Stuff you don't see everyday

[brewer12345]

A bobcat in front of my garage door

Way cool! I always wanted to see one in the wild but even with all the time I spend in the woods I have yet to see a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo.

 

[REWahoo]

Way cool! I always wanted to see one in the wild but even with all the time I spend in the woods I have yet to see a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo.

I once saw a bobcat in the parking garage at my old workplace. It was sauntering through, apparently looking for a good spot to park.

 

[Another Reader]

Way cool! I always wanted to see one in the wild but even with all the time I spend in the woods I have yet to see a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo.

It's the one you don't see you need to worry about.

On the edge of Silly Valley, we have coyotes, bobcats (seen sunning on lawns near the creek), and the occasional mountain lion strolling through the subdivision.

 

[MRG]

When we lived south of 50 highway in MO, they were pests. Too many, I'd never seen one before then. A photo that was only in my head was an adult sitting on top of a wooden fence post as I drove by about 5mph. He was only 15-20 feet away, posing for a pic. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera.

 

[brewer12345]

It's the one you don't see you need to worry about.

On the edge of Silly Valley, we have coyotes, bobcats (seen sunning on lawns near the creek), and the occasional mountain lion strolling through the subdivision.

Far more worried about the moose, frankly. Bobcats and coyotes are too small to worry about (and the latter run if they see me within a coupe hundred yards). Mountain lions are unlikely to attach a full sized adult (especially one that looks extra big in cold climate winter gear) and are totally feasible for an adult to fight off in the unlikely event that it does happen. Moose, OTOH... A thousand pounds of idiotic, horny bull or enraged, protective mama is nothing to fool with. Outside of two-legged predators (which are rare as well, especially when I am hunting), moose are easily the most dangerous animal in the woods locally.

 

[W2R]

Way cool! I always wanted to see one in the wild but even with all the time I spend in the woods I have yet to see a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo.

I never saw a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo. But does a possum count? Living here in the city, we were amazed when a possum ran out from under my parked SUV the other day.

The possum lives in the neighborhood, and even "played possum" when he was crossing the street and Frank's SUV approached. Not a very good mechanism for survival in that case, although Frank went around him instead of running over him. In his rear view mirror, he saw the possum get up and wander off.

We also have nutria, raccoons, huge ravens and egrets and more. I seldom notice them first, but F used to hunt so he spots animals quite easily.

 

[Meadbh]

One summer night at about 1 am I heard whooping and went to my balcony to investigate who was having a wild party. Sitting across from me on my neighbour's trellis was a large owl. I think it was probably a great grey owl. Anyhow, after we had spent several minutes staring and whooping at each other, the owl swooped down over our swimming pool towards the adjoining field, where it had spotted some prey.

Owls of Canada - Simply Wild Canada

 

[Ronstar]

Way cool! I always wanted to see one in the wild but even with all the time I spend in the woods I have yet to see a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo.

I haven't seen any in the woods either. But Az doesn't have much woods around Phoenix. My Az condo is in Scottsdale, but on the edge of town about 1000' from a large preserve. It's not uncommon to have bobcats, rattlesnakes, javelinas, and coyotes coming into the subdivisions.

In Illinois, we live on 5 acres 60 miles from Chicago, and get a lot of deer, squirrels,ducks, geese, raccoons, and some possum and even a few eagles and turkeys.

Most deer are small does, but occasionally I'll see this from my front door:

 

[Ronstar]

My truck.

That is awesome. Is that an elk? I went to Rocky Mountain National Park to take some wildlife photos, but most elk were in Estes Park like in your photo.

 

[calmloki]

Believe a neighbor who was renting abandoned their cat - several weeks ago a long haired pure white cat with one blue and one gold eye decided we were likely candidates for adoption. It thinks flinging itself at the glass of the french doors is a good plan, and I gotta say - it has resulted in serious weight gain for the cat.
Turkish Ankara angora odd-eye - otherwise known as Audi: http://imgur.com/a/L854F

 

[lemming]

This is not my neighborhood or even country but it should not go unnoticed
Australian fur seal weighing 200kg wanders down Tasmanian street, squashes car - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Most I have ever seen are deer and a few groundhogs.

 

[MRG]

That is awesome. Is that an elk? I went to Rocky Mountain National Park to take some wildlife photos, but most elk were in Estes Park like in your photo.

Yes, he's a bull his antlers are still new and covered in velvet. Before the rut he'll rub the velvet off as the antlers harden.

This was early July in Estes Park on the way to RMNP. We stayed at a resort there. I was coming out to pack the truck when he comes walking by. I was much more impressed then he.

This girl was a frequent visitor until November. Now they are scarce around here.

 

[Calico]

Speaking of turkeys, we have lots and lots of little creeks around the town where I live. And turkeys live near the creeks. Yesterday I saw about 30 - 40 turkeys walking down a street in a residential neighborhood. Not hurry, they were just walking slowly. Usually I see groups of 7 or less, so this was unusual.

That was some brave bunch of turkeys, walking around in broad daylight on Christmas day!

 

[Calico]

Believe a neighbor who was renting abandoned their cat - several weeks ago a long haired pure white cat with one blue and one gold eye decided we were likely candidates for adoption. It thinks flinging itself at the glass of the french doors is a good plan, and I gotta say - it has resulted in serious weight gain for the cat.
Turkish Ankara angora odd-eye - otherwise known as Audi: Audi - Album on Imgur

What a beauty! Certainly knew whose door to knock on.

