What is your wild nemesis species?

Great Argus

Great Argus

Well-Known Member
5+ year member
Pretty sure all of us wildlife watchers have these, that one species (or species) that always seems to vanish right before we get there or decides to not show itself. Despite our best efforts we just can't find them.

My main one is Greater Roadrunner... heard them twice, gone chasing reports soon after posting, spent considerable time trying to spot one... but still empty-handed on actually seeing a wild roadrunner.

I also have a track record of missing Wilson's Phalarope, but have yet to visit their main breeding and passage sites.

Red Fox is the only mammal I could consider a nemesis... all my foxes so far have been Gray, despite reports of Red Foxes in my area and places I visit.

What are your nemesis species?
 
Shining Bronze-cuckoo. In almost seven years of serious birding, I have only got okay views of the species on two occasions. Additionally, I still have yet to get a photograph of one that is of better quality than, 'passable'. Note that the Shining Bronze-cuckoo may be declining in New Zealand, but it is still widespread and fairly common during summer for the time being.
Also, the North Island Kokako. I didn't see the species on either Kapiti Island (where it is somewhat scarce) or Tiritiri Matangi Island (where it is supposed to be fairly easy to find). Admittedly, I didn't have a strong desire to see one until about two years ago, but not seeing the species on two of the pest-free island sanctuaries that house it is disheartening nonetheless.
 
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In terms of mammals it would be Polecat and Beaver, which are the two most common species of the Netherlands that I haven't seen...

In terms of birds for some reason I still have not seen Mosque swallow and Olive pigeon in Africa, even though both species are reasonably common in large parts of Africa...
 
For me recently in Spain it was sadly the Iberian wolf that proved to be a bit of a nemesis for me and an eco-guide friend of mine. Loads of tracks, heard the howls albeit distantly , carcasses of recent kills but no show for wolves (I dont blame them though they are still a very persecuted species in Northern Spain and are consequently very wary animals).

The consolation was that I saw European mammalian fauna which I hadn't before such as the Cantabrian brown bear, the Pyrenean chamois and the European wildcat.
 
my bigest wild nemesi is now black billd capercaillie. we seche foe two days when i was in mongolia in thick forest. one the second day the lockal guide was waking beofre us. sundely we here a loud wingflaps. the guide scard one male. he said he wanted us to take a foto but we whod have sen it if he dident was in front of us. the worst part is that the same thing hapend again. and it will probeby be some time before i go back to that area.
in terms of birds in sweden i have sen most of the breding birds in here. i am mising some that bred in the south and wery north. but for some resoson i havent sen a whimberl in sweden a thats is wen my swedish ilst contains about 220 difrent kind of birds
 
Scoters of any species... namely Surf. Given I have found almost every species of duck native to Texas in the wild as well as a few vagrants, scoters are among the top of my hit list. However, that does not make them my nemesis, my multitude of failed encounters and general poor luck with them has. My first "encounter" with a scoter was when I arrived at a park in Fort Worth to search for a Long-eared Owl, which I soon found I had missed by 10 minutes, but was delighted to be told there was a Surf Scoter in the closest pond the person had been looking at beforehand. Unfortunately the scoter was nowhere to be seen when I reached the pond. Other than not finding reported Black Scoters where they were reported on dates they were reported, which could have been due to my lack of a scope, I have not been so close to finding one. Anytime one is reported and I make an effort to see it, even if they've been in one spot for a week, they seem to disappear just as I'm rolling into town. Hopefully eventually I get lucky enough to track one down in the wild, then I can return to my old nemesis... cuckoos.
 
For mammals it is definately the European Badger. They are reasonably common where I live, I've seen multiple badger road kills and I've seen eye shine that could only have been from a badger, but I haven't really seen one yet.

For birds I guess it is the Short-Eared Owl. In comparison to other, somewhat shameful missing species on my Dutch list (eg. Savi's Warbler, Razorbill, Black-Legged Kittiwake) they are seen yearly in my local patch.
 
For me, there is an array. Hedgehogs, Water Voles and Moles. God they annoy me. I've been looking for them for my whole life, and apparently 49% of people have seen a hedgehog, when THEY DON'T EVEN LOOK FOR IT.

I like ranting.
 
For me it's the Asian Palm Civet,i've seen them in captivity before and i know there are some in my neighborhood and heard them running across my rooftops (It's either them or domestic cats),also heard rumors of them raiding the offices in my previous workplace but i just haven't saw one in the wild before despite them being a very common urban wildlife in Malaysia.
 
OstrichMania said:
For me, there is an array. Hedgehogs, Water Voles and Moles. God they annoy me. I've been looking for them for my whole life, and apparently 49% of people have seen a hedgehog, when THEY DON'T EVEN LOOK FOR IT.

I like ranting.
Click to expand...

Hedgehogs are easiest to find by not looking for them, half of my sightings are on the way home after a night out in spring or summer...
 
Varied Thrush. Any time one ends up in Wisconsin, I end up less then 10 minutes from the site where the bird is and then don't know about until the the next day.
 
Bengal Tiger and Indian Leopard. I've seen them in zoos plenty of times, and I've even seen dhole from a distance and sloth bear plenty of times, but no, not the big cats. Unfortunately the formers range is so fragmented the only sure way to see it is to keep continually visiting tiger reserves.
 
Marbled teal.

Considered to be a vulnerable species worldwide because of their declining population, they are still a very easy species to get in Morocco. Basically, as most commonish freshwater ducks, you just need to be in the right spot in the right season for them and you can potentially see hundreds.

Turns out I'm near three relatively good spot for them:

- My main patch, Oued Souss, where people often report 40 of them but even though I've been birding there extensively and in the right season, I've never found one.

-Oued Massa where according to some birders they are "nearly guaranteed" except for last year which according to a guide we found at the entrance was a bad year for Marbled teals (though to be fair, it was quite late in the season to see them)

- And at Tamri Estuary where they are a bit more hit-and-miss but a reliable Moroccan birder found 30 of them and I saw none when birding a few days after this was reported...

However, I should hopefully fix that next week if my plans turn out well (otherwise, I'm probably cursed with Marbled teals)

(Purple heron used to be another common species that everyone has seen but me but I fixed that in August thankfully.)
 
For a long, long time I had never seen a diver/loon, despite living close to the Northumberland coastline and doing a lot of researching - but I've rectified that one now.

The biggest nemesis I have in terms of British wildlife is certainly the American Mink however; barring a view of a snout at Five Sisters last year I have never seen one in captivity nor the wild, despite the fact they are a common invasive species! To add insult to injury I have seen every other mustelid living wild in the UK many times - even trickier species such as the badger and pine marten.
 
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