Disappointing “misses” or “dips”

splendens

splendens

Well-Known Member
Not sure if I am doing this right.

But has anybody had any times during birding, wildlife watching or at a zoo when you miss a real rarity?

For me I have missed the oriental turtle dove (japanese i believe) at palo alto and also the curlew sandpiper (asian i believe) also at palo alto. As well as an american red start near san diego.
 
Crowned eagle missed at San Diego zoo. I was unable to reach the path where it's supposed to be.

Coconut crab and tuatara at Berlin zoo - both were no-show.

In Oasys Mini Hollywood I got good sights of the Rüppell's fox, but missed completely the pale sand fox, that theoretically lives in a big barren enclosure with 5 fox species mixed - I only was able to see a fennec here.

I also missed coucals at Köln, and not allowed to see the Derby woolly opossum at Zie-zoo (behind the scenes) despite many zoochaters have been able to do.

There will be many more for sure, but these came to my mind just now.
 
Kakapo said:
Crowned eagle missed at San Diego zoo. I was unable to reach the path where it's supposed to be.

Coconut crab and tuatara at Berlin zoo - both were no-show.

In Oasys Mini Hollywood I got good sights of the Rüppell's fox, but missed completely the pale sand fox, that theoretically lives in a big barren enclosure with 5 fox species mixed - I only was able to see a fennec here.

I also missed coucals at Köln, and not allowed to see the Derby woolly opossum at Zie-zoo (behind the scenes) despite many zoochaters have been able to do.

There will be many more for sure, but these came to my mind just now.
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The coconut crab (quickly removed after their arrival, because of accidents and attempts of escape), the sugar glider and the brush-tailed bettong (extremely elusive, even if they have bred there) in Beauval.
 
I've missed wild animals too many times to count. My nemesis bird is European Goldfinch, which I've missed perhaps 15 times now. I've seen it once but it was a bad view that I was only able to ID by call.

I once missed a Black-backed Woodpecker by seconds, I still haven't seen one.

Other soul-crushing wild misses include several species I've heard but not seen, including Northern Saw-whet Owl, Bachman's Sparrow, Gray Wolf, Boreal Chickadee, and Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

I missed seeing California Condors at the Grand Canyon, I was even at the spot where they were apparently most easily seen. I also dipped on Plains Pocket Gopher at a supposedly reliable gas station and missed out on Sharp-tailed Grouse AT A LEK!

My main disappointing zoo misses were Northern Grasshopper Mouse at ASDM and Cape Steenbok at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. In both cases I saw the enclosure but missed seeing the actual animal. I've also been to three different zoos with Ocelots and still haven't seen one.
 
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Harpy Eagle, Ornate Hawk-eagle, and Kagu at San Diego. The eagle boardwalk was being renovated at the time so there was no chance. And failed to find the Kagu aviary due to not realizing exactly where it was.
Also Musk Ox being a no-show at Point Defiance and missing African Wild Dog at Oregon.

Far as wild ones, I missed Snow Bunting by a day I think it was. I've spent a great many hours looking for roadrunner only to be taunted twice hearing them but never seen them. I was unable to go for the first NA record of Common Scoter that was 2.5 hours away...
 
Glad I’m not the only one here with San Diego Eagle ires. I’m still mad at myself for missing the Harpy Eagles there and LA (I walked right past the lookout tower and I hate myself for it). Still haven’t seen a Harpy Eagle.
Speaking of San Diego, I remember being livid when I saw the serval signage in Africa Rocks where a Honey Badger should’ve been. It almost ruined the whole visit for me until the Geladas started making a ruckus and I calmed down immediately (baboons and baboon-adjacent monkeys have a tendency to do that, maybe I’ll explain somewhere else).
I’ve been to Brookfield twice and I’ve never been inside the Clouded Leopard rainforest (first time because the building closed, second time because the pandemic).
I’ve been to Milwaukee twice and I’ve yet to experience the aviary (first time was due to forgetting it, second due to bird flu exactly two years after the Brookfield pandemic visit).
 
