Iconic Animals

[Doctor FinnBarr]

In Scotland I've seen a Golden Eagle on the south road of Loch Tay, infact it nearly had me off the bike as it swooped, talons outstretched chasing some unseen prey, almost shit myself, 2 wildcats on the same day on the Aberfoyle to Loch Lomond road, they were about 3 miles apart and beavers on an estate near Alyth where we stayed in a yurt.

Abroad isn't too exciting apart from the usual lizards in Spain/Tenerife but Mexico was something else, iguanas, raccoons, coaties  and a stingray

[Jambo-Jimbo]

Once saw a lizard in the wild in Scotland, I kid you not, it was near Traquair on the Southern Upland Way, needless to say it was in summer, but I had to take a double take when I saw it, never knew you could get native lizards in Scotland, but seemingly you can, pretty rare they are though.

[Bridge of Djoum]

Orca's in the Barents Sea.

Sea snakes in the Gulf

Ospreys in Rhode Island

A gator in Florida

A raccoon on my street, we had a stare down. I lost and crossed the street

Huge Stingrays in Djibouti

Saw a massive water rat in Arbroath

A ton of dolphins

Waiting to cross the street in Singapore, on our way to Raffles, lizard jumped out a tree and landed on my then girlfriend's shoulder. Hilarious.

 

Paul Kane in Leith.

 

Edited January 30, 2019 by Bridge of Djoum

[Kalamazoo Jambo]

A new one for my list. Last night, while having a celebratory, socially distanced drink in the neighborhood, a flying squirrel glided over my head.

[ri Alban]

A unicorn in butlins, well I say unicorn, I mean donkey and I had dropped my cornetto.

[Ribble]

Iceland - Arctic Fox, Harbour Seal, dolphins, minke whale, humpback whale

Florida - Croc's, bald eagle, manatee's

Bali - macaques, Kokokan (heron), macaws

British Virgin Islands - Sea Turtle, Stingray, gecko

[highlandjambo3]

Seen all sorts on my travels and 25years in the Army but, a selection of iconic moments:

 

1.  croc diving into the river we were swimming crossing with flotation packs in Kenya....kind of motivates you to swim like fek.
2.  group of us being being chased by a black bear on a horse in jasper national park, Canada........ps I was on the horse not the bear.....ok, it was quite far away and running towards us but, we weren’t hanging about.

3.  Washing down an elephant in a river in India....got on its back for a water skooshing as well......ok it wasn’t exactly wild but it was worth mentioning.

[ri Alban]

Every animal is iconic, even humans when they want to. 

[Салатные палочки]

I see birds of prey on the way to work most days.  Not sure what they are, possibly Kestrels but sometimes see them swooping down on something.  Also twice almost killed Grouse that seem to just stroll across the road at their leisure.  

 

Saved a wee lizard from drowning in a swimming pool in San Diego about 25 years ago.  It's wee claws gripped into me until I took it to the wall that his family used to hang around.  

[ri Alban]

2 hours ago, Salad Fingers said:

I see birds of prey on the way to work most days.  Not sure what they are, possibly Kestrels but sometimes see them swooping down on something.  Also twice almost killed Grouse that seem to just stroll across the road at their leisure.  

 

Saved a wee lizard from drowning in a swimming pool in San Diego about 25 years ago.  It's wee claws gripped into me until I took it to the wall that his family used to hang around.  

Buzzards probably. 

[Dawnrazor]

2 hours ago, Salad Fingers said:

I see birds of prey on the way to work most days.  Not sure what they are, possibly Kestrels but sometimes see them swooping down on something.  Also twice almost killed Grouse that seem to just stroll across the road at their leisure.  

 

Saved a wee lizard from drowning in a swimming pool in San Diego about 25 years ago.  It's wee claws gripped into me until I took it to the wall that his family used to hang around.  

Where are you seeing the Grouse strolling across the road? 

[ri Alban]

1 minute ago, Dawnrazor said:

Where are you seeing the Grouse strolling across the road? 

Probably a pheasant. 

[Tazio]

13 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

Where are you seeing the Grouse strolling across the road? 

Bizarrely a few years ago my mum was driving along Craigentinny Avenue and hit a grouse. 

[Dawnrazor]

2 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Bizarrely a few years ago my mum was driving along Craigentinny Avenue and hit a grouse. 

Red Leg Partridge?

[Dawnrazor]

15 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

Probably a pheasant. 

That's what I'm thinking, or a Red Leg Partridge. That's why I asked.

[Салатные палочки]

44 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

Where are you seeing the Grouse strolling across the road? 

