawed it in the microwave, and tossed it to the possum. It ate everything I gave it and stuck around the feeder until at least dark.

Other examples include the time a chickadee dropped into the bush right beside me, seeing the rose-breasted grosbeaks at the songbird feeder, and seeing a male scarlet tanager and indigo bunting within a day of each other at the hummingbird feeder, and seeing a bobcat cross my path on a country road late at night. Also, in Florida I got to see a sandhill crane at my uncle's hunting trailer near the lake. Here in Austin, my coolest experience was seeing the feral quakers feeding on the grass right next to me while I was waiting for a light.

 

[TheMightyOrca]

Had a couple of cool experiences during my recent conservation corps term! First, one of the other members was chainsawing and I was crouched down on the ground spraying herbicide on the stumps. Then I saw a snake crawling out from under me and towards the other crew member, it was a rattlesnake! Specifically, a timber rattlesnake. Fortunately it wasn't aggressive, it just wanted to get to the sunny spot and warm up cause it was a little chilly. We cut out a few branches so it could get some more sun. I took a picture of it.

Another time, we were camping in a primitive area and had to take the OHV down the trail so we could get our stuff to the camping site. I was riding passenger and we're on the top of a hill when we see a bison walking towards us on the trail! The bison stopped when it got close to us, I think it wanted to let us pass but I wasn't sure if bison think like that. I was terrified, the driver backed up and the bison started walking towards us. Driver backed into a clear spot by the trail so the bison could pass by. It was ten feet away from us at one point, but he was just passing through. I was still super scared though!

I also saw a bobcat. It doesn't sound too exciting, but it was the first time I've seen a wildcat in the wild.

When I was a kid, my dad took me kayaking in Laguna Madre. When we got out onto the water, bottlenose dolphins swam right up to us! They would swim by the kayak and pop out of the water to look at us, they were close enough to touch. (I didn't touch though)