• Thick-tailed Bushbabies at Johannesburg.
• Sumatran Orangutan at Johannesburg (no longer kept).
• Malayan Tapir at National Zoo of South Africa (no longer kept).
• Brazilian Tapir at Mystic monkeys and Feathers Wildlife Park (no longer kept)
• Javan langur at Mystic monkeys and Feathers Wildlife Park.
• Brown Hyena at Bothongo Lion and Rhino Park.
• Koala at National Zoo of South Africa (no longer kept).
 
Nix said:
• Malayan Tapir at National Zoo of South Africa (no longer kept)
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I only saw this animal maybe three times, and I lived at the zoo :P

For captive animals, I think my biggest miss would definitely be the Cuvier's gazelles at The Living Desert. The last two individuals left the collection less than a week before to my visit :(

For wild animals, my biggest misses would have to be southern ground hornbills and honey badgers in Kruger National Park. I was the only person in my group to miss seeing the hornbills (I consistently ended up on the wrong vehicle :(), and I missed a honey badger running across the road in front of the vehicle while very absorbed in my search for said hornbills in the distance!
 
Kudu21 said:
I only saw this animal maybe three times, and I lived at the zoo :p
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I've heard he was never an easy one to spot... It's an utter shame that Malayan tapirs are no longer kept at the zoo, seeing as they bred them multiple times in the 80s and 90s, they were clearly doing quite well but ultimately because of lack of interest in exotics from upper management, died out like many other foreign species in the zoo.

Now they've been replaced with yet more pygmy hippos, a species the zoo is in no short supply of. :confused:
 
Nix said:
I've heard he was never an easy one to spot... It's an utter shame that Malayan tapirs are no longer kept at the zoo, seeing as they bred them multiple times in the 80s and 90s, they were clearly doing quite well but ultimately because of lack of interest in exotics from upper management, died out like many other foreign species in the zoo.

Now they've been replaced with yet more pygmy hippos, a species the zoo is in no short supply of. :confused:
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While I was there I heard that they were making a conscious decision to move away from exotic species to place an emphasis on the importance of the wildlife in the visitors's own backyards and just due to the difficulties of importing any additional animals to supplement populations and maintain them in the long-term. It makes sense, given the nature of zoos today, globally, and the very limited number of traditional zoos in the country, as well as from a conservation and education perspective; however, it is incredibly unfortunate that this means the people of South Africa will miss out on seeing many other spectacular species.

I will say, South African collections have certainly had tremendous success in maintaining their pygmy hippopotamus population! I have never seen so many pygmy hippo calves as I saw during my time in South Africa,
 
Kudu21 said:
While I was there I heard that they were making a conscious decision to move away from exotic species to place an emphasis on the importance of the wildlife in the visitors's own backyards and just due to the difficulties of importing any additional animals to supplement populations and maintain them in the long-term
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I also heard of this, an odd move on the zoo's part when most native animals can be seen 20 minutes outside of the city with extreme ease, so why focus on native wildlife when they're so easily seen elsewhere in the country?

It's taking the path of many other main-stream zoos in the world focusing on generic ABCs, and getting rid of their rarer, more unique wildlife. A notable rarity that disappeared from the zoo's collection is the samangos, an utterly loss to any species list hunter.

I love this Zoo, the historic atmosphere, the views of the city... It could be so much more then it currently is, but with South Africa's political stability taking a turn for the worst the past decade my hopes are not very high.

Perhaps with the hiring of a new Executive Director, Leslie Mudimeli, the zoo will turn a new leaf... One can only hope!
 
I filmed an Azure kingfisher sitting on a branch over a small river. Turned the camcorder off, and seconds later a Grey goshawk took the kingfisher. My camcorder would not turn back on quickly enough, so I missed what could have been something quite special. I have not yet been able to get a decent shot of a Grey goshawk!
 
At the San Diego Zoo I never ended up getting the chance to do the Acacia Woodland Aviary. Its my fault for having bad time management, but I'm still really bummed out as it was one of the things I was the most excited for. I also never saw the fossa, another one of the things I was most excited for. Sure, they're not exactly a rarity, but my local zoo doesn't have them and they're a favorite species of mine.
 
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