Any wildlife watchers?

[Gone Fishing]

It's very nice to "see" wildlife, but even more interesting to truly observe it over an longer period of time.  I was off on Monday and took a break from the project I was working on to watch two hawks circle overhead as they were harassed by crows.  It was also neat to see the smaller birds dive for cover when the hawks passed over.  A lot of times I don't feel like I have time to really sit and enjoy the wildlife.  I'm looking forward to just spending more time sitting and watching.  Never really have in the past, but also might considering taking some notes. One couldn't ask for a more mustachian activity!   

[Retired To Win]

I hike almost every day.  I encounter wildlife a fair amount of the time; it's one of the rewards of the hiking.  I love "freezing in place" and watching the critters.  Even the little land turtles, toads and snakes that often hang out right on the trail.  Sometimes even the spiders that string their webs right across the trail. (And how in hell do they manage that??)

[brooklynguy]

My childhood dream was to become an ethologist.  Instead of pursuing that dream, I compromised on my short-term personal happiness and satisfaction by becoming a corporate lawyer instead.  I look forward to the next stage of my life, when I will reclaim it from wage slavery to pursue my true passions, which include wildlife watching.

[regulator]

I watch wildlife all year round, but from now through the end of February I spend a lot more time doing so: hunting season.  Might sound a bit funny, but if you are hunting you are paying keen attention to all the animals and plants around you, closely watching weather conditions and what resources are available to the critters, and ultimately you are participating intimately  in the life cycles of your prey.

[RetiredAt63]

Turkey vultures are interesting.  I was lying on my lawn one summer day, being very still, and looked up into the sky.  Two turkey vultures were circling, coming closer.  When I moved, they left.  I think they were hoping for an easy lunch.

[zephyr911]

Not in any super-serious way, but I do keep an eye out. One of the weirdest things about our old house was the dearth of wildlife, despite backing up to a huge wooded lot. It was a real downer. Now - even though we're closer to town - we see squirrels and chipmunks all the time in our yard, and rabbits on our walks. I hear coyotes regularly but still haven't seen one. I get excited whenever I see a falcon - pretty sure one lives nearby, and it's flown right past me on the street. Every now and then, I'll spot a bald eagle.

I'd have to go pretty far from home to see anything else, other than the obvious deer. My last big US road trip took me through some cool national parks with elk, prairie dogs, and other exotic fuzzy things. It was pretty cool.

Turkey vultures are interesting.  I was lying on my lawn one summer day, being very still, and looked up into the sky.  Two turkey vultures were circling, coming closer.  When I moved, they left.  I think they were hoping for an easy lunch.

That's pretty hilarious. I once hiked over to a spot where several were circling above. Never found anything - maybe a deer was just napping and I flushed it?

[Jon_Snow]

I cannot possibly explain the joy and wonder provided by nature over the years. Post-FIRE, things have been cranked up a considerable notch. I've seen things in the past year that I would have missed out on had I been working...though some things (male orca's "member") I think I would have been okay NOT seeing.;)

Also saw a seal give birth, with the bald eagles circling above waiting to devour the afterbirth. The seal mums frantic attempts to get her pup into the water and away from the perceived threats of the eagles was a surprisingly emotional thing to see.

There have been so many things over the years...and it's amazing to know the there is so much more to come.

[tallen]

We have chipmunks that come to our patio door and tease our cats knowing they can't get to them. It's hilarious to watch.

[zephyr911]

Also saw a seal give birth, with the bald eagles circling above waiting to devour the afterbirth. The seal mums frantic attempts to get her pup into the water and away from the perceived threats of the eagles was a surprisingly emotional thing to see.

Into the waiting jaws of the orcas?

We have chipmunks that come to our patio door and tease our cats knowing they can't get to them. It's hilarious to watch.

I let my dogs out the front door to chase a squirrel the other day and *bam* right as the squirrel hit the tree and they thundered past, a chipmunk came flying out from behind it. Around the yard it went, and after circling a couple of times it dove under a utility box. They also play in the backyard and hide in the woodpile, but I've never seen them tease the dogs - we have doggy doors.

