Rarest animal you have seen out

[Diligence]

- Cougar (mountain lion) in British Columbia, Canada....it followed me and a mate for about 200 yards....a good story to tell over a beer someday.

- a 25foot whale shark in Belize - that was WAY COOL...still never have seen a sea horse, but I've tried and tried....

- a giant leatherback turle - I swear it was almost the size of a VW Beetle!!

- do woodland caribou count? I've only ever seen two of them.

D

 

[Andyre]

I saw 3 flying grunard of the beach in Grenada

 

[Diligence]

too cool andyre ---- I've seen one of those too, but could not remember the name!! it was about 6 years ago, and what a weird fish it is too....

D

 

[Bimble]

I saw a Scotsman pay for a round once, does that count?

 

[Andyre]

Yeah i was quite chuffed when a mate of mine who is a dive instructor with over 1000 dives said that he has never seen one and theres me with only 40 dives and i have seen 3.
First time i saw one it fanned its wings out to make it look big and scary, it worked
They are fascinating to watch as they use the ends of the wings to dig in the sand to search for food

 

[jamie18thmo]

I watched a Southern Right Whale for a while from about 50-100m away during a recent trip to Port Pegasus, Stewart Island NZ. Also saw a wild Kiwi on the same trip.
I see nationally critically endangered Grand and Otago skinks pretty regularly, but thatS because I work with them, so I suppose that doesn't count.
J

 

[ecobandit]

saw a nightjar about three weeks ago,really should,nt be in northumberland at this time of year,allsorts of critters in my backyard,
red squirrels,buzzards,badgers,stoats,weasels,hen harrier,goshawk,jays,woodpecker,wren,to name but a few.oh must,nt forget the eagle owl!.sea eagle at cambelltown but the best was a black and yellow dragonfly with a six inch wingspan at tangy loch!

 

[hog]

African hunting dog, cheetha, leopard, black and white rhino, sable antelope, honey badger,bush baby , whale shark, basking shark, fire goby and a bit more.

 

[firecrest]

Yup, Loch Fyne, not 100m from where the dodgy orca photo was taken.

Otters, lots of otters since I started paddling. Mainly brief glimpses but one day a pair with a young 'un spent over an hour in the bay we were camped in and weren't phazed by us at all. Watched them feeding and playing and they were only about ten foot away at one point.
Might have seen a female cappercaillie one day but not sure, have never seen a male.
One decent wildcat sighting years ago, and a glimpse of a tail disappearing into the scrub another time that hardly counts.

Does plankton count? I rowed a wee rowboat through an area of that bioluminescent stuff one night, like the northern lights in the water.
...and have walked along beaches a few times where each step lights up the sand around your feet.

Sika deer, I forget they aren't everywhere. Might be rare to some folk. Noisy buggers.

Met the momma of all wood wasps one day. Had no idea what it was at the time, scary monsters.

thats a Sawfly, or Giant Wood Wasp. Its actually not really a wasp. I learned about them first at the bushmoot when one flew into our camp and scared the living daylights out of us. The big `sting` is its ovipositor. YOu can probably clear a building by catching one in a jamjar and letting it go at work. Be most fun if you work in a stuffy office and are stuck in a meeting. Pretend you caught it in a jungle, its deadly and, OOPS!! it just escaped!!

Rarest thing Ive seen? Not very much... In this country probably a flock of waxwing in the garden, abroad, I saw the worlds biggest moth (literally) in Honduras and a family of cheetahs in africa.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Just Arctic (mountain) Hare and Ptarmigans.

Nick

 

[Barney]

Single Horned Rhino
Gharial
Bengal Tiger

 

[Fraxinus]

In the UK,
Red Kites
Golden Eagle (Pair)
Mink
Kingfishers

On a Greek Island where I lived,
Hoopoe's
Lamagaier(sp?)
Flying fish (ok was at sea at time)
and the lesser (sun) spotted tourist who took brain on holiday with him

Spain
Little owl
Wild Boar (though in process of being butchered, does that still count?)

Regards Fraxinus

 

[Scrimmy]

Today with a Hume's Leaf Warbler

 

[novembeRain]

seen lizards in britain and few weeks ago I saw hornets (I'm not sure if they're rare or not but I've never seen them in britain before).

Seen otters and kingfishers too, and may have seen a black squirel (I described it to friends as like a black ferret) it ran across the road in front of me. Also seen newts, weasuls and stoats, haven't we got a great passtime!

 

[Bushwhacker]

I saw a Womble once, or it could have been a fox.
It was hard to tell.

 

[Wayland]

Sperm whales (Above), Dolphins feeding on a school of fish, Otters, Kingfisher, Glow worms, Red Squirrels, Grey seals, Reindeer (Wild), White tailed eagle (Below)

And a Puffin with a sandeel this big.

 

[Nagual]

I've saw a House Fly... even saw a Dragon Fly... But I ain't never saw a Elephant Fly!............


Nag.

 

[Celt_Ginger]

Irish Hare (you can tell it's irish, it has a little green hat and a glass of Guinness) Dolphins, red squirrel,

 

[Mike Ameling]

A WHITE squirrel - not an albino, but a true white colored squirrel. It's a genetic variation/mutation of the gray squirrel. Northfield Minnesota has an active population of them - several dozen. As I recall, there's only one other place that has a similar population of them - out in North Carolina I think. And they are all protected, of course.

Otherwise, an albino whitetail deer, and an albino skunk. The pink eyes give it away.

And that white buffalo up in western Minnesota that stirred up such a fuss with the Lakota Indian tribes a few years ago. They wanted the State government/governor to ... take ... it away from the owner and "give" it to their tribe because of the religious significance to them. (The owner refused to sell it to them, or anybody else.)

Sandhill Cranes flying over on their annual migration.

And a "windigo" from down in the Ohio River valley - altho she refuses to acknowlege that it was really her running the ridges with the wolves and howling at the moon that night!

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[galopede]

A Brazilian Azara Agouti, late one night, coming back from a folk session at the White Horse in Soudley, Forest of Dean.

It ran across the road in front of me and a friend in my car.

I only know it was an agouti as I read a report in the local rag a week or so later. We described it as a sort of pigdeer! Looked a bit porcine like but the legs were all wrong!

Made a change from all the big cats and wild boar...

Gareth