Better than I could have taken it!
Yeah, Its most definitely a conger, but Conger eels can refer to a whole family of Anguilliformes Do you know where you saw it? You could narrow down the Speciifc species by regarding its range.
Wild animal sighting you felt the luckiest to experience?
- Thread starter elefante
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Yeah, Its most definitely a conger, but Conger eels can refer to a whole family of Anguilliformes Do you know where you saw it? You could narrow down the Speciifc species by regarding its range.
Greenshank
Well-Known Member
The species is Conger conger. I don't know if they have another name, in the UK we just ca them congers or conger eels. But yes there are many species of conger in the world
Conger Conger seems to fit. I've always called them European Congers, instead of just Conger eels.
Greenshank
Well-Known Member
Yes that's the species, it's just that there's only one species here so there isn't really any need to differentiate, hence why everyone just calls them congers or Conger eels and they're referred to as such in field guides etc.
I feel very fortunate to have been able to swim with both manta rays (Indonesia) and whale sharks (Mexico). Also swam with sea turtles (green in Mexico, hawksbill in Egypt) and bottlenosed dolphins (Egypt.) Saw humpbacks (Australia, Costa Rica), Ocean Sunfish (Spain), loggerhead turtle (Turkey) and many other species of dolphins (including risso's and Fraser's) as well but I wasn't in the water with those.
As to none-marine animals, high on my favorites list are the Lumboltz tree kangaroo, Sri Lankan leopard, Asian elephant (Sri Lanka), Baird's tapir (Costa Rica), neotropical otter (Costa Rica), dusky langur (Thailand), blacknecked stork (Sri Lanka), resplendant quetzal (Costa Rica) and Bali starling.
As to none-marine animals, high on my favorites list are the Lumboltz tree kangaroo, Sri Lankan leopard, Asian elephant (Sri Lanka), Baird's tapir (Costa Rica), neotropical otter (Costa Rica), dusky langur (Thailand), blacknecked stork (Sri Lanka), resplendant quetzal (Costa Rica) and Bali starling.
The Cassowary
Well-Known Member
Seeing California condors in Grand Canyon National Park, and swimming with manatees in Crystal River, FL
I join you in seeing California Condors soaring over the Grand Canyon.
Seeing a 16 member pack of Grey Wolves in Yellowstone
Seeing a Osprey try (but fail) to catch a fish. Espicially since osprays only come were I life while migrating for a very short time.
Going on safari to Tanzania's Serengeti National Park in 2013, and on our last day out on safari seeing two leopard cubs playing atop a kopje. I thought for certain we wouldn't see leopards during our trip.
May seem less cool, but when I saw a Purple Heron in the UK, that was probably my 'awakening' into birding, if you will.
One of the more exciting for me personally was the first ever wild reptile I saw and photographed, a common wall lizard (Podarcus muralis) on the grounds of the Domain of the Caves of Han Wildlife Park, in the summer of 2020. I posted two of those pictures in the gallery last year.
The Great Carmo
Member
I have been fortunate to have visited East Africa on several occasions, many sightings of rhino, leopards and the like, but my most prized memories come from sightings of caracal, serval, giant forest hogs, stripped hyaena, tree hyrax, lappet-faced vulture and the long-tailed widowbird.
Noah Butas
Well-Known Member
Seeing a Pileated woodpecker for the first time at my feeder. I am fascinated by the largest animals of their kind.
For me, the two sightings that automatically come to mind are my last-minute, "Hail Mary" of sightings of a trio of sable antelope in Kruger National Park and of a lone Cape mountain zebra stallion in the Cape Point Nature Reserve. Both creatures were high up on my list of animals I wanted to strive to see during my time in South Africa, both animals coming with a certain degree of difficulty, but not edging on near impossible.
Now, I had seen sable antelope from the road several times while driving about the countryside, but none of these animals were truly wild, living on game ranches or small reserves, and most were outside of their natural range. The only time I was within their natural range was during my four days in Kruger National Park. I was based at the Pretoriuskop Camp, which has the head of a sable as its symbol, as they were once quite common in that area. Unfortunately, sable have become increasingly rare, and we were told that it was very unlikely that we'd actually see one. And that was the case for almost all of the four days I spent in the park. Then, finally, on my last day, on my last game drive before heading back to Johannesburg, not far from the camp entrance, three sable dashed out of the brush on a distant hillside, running down through the shallow ravine. They were gone as quickly as they appeared, so I'm left with only a couple of out of focus photos and my memories, but it made for an invigorating sighting!
Being endemic to such a small region of South Africa, the Cape mountain zebra is an animal that I desperately wanted to see, not knowing if I'd ever get the chance to see one again; however, with them being found in only a handful of locations, mostly in the more remote areas of the Cape provinces-- minus the population in the Cape Point Nature Reserve outside of Cape Town-- I knew my chances were slim, as for the majority of my time in the country, I was based in Pretoria with limited transportation options. My last week in the country, I ended up flying out for a last-minute four-day-weekend to Cape Town with two vet students from Spain that I worked alongside at the National Zoo in Pretoria. On our second full day in the city we took a guided bus tour of the Cape peninsula, which included a game drive through the Cape Point Nature Reserve to the Cape of Good Hope. The fynbos in winter is rather bare, but its starkness is truly beautiful. In our several hours in the park we saw some notable wildlife, including beach-combing chacma baboons and ostriches and herds of bontebok and eland but no sign of the zebra other than some old dung and tracks. At sunset, we were exiting the park and heading down the road back to Cape Town, when I looked over and saw a single Cape mountain zebra stallion grazing on the hillside amongst a small herd of bontebok! The bus pulled off the side of the road, and we were able to get out and admire the stallion for quite a while as he grazed in the fading sunlight. Our guides said that we were extremely lucky to have seen one, as they had not seen one in almost two months.
