Chlidonias, How did you get to see the smaller nocturnal animals such as the Bandicoots, Bettong, and Antechinus. Did you spend a lot of time wandering around at night with a spotlight or were they coming out during the day. I have recently spent a bit of time camping in the bush where I know there is at least Bandicots and Antechinus. I did not see any but heard at least 3 distinctive calls at night, One was a possum but the others were not anything I have heard before.
favourite animal you've seen in the wild
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Chlidonias, How did you get to see the smaller nocturnal animals such as the Bandicoots, Bettong, and Antechinus. Did you spend a lot of time wandering around at night with a spotlight or were they coming out during the day. I have recently spent a bit of time camping in the bush where I know there is at least Bandicots and Antechinus. I did not see any but heard at least 3 distinctive calls at night, One was a possum but the others were not anything I have heard before.
You guys down under are so lucky! No disrespect to UK natives but most of my top wildlife moments have been abroad. Having said that, watching two male adders fight it out last spring in the New Forest was pretty cool. In no particular order, some of my highlights have been
Mallorcan midwife toads in , surprisingly, mallorca.
Black and White colobus in Korup National Park, Cameroon
Proboscis Monkeys, bearded pigs, and mudskippers in Sarawak
Going for a p**s in Borneo and tripping over a macaque
Black Bear and Moose in British Columbia
Australia.... where to start! As a herpetologist there's no end of stand out species although I don't think you can ever quite forget your first encounter with a moloch! Also more than a little impressed by fruit bats in Sydney Botanical Gdns. Had a memorable encounter with a red belly black snake swimming towards me as i was skinnydipping in a waterfall!
Xenopus frogs in Cameroon. I know they're common as muck in the aquarium trade but there was something a bit special about coming across one in a roadside puddle!
Closer to home i'm quite lucky to live in a fairly rural area so often take for granted things like stoats, owls, and hare. Sometimes i guess you just have to take a moment, sit back and appreciate whats on your doorstep (especially with air fares as high as they now are!!!)
Its always interesting (and often somewhat depressing) to see species that are familiar from zoos in the wild. Spending an hour watching a lace monitor in Oz five years ago had a real impact on my views regarding how these animals should be kept. Kind of highlights the inadequecies of the conditions in some collections as it makes you more aware of how certain species have evolved to live.
Mallorcan midwife toads in , surprisingly, mallorca.
Black and White colobus in Korup National Park, Cameroon
Proboscis Monkeys, bearded pigs, and mudskippers in Sarawak
Going for a p**s in Borneo and tripping over a macaque
Black Bear and Moose in British Columbia
Australia.... where to start! As a herpetologist there's no end of stand out species although I don't think you can ever quite forget your first encounter with a moloch! Also more than a little impressed by fruit bats in Sydney Botanical Gdns. Had a memorable encounter with a red belly black snake swimming towards me as i was skinnydipping in a waterfall!
Xenopus frogs in Cameroon. I know they're common as muck in the aquarium trade but there was something a bit special about coming across one in a roadside puddle!
Closer to home i'm quite lucky to live in a fairly rural area so often take for granted things like stoats, owls, and hare. Sometimes i guess you just have to take a moment, sit back and appreciate whats on your doorstep (especially with air fares as high as they now are!!!)
Its always interesting (and often somewhat depressing) to see species that are familiar from zoos in the wild. Spending an hour watching a lace monitor in Oz five years ago had a real impact on my views regarding how these animals should be kept. Kind of highlights the inadequecies of the conditions in some collections as it makes you more aware of how certain species have evolved to live.
Just realized I havent mentioned anything feathered, would hate to offend any bird nerds! I think my favourite bird moment was again in Australia, just sitting in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney and seeing so many species that to us in the UK are always seen in captivity. Ibis and rosellas stand out in my mind. Likewise seeing wild budgerigars and zebra finch was awesome for the simple reason that I only ever see them as rather dejected little specimens in cramped pet stores whereas in the wild they're completely different animals.
*Theloderma, you make a very good point (a couple of times, actually) about how seeing an animal in the wild gives you a different slant on how it SHOULD be kept in captivity, (but rarely is!) Food for thought....
*yangz - You described how you met a red fox in your backyard in Wichita, Kansas.
Well, yesterday I met a red fox in my backyard right here in Sydney, Australia. Just shows how widespread the species is (or else your guy is out here on vacation!)
*yangz - You described how you met a red fox in your backyard in Wichita, Kansas.
Well, yesterday I met a red fox in my backyard right here in Sydney, Australia. Just shows how widespread the species is (or else your guy is out here on vacation!)
double-eyed fig parrots can be seen quite readily in the trees alongside the Cairns Esplanade. I suspect the girls sunbathing underneath the trees were a bit mystified as to what I was doing with the binoculars though
I do spend a lot of time wandering round at night spotlighting. It means I don't get much sleep when I travel: out all day birding then out half the night mammal-spotting. At this time of year the antechinus are coming out in the day quite a bit because they're gearing up for mating (and we probably all know the details of antechinus mating!).
I totally agree. Even something as common as a sparrow or starling, if you watch them flying from one side of the road to the other it makes you realise how restricted birds in captivity are in terms of space; same with something like monitors, watching them roaming all over the place changes the way you might look at a zoo terrarium's size
We used to get the occasional echidna at the back of my parent's place on the outskirts of Murray Bridge in SA - fascinating creatures! I remember being woken up one morning by a strange noise outside my window, opened the curtain and found an echidna just outside scratching in the dirt.