[Digital Dogma]

I find myself in remote areas as part of my job (environmental inspection) and I will often quietly stand and watch for 10 or 15 minutes to get a sense of how the trees, wildlife, and water quality has changed over time. Ive had many encounters over the years with local critters. Ive watched a family of minks only feet away from me, stumbled on a family of racoons with 3 babys, retrieved baby turtles from tight spots they fell into, rousted a wood duck into defending his territory, spooked the fattest woodchuck on earth down the smallest hole in the fence, and watched the carp spawning at low tide.
My favorite encounter was at the rivers edge during one of the hottest days of the year. I was sweaty, it was hot, and when I approached the river something russled in the bushes so I crouched down and waited. It took about 2 minutes for a small newly born fawn to hobble out of the bush, it took a look at me and started approaching. As it came within 2 or 3 feet I had the weirdest sense that this baby deer was going to use me like a salt lick given how sweat was pouring off me, but it just stood there looking right at me. Then it turned around and started eating some grass, which was a relief, I could just picture explaining to upper management how a fawn jumped me in the woods and bit me after a quick taste. I stooped there for another 15 minutes before slowly getting up and leaving while the fawn was eating. Ive come across baby deer in fields before, but Ive never had one approach me like that.

My all time favorite wildlife sightings have been mountain lions, but you only catch a quick glimpse before they are gone. Ive had some good huge black bear sightings, and dog sized fox sightings as well, but fleeting.

[lizzzi]

With a woodsy park across the road and a large, quiet back yard, the proximity to wildlife has been a joy. Some highlights: a white-tailed deer doe with three healthy, spotted fawns crossing my path, two big turkey vultures circling right overhead and then landing in a tree across the road, a barred owl flying right across my face (seemed like it anyway...he was close), and then just sitting in a nearby tree watching me watch him.  Another deer family: a buck with antlers, a couple does, a couple of fawns. A deer family in my front yard (a common sight), but with the two fawns jumping and charging at each other, pretending to fight, pretending to run away, leaping and twisting in the air...so cute. An immature red-shouldered hawk sitting on a wire at the end of my drive, resting and watching me for a while. A feisty chipmunk charging at a cottontail rabbit, chittering at it and making it leap straight up in the air, turn somehow, and run away. I guess the rabbit was too close to the chipmunk's nest.

[Khaetra]

Its one of my favorite things to do, along with birding.  I am fortunate enough to live close to many wildlife refuges and parks where there is always something to see.

[FrugalFan]

I am a biologist studying birds, behavior mostly, and have gotten to work in some amazing places and see amazing wildlife over the years (Canada, Australia, Mexico, US, Costa Rica). We've had to cut back on field work quite a bit since having two kids in a short space of time, but we're starting to do more fieldwork with them. I wish I could do more of the fieldwork and less of the other stuff, but I feel really fortunate.

[A mom]

Garrison Keillor read this poem the other day. I copied it from his website: http://writersalmanac.org/page/4/

It captures the joy of wildlife watching for me.

Looking at a Lizard

by Barry Spacks

My only purpose this moment
is looking at a lizard.
Does he know he’s not alone?

He breathes with tiny push-ups,
his skin all hairline caverns
soaking up the sun.

I doubt, alive, I’m liable to get
closer to timelessness than this,
looking at a little lizard breathing.

“Looking at a Lizard” by Barry Spacks from Shaping Water. © Gunpowder Press, 2015. Reprinted with permission. 

[wenchsenior]

My husband is a professional biologist, and I have a graduate degree in it, though I work mostly peripherally to the field now. Wildlife/plants/outdoor stuff are pretty much our favorite things in life. As with many biologists, we never get into the field enough, but have been SO fortunate to have all the opportunities we've had to see amazing species in person, birds most especially. Work in Arizona, California, Caribbean, Minnesota, Texas (and, in my husband's case...Manitoba). Grew up in the woods of Wisconsin, obsessed with widlife. Wildlife-focused trips to Hawaii, Costa Rica, Australia, Florida, and many states throughout the American West. Husband has also visited and wildlife watched in Japan, and is about to leave for Taiwan for more of the same.

Despite all our great experiences, I feel frustrated at not having the freedom/flexibility to get out and see more.

Honestly, I think many of my encounters with wildlife and nature trump most of my human interactions for sheer joy, thrill, and awe.

ETA: this thread gives me a warm fuzzy feeling...

[Debts_of_Despair]

Birding is a pretty awesome low cost/no cost hobby.  The only thing you need is a field guide and binoculars and you can do it pretty much anywhere.  Seeing a rare bird for the first time can be extremely rewarding and obviously doesn't cost anything.  On the other hand, some people spend tens of thousands of dollars to go to the ends of the earth to see REALLY rare birds. It's whatever you want it to be.