 

Both times here, which is between North Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire. 

 

I've also seen a couple up the Gleniffer Braes, which is a couple of miles from there. 

 

 

[Салатные палочки]

46 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

Probably a pheasant. 

 

You might be right. I dont have a scooby about birds to be honest (story of my life). 

[Jamhammer]

I've always wanted to see a Buffalo/Bison. Never seen one. Also to hear Wolves howling in the wild.

Coolest animal I've ever seen in the flesh is probably massive stag on top of An Stuc. It was honestly like it was posing for a photograph.

Just took my breath away. Seen dolphins up close too and that was cool.

I'm a twitcher and was made up to see some Condors at the Grand Canyon and a few Sea Eagles in British Columbia

Edited November 10, 2020 by Jamhammer

[Tazio]

57 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

Red Leg Partridge?

No, her names Christine. 
She wasn’t sure what it was but a passer by stopped and said it was a grouse, nothing to say he knew what he was talking about but her description sounded like a grouse. 

[Dawnrazor]

11 minutes ago, Tazio said:

No, her names Christine. 
She wasn’t sure what it was but a passer by stopped and said it was a grouse, nothing to say he knew what he was talking about but her description sounded like a grouse. 

I'd say highly unlikely but not impossible.

[rossaldinho]

2 hours ago, Jamhammer said:

I've always wanted to see a Buffalo/Bison. Never seen one. Also to hear Wolves howling in the wild.

Coolest animal I've ever seen in the flesh is probably massive stag on top of An Stuc. It was honestly like it was posing for a photograph.

Just took my breath away. Seen dolphins up close too and that was cool.

I'm a twitcher and was made up to see some Condors at the Grand Canyon and a few Sea Eagles in British Columbia

 

We were in the Grand Canyon a few years ago going down one of the trails and heard birds above us. Looked up to see 2 massive birds and 2 smaller birds so took a picture with the camera we had, luckily it was a really high quality DSLR camera. Zoomed in on the photo and it was 4 California Condors, two of them being young. Asked a park ranger later that night to have a look at the photo and confirmed that they definitely were Condors. He also told us he'd been working at the park for almost 10 years at the time and had never even seen one. 

[Doctor FinnBarr]

5 hours ago, Jamhammer said:

I've always wanted to see a Buffalo/Bison. Never seen one. Also to hear Wolves howling in the wild.

Coolest animal I've ever seen in the flesh is probably massive stag on top of An Stuc. It was honestly like it was posing for a photograph.

Just took my breath away. Seen dolphins up close too and that was cool.

I'm a twitcher and was made up to see some Condors at the Grand Canyon and a few Sea Eagles in British Columbia

 

We were travelling to a motorbike rally in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire about 10 years ago in the May. It had been a beautiful day so we decided to take the most direct route ie the slowest, over Glenshee. Sun was dropping behind the mountains as we crossed the top of Glenshee but as we came down the north side the road suddenly became covered in deer lying down to catch the heat of the tarmac (never seen that before and never seen it again). When I say covered I mean covered, over the space of maybe a mile there was maybe 50 does and maybe about 6 stags, they were moving (grudgingly) for cars trying to pass but my bike and sidecar didn't seem to bother them at all, I had to pick my way through them, meant we had to put the tent up in the dark as the buggers had slowed us up that much!

Many thanks to my fellow bike club members for forming a tent building committee when we got there. Tent was up in jig time, I sorted it in the morning though.

[Tazio]

Stags are really cool big beasts. When I lived in Applecross it annoyed me that for most of the year the stags would come down off the hills and even come up to almost touching distance of people then at one point in the year a bunch of rich *******s would turn up and shoot them having paid huge amounts of money for the privilege. 

[ri Alban]

4 hours ago, Tazio said:

Stags are really cool big beasts. When I lived in Applecross it annoyed me that for most of the year the stags would come down off the hills and even come up to almost touching distance of people then at one point in the year a bunch of rich *******s would turn up and shoot them having paid huge amounts of money for the privilege. 

Dawnie is yer man.

[ri Alban]

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by ri Alban

[Boaby Ewing]

I’d love to see orcas and basking sharks in the wild, ideally in Scotland. Hopefully in the next few years. 
 

Bison in Yellowstone were cool. Set off early one morning and one just trotted past the car quite the thing, inches away from my seat. Didn’t see a single bear though. 
 

White shark cage diving a couple of hours from Cape Town. It’s a manufactured experience but still amazing. 
 