I've always had a fondness for Tawny Frogmouths.
We used to go "hunting" them when we were out camping - especially at Hattah Lakes (just south of Mildura in Victoria) - we would often hear them calling, and so would get the torch and see if we could track them down by sound alone. It was always a challenge to find them, since they would blend in to the bark of the tree so incredibly well. We used to do the same with Boobook Owls.
I was also surprised here in Sydney one day when we were just about to get into our car to go somewhere, a pair of Tawny Frogmouth's (I've never seen more than one at a time!) flew up and landed in the tree just above us. I rarely hear them call here.
You do realise that the Australian White Ibis are almost considered a "pest" at the Botanical gardens? They can become very aggressive.
Similar problems in the Brisbane CBD - I remember the Brisbane city council actually hired a tame hawk a while back (can't remember what kind) to fly around the city and scare off the Ibis - they were becoming too much of a pest.
Australian ibis - Brisbane City Council
Australian White Ibis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... this doesn't apply to all species of Ibis though - just the Australian White Ibis.
Some of my favourite animals seen in the wild (other than the Tawny Frogmouth and Echidna I've already mentioned) include:
Wedge Tailed Eagles ... my most memorable moment was driving home from Roxby Downs in outback South Australia - I noticed a bird on the side of the road feasting on some fresh roadkill (kangaroo). As I drove past, it stood upright to look at me - it was one of the largest Wedgies I've ever seen and was almost looking me straight in the eye it was that tall. As distasteful as the frequent roadkill in that area is - at least it does attract the scavengers!
I was pretty impressed with the elephant seals we saw in Southern Patagonia early this year, but the Condors (adult and young) soaring just above our boat as they took off from their nest was the highlight of the trip.
Wedge Tailed Eagles ... my most memorable moment was driving home from Roxby Downs in outback South Australia - I noticed a bird on the side of the road feasting on some fresh roadkill (kangaroo). As I drove past, it stood upright to look at me - it was one of the largest Wedgies I've ever seen and was almost looking me straight in the eye it was that tall. As distasteful as the frequent roadkill in that area is - at least it does attract the scavengers!
I was pretty impressed with the elephant seals we saw in Southern Patagonia early this year, but the Condors (adult and young) soaring just above our boat as they took off from their nest was the highlight of the trip.
Hi Sim. I did get the impression the Sydney locals weren't quite as endeared to the white ibis as the tourists! Saw several picnics and photo opportunities ruined by swarms of the things descending on unguarded food, bins, children etc... If memory serves the Sydney white ibis are descended from a free range flock established at Taronga in the early 70's using birds from Healesville. Not sure that Taronga advertises that information though!!! Regardless where they came from, I thought they were pretty cool birds - as long as they stayed on someone elses sandwiches!
I have two more that i want to add:-
At the sleep out at Randwick at WYD I saw some black cockatoos fly over at the wee hours of the morning and one day when i went to feed our ducks there was a big eagle sittng in the pen with a headless duck in its claw and a head in its beak. I don't know what species of eagle it is and was wondering if anyone could help me. It was huge but not a wedge tail and would have to be native to the Bendigo area.
At the sleep out at Randwick at WYD I saw some black cockatoos fly over at the wee hours of the morning and one day when i went to feed our ducks there was a big eagle sittng in the pen with a headless duck in its claw and a head in its beak. I don't know what species of eagle it is and was wondering if anyone could help me. It was huge but not a wedge tail and would have to be native to the Bendigo area.
You don't get much bigger than a wedgie in Australia (or the world for that matter). Only other contender would be a white-bellied sea eagle, but they aren't as big and don't come down as far south as Bendigo.
Or maybe a lost Monkey-eating eagle? Or a back from the dead Haast eagle??
Don't be silly Haast's wouldn't go for a duck....
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can you give any details of, for example, plumage colour or pattern, leg colour, etc? If you're not used to seeing birds-of-prey up close even the commoner ones may look much larger than expected. The wedge-tail is easily twice as large as any other Australian raptor except the sea eagle (which despite what tetrapod says, is actually found round the entire coastline of both Australia and Tasmania, and also inland where there are larger rivers, swamplands etc, especially in the east). The bird you saw may have been a little eagle, one of the kites, goshawks, or even a swamp harrier.
I have just seen my new "favourite mammal seen in the wild": a leopard seal at the local beach in Christchurch (NZ). It was a young one about six foot long. Individuals turn up in NZ and Australia from time to time, but this is the first one I've had the opportunity to see. Wonderful creature!
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) » ZooBeat Photo Gallery
I would have to say one of the greatest for me was whalesharks at Ningaloo in June this year. We saw 5 altogether on the one day, and swam along with them all!! The first one you see swimming into view, amongst all the fins, bubbles and flailing arms of the other snorkellers is amazing.
What ended up happening with this animal? Was it unhealthy or just ashore for a rest? Did it return to the ocean?
just ashore for a rest. It looked perfectly healthy to me, just moulting a little. My only concern for it is that there are lots of dog-walkers along that beach and the usual people who think its a sick or dying sealion and try to approach it too closely. Another guy from work went to see it in the evening and there were only tracks leading down into the sea, so its obviously healthy enough to go fishing.