[Debts_of_Despair]

Birding is a pretty awesome low cost/no cost hobby.  The only thing you need is a field guide and binoculars and you can do it pretty much anywhere.  Seeing a rare bird for the first time can be extremely rewarding and obviously doesn't cost anything.  On the other hand, some people spend tens of thousands of dollars to go to the ends of the earth to see REALLY rare birds. It's whatever you want it to be.

I've seen some pretty insanely expensive looking equipment while out at some of our local birding hotspots..... huge cameras/lenses, full camouflage gear, telescopes, etc... Like with most things in life, I try to keep it simple. Just me and my ordinary little binoculars :) Much easier to carry around AND very affordable (plus, they were actually a gift about 10 years ago, lol!)

Oh yeah, definitely.  I somehow haven't been able to convince myself to buy the $3k Swarovski binos yet. ;)

[Rezdent]

I come from, and still live, in the country.
I see much wildlife (and farm life).

I have a few coworkers who are pure city - one is from Harlem.  We constantly amaze each other when we are out and about together - me pointing out the sounds of a bullfrog (and a bit of poison ivy)  that she doesn't notice, and she mentioning the (illegal) transaction happening at the bus stop that I overlook.

We've concluded that we need each other just because we have different perspectives.

It really gives me room to think, she would be as lost in my world as I am in hers.

[Monocle Money Mouth]

I love observing nature. I like to hand feed chickadee too. It's fun when you can interact with wildlife on their terms.

[Lian]

I love being outside and seeing wildlife. I live in close proximity to national forests and other public lands – lots of opportunities to see wildlife, but don’t have the time and energy to be out in it as much as I’d like.  That should change when I FIRE.

I used to do occasional field work in fairly remote areas, sometimes with biologist co-workers.  They were very good at seeing things that I would miss on my own. I’ve seen a wolf (was very thrilling), moose, lots of deer. 

Most wildlife I’ve seen has been close to urban areas, where the wildlife is used to people. These areas are where I’ve seen elk and bear, and signs of mountain lion (although I have yet to see one). I live near the center of the city, and I’ve seen plenty of fox near my home and coyote while cycling to work. There seems to be more urban wildlife around than when I was a child.

[Retired To Win]

We have chipmunks that come to our patio door and tease our cats knowing they can't get to them. It's hilarious to watch.

We've got a family of chipmunks living in a burrow whose entrance is right next to our kitchen door.  I can stand at a window inside the house and watch them just as if I were doing so from a naturalist's blind.  I also can do the same thing with birds, since a lot of our shrubs and foliage grow up against the house and the windows.

Great and interesting fun.

[Thegoblinchief]

One of the joys of replacing our front lawn with gardens has been the huge uptick in bird activity.

We've also noticed that the rabbit population around here is WAY down. I think it's a combination of outdoor cats and an increasing density of large raptors that are always cool to see deep into a city.

[wenchsenior]

I used to do occasional field work in fairly remote areas, sometimes with biologist co-workers.  They were very good at seeing things that I would miss on my own.

LOL, this is SO ME! I am oblivious to people and their doings, but I can spot interesting plants and wildlife from speeding cars, far distances, and in very cryptic situations. My husband does it more and is even better at it. He regularly does things like spotting the nest of a northern (what was I thinking?...northern shrikes not in same area as mesquites!) loggerhead shrike (about the size of a blue jay nest) deep in a leafed mesquite, while driving down a road at 40 mph. He does stuff like that ALL THE TIME.

The spot I'm most proud of happened in the Daintree Rainforest in northern Australia. We had spent a couple of days hiking around, and were driving out of the park, at about30 mph through thick, winding forest. I glanced in the rear-view side mirror and spotted just the head of a Cassowary!!!! emerging from the forest about 20 meters behind us. I do not know how I did it...even I am amazed at my own 'search-image' abilities sometimes.  That spot got all of us in the car one of the greatest "we saw this in the wild" moments ever! :pats self on back:

[Jon_Snow]

The past few years have seen the return of humpbacks to the waters around our island. We have been used to orcas, minkes, and the occasional grey whale. But humpbacks are on a completely different scale of size and it truly jolts the eye to seem them up close.

It's wonderful to realize that despite the intimate knowledge I have of the islands of the southwest B.C. coast I can still be wonderstruck.