Same trip on safari: lions, cheetahs, rhino, elephants etc. but the most magnificent to see in the wild by far was the giraffe. Surprised me as I’ve never been that bothered by them in zoos. But cutting about in the open they’re amazing, other worldly creatures. 
 

 

 

 

 

[ri Alban]

11 hours ago, Jamhammer said:

I've always wanted to see a Buffalo/Bison. Never seen one. Also to hear Wolves howling in the wild.

Coolest animal I've ever seen in the flesh is probably massive stag on top of An Stuc. It was honestly like it was posing for a photograph.

Just took my breath away. Seen dolphins up close too and that was cool.

I'm a twitcher and was made up to see some Condors at the Grand Canyon and a few Sea Eagles in British Columbia

What's the difference between a buffalo and a Bison? 

 

 

 

 

You can't wash your face in a buffalo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 11, 2020 by ri Alban

[ri Alban]

11 hours ago, Jamhammer said:

I've always wanted to see a Buffalo/Bison. Never seen one. Also to hear Wolves howling in the wild.

Coolest animal I've ever seen in the flesh is probably massive stag on top of An Stuc. It was honestly like it was posing for a photograph.

Just took my breath away. Seen dolphins up close too and that was cool.

I'm a twitcher and was made up to see some Condors at the Grand Canyon and a few Sea Eagles in British Columbia

What's the difference between a buffalo and a Bison? 

 

 

 

 

You can't wash yoir face in a buffalo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jamhammer]

1 hour ago, ri Alban said:

What's the difference between a buffalo and a Bison? 

 

 

 

 

You can't wash yoir face in a buffalo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I knew someone would

[Jamhammer]

Talking about Orcas I was paddle boarding with my prospective son in law near Tofino on Vancouver Island.

Occurred to me we were in the Pacific so asked about sharks.

He laughed and said “No. we’ve got Orcas”

I carried on and, somewhere in the dim recess of an ageing mind I recalled a 70’s film about a killer whale.

”Is an Orca a Killer Whale”? I asked

”Some people call them that”

 

Cue me being proper windy for the rest of the day.

 

Canadians have, what can best be described as a cavalier attitude to animals that can **** you up 😀

[Kalamazoo Jambo]

I’ve seen groundhogs before but today was the first time one was spotted in (literally) our own back yard. Photo courtesy of Mrs Kalamazoo as I was out at the time…

 

[Unknown user]

Peacocks sleep in trees, I didn't even know they could fly when I first saw it, epic things

 

[Kalamazoo Jambo]

9 hours ago, Smithee said:

Peacocks sleep in trees, I didn't even know they could fly when I first saw it, epic things

 

Wild turkeys are similar. Sleep in trees to keep away from predators. They can’t fly far but can really shift if they need to

 

[Weakened Offender]

A basking shark once passed my wee fishing boat. I could have leaned over and touched it. 

[Jeffros Furios]

On one of my failed attempts at surfing I ended up having two killer whales passing by , 

 

At first I thought they were great whites coming for thier breakfast but the large chaps

 

Just passed by , a magnificent sight to see them so close .

 

Not long after a woman was killed by a great white less than a mile from where I'd swim .

 

That's today's story 😀

[millerjames398]

I worked as an industrial cleaner, had a cpl weeks workin at auchenlea refuse tip in airdrie, and they had Goss hawks on site, to scare the seagulls off, every couple hours the guy who owned them, would come out with a air rifle, fire a few shots to scare them, then watch the goss hawks take them out in mid air,,unbelievable, some of the seagulls looked massive, but they stood no chance.

[PortyJambo]

My dad was in the Navy, and I spent a couple of years in Gibraltar when he was stationed there when I was young. Apart from seeing the Barbary apes there, we went down to the furthest southern tip of Gibraltar where you could look down into the Med. Watched a load of hammerhead sharks circling below, and other sharks as well, although didn't know what those were. The hammerheads were easy to spot though!

[Locky]

Growing up right in the city I didn't see a Fox until I was about 16.  

[Harry Potter]

13 hours ago, Weakened Offender said:

A basking shark once passed my wee fishing boat. I could have leaned over and touched it. 

Was fishing off the heads of ayr about 1986 and a basking shark came past our boat, a great expearience for sure.

[Weakened Offender]

Just now, Harry Potter said:

Was fishing off the heads of ayr about 1986 and a basking shark came past our boat, a great expearience for sure.

 

Big ****ers eh?  😎

[Harry Potter]

5 minutes ago, Weakened Offender said:

 

Big ****ers eh?  😎

I thought someone was joking till i saw the fin going through the water, probably a porbeagle , you never forget a moment like that.