Now, I had seen sable antelope from the road several times while driving about the countryside, but none of these animals were truly wild, living on game ranches or small reserves, and most were outside of their natural range. The only time I was within their natural range was during my four days in Kruger National Park. I was based at the Pretoriuskop Camp, which has the head of a sable as its symbol, as they were once quite common in that area. Unfortunately, sable have become increasingly rare, and we were told that it was very unlikely that we'd actually see one. And that was the case for almost all of the four days I spent in the park. Then, finally, on my last day, on my last game drive before heading back to Johannesburg, not far from the camp entrance, three sable dashed out of the brush on a distant hillside, running down through the shallow ravine. They were gone as quickly as they appeared, so I'm left with only a couple of out of focus photos and my memories, but it made for an invigorating sighting!
Being endemic to such a small region of South Africa, the Cape mountain zebra is an animal that I desperately wanted to see, not knowing if I'd ever get the chance to see one again; however, with them being found in only a handful of locations, mostly in the more remote areas of the Cape provinces-- minus the population in the Cape Point Nature Reserve outside of Cape Town-- I knew my chances were slim, as for the majority of my time in the country, I was based in Pretoria with limited transportation options. My last week in the country, I ended up flying out for a last-minute four-day-weekend to Cape Town with two vet students from Spain that I worked alongside at the National Zoo in Pretoria. On our second full day in the city we took a guided bus tour of the Cape peninsula, which included a game drive through the Cape Point Nature Reserve to the Cape of Good Hope. The fynbos in winter is rather bare, but its starkness is truly beautiful. In our several hours in the park we saw some notable wildlife, including beach-combing chacma baboons and ostriches and herds of bontebok and eland but no sign of the zebra other than some old dung and tracks. At sunset, we were exiting the park and heading down the road back to Cape Town, when I looked over and saw a single Cape mountain zebra stallion grazing on the hillside amongst a small herd of bontebok! The bus pulled off the side of the road, and we were able to get out and admire the stallion for quite a while as he grazed in the fading sunlight. Our guides said that we were extremely lucky to have seen one, as they had not seen one in almost two months.
This was more special to me but I got to see a family of orcas on a trip to Washington. I saw 3 orcas. A baby and 2 and 2 adults. I got to see the male jump and swim about 200-300 feet away from the boat.
On my relatively few visits to wild areas of different parts of the USA, I’ve been lucky to see a few “exotic” animals worth mentioning here:
- A moose with two calves near a ski resort outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.
- A grand total of 7 green sea turtles on my trip to Hawaii.
- Seeing a male and later a pair of female pronghorn on the way to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.
- Finally seeing a wild bald eagle in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula.
Alopex7
Member
Probably just seeing a herd of elk grazing if you talking rare (not that elk are rare I am kind of nature deprived). If your talking the ones that I look upon with happiness the most 1. Red Foxes I have seen quite a few over the years 2. I have touched and/or fed squirrels a few times (I know its controversial), and 3. the Mourning Dove has a symbolic significance to me...
TheChukaulorian
Well-Known Member
On summer 2020 I came across a wetland in Chiloé Island with a huge wintering colony of Black skimmers and Hudsonian godwits, both lifers. Also in that very same brackish vay I spotted a pair of endemic and threatened Chilean dolphins or "toninas".
On two ocassions I took a trip to the penguin colonies at the islets off the coast of Chiloé, spotting breeding groups of Magellanic penguins (with some rogue Humboldts blending in), a single marine otter, and two battling male Kelp geese.
Of the curious behavior kind, I once saw a pair of Shiny cowbirds mobbing a Chimango caracara.
On two ocassions I took a trip to the penguin colonies at the islets off the coast of Chiloé, spotting breeding groups of Magellanic penguins (with some rogue Humboldts blending in), a single marine otter, and two battling male Kelp geese.
Of the curious behavior kind, I once saw a pair of Shiny cowbirds mobbing a Chimango caracara.
Haven't seen many animals in the wild but there are a few.
1. American bison, pronghorn, Dall sheep, prairie dogs, yellow-bellied marmot (South Dakota and Wyoming)
2. Bottlenose dolphin (Outer Banks, North Carolina)
3. American black bear (Smoky Mountains Gatlinburg, Tennessee)
4. Coyotes, red fox, sandhill cranes, snapping turtles (All over Michigan. not really rare, but think they are pretty cool to see)
5. Humpback whales and harbor seals (Boston Massachusetts, New England Aquarium whale watching)
6. Bald Eagles (Michigan, upper and lower peninsula)
Most of the trips I take are to cities or popular tourist destinations so I don't get to see many wild animals besides the deer in my backyard.
1. American bison, pronghorn, Dall sheep, prairie dogs, yellow-bellied marmot (South Dakota and Wyoming)
2. Bottlenose dolphin (Outer Banks, North Carolina)
3. American black bear (Smoky Mountains Gatlinburg, Tennessee)
4. Coyotes, red fox, sandhill cranes, snapping turtles (All over Michigan. not really rare, but think they are pretty cool to see)
5. Humpback whales and harbor seals (Boston Massachusetts, New England Aquarium whale watching)
6. Bald Eagles (Michigan, upper and lower peninsula)
Most of the trips I take are to cities or popular tourist destinations so I don't get to see many wild animals besides the deer in my backyard.