Many all-white cats with two blue eyes are deaf. Some all-white cats with one blue eye can be hard of hearing in the ear on the blue-eyed side.

 

[unclemick]

Way cool! I always wanted to see one in the wild but even with all the time I spend in the woods I have yet to see a bobcat or mountain lion outside of a zoo.

The only Bobcat I saw came scrambling out of a dumpster outside the factory after a forklift unloaded a trash pile. Night shift in December and I happened to be walking from a parking lot.

heh heh heh - only a small glimpse and he disappeared into the darkness.
Outside of Denver, Co.

 

[calmloki]

What a beauty! Certainly knew whose door to knock on.

Many all-white cats with two blue eyes are deaf. Some all-white cats with one blue eye can be hard of hearing in the ear on the blue-eyed side.

If deaf on one side she compensates well - slight noise of door handle and she jumps from neighbor's roof to top of 5' fence to ground in a pretty fluid rush - hustles to the door and says, "why yes, I WILL have some pets and food"! Read that some of this breed are OK with swimming - haven't seen her in the pool, but she was just fine with getting a sink bath.

 

[38Chevy454]

Several of my neighbors have horses, so I see them fairly regularly. Also see coyotes infrequently in neighborhood.

Couple months ago at the grocery store my wife sees a couple horses tied up at a tree. Of course she has to go over to see them. Then the cowboy guy looks up and it is a friend of ours, Bruce. Packing open carry pistol in holster on his side, and the second horse loaded with several bags of grocery items in the saddlebags. He was just about to leave to go home. Said hi and wished him a good day. Minus the new store and cars in parking lot, the scene could have been 100 years ago with a guy going to the mercantile store.

 

[grasshopper]

A little story about wild and domestic animals. My 4 dogs were taking me for a walk one morning when they came across 2 bobcats. Well up a tree went the bobcats with the dogs just going nuts. I couldn't get the dogs to leave the 2 cats alone, until I gave them a command that is ingrained from the first day with our family. Leave the kitties alone it was as if they all had the same aha moment oh ya kitties . And off we went to finish our walk.

 

[EastWest Gal]

We live near a big creek. I was driving home from the grocery store and two great blue herons flew low over the road toward the creek. Last month a red fox crossed the road in front of us. The best was on July 4th a couple of years ago. We were having a barbecue by our pool, when a bald eagle flew directly over our yard, less than 50 feet off the ground. We don't have many bald eagles here.

 

[Winemaker]

There is a nesting pair of bald eagles near the coal preparation plant where I used to w@#k, near PA and WV border. I do not know where the fledglings put down roots.

 

[Christine]

My best story is one day I was enjoying my morning coffee in my RV - I had parked in a quietish street in Copenhagen - when a shadow brushed past the window behind me. I turned around and saw a large elephant walking past!

Couldn't have been more than an inch or two from my van! It continued down the street where it met a quiet fire engine and was startled and turned into a residential street and disappeared.

A few minutes later a couple of men hurried past looking for something and I opened the window and saw a great circus tent beeing erected nearby. I cooked my eggs & bacon and later when enjoying my second coffee the men came back with the elephant in tow.

 

[Meadbh]

I lived in Pittsburgh for a few years. One day I was walking along Fifth Avenue near Shadyside when I saw a monkey look left, look right, look left again, before calmly crossing the road. The evening news had a story about the monkey missing from the Zoo. His name was Alphie. He was on the loose for several months and made it to Ohio.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/c...Pittsburgh-Zoo-incidents/stories/201211060176

 

[Major Tom]

Visiting family in England a few years ago, and was standing in their front garden when we heard the sound of a steam engine, and turned round to see this -

 

[kcowan]

We have a big ficus tree in the hillside behind our place (they grow like Banyan trees dwon south) and here were two chachalacas looking for a place to nest. What a racket! They decided on another home!

Of course we also see various exotic birds flying for tree to tree in the river valley and iguanas sunning themselves. The parakeets are green and yellow and fly around like sparrows.

 

[MRG]

Our home for 10 years was a small A-frame built in a grove of trees on a secluded 20 acres. Because of it's location and a great number of widows we were frequently hit by birds. DW is an animal lover and a real soft heart. Early on she discovered most birds died if she did nothing, even then for some you couldn't help if they had broken bones or internal bleeding. Many were just in shock and would come back if you held them in your hand to warm them. It was amazing how many could be saved and you had the opportunity to handle many different birds. Hummingbirds were our favorites, we held hundreds of them.

It was 2002 Christmas Eve and it was an odd Christmas, didn't feel like Christmas. Then in the night there's a loud thump on the window and a crash on the porch. I look outside and see:

http://www.audubon.org/sites/defaul...97_152438_ChristianMoynihan.jpg?itok=wB-Bmfm8

A screech owl knocked out on the porch! DW says grab it! I finally get some leather gloves on and pick it up. Neck and wings are good and no bleeding, so in it comes. After a few it seems more lifelike but still not conscious, DW decided to grab it in her bare hands to get it warmer. That works, we now have a very awake and frightened screech owl in our house in DW's bare hands! It does what a birds just waking up does, and craps on DW! As she's trying to clean up the owl get loose and is flying around the house! Our dog is pretty amused by the owl, but of no help. I remember it sat on top of the refrigerator and stared at me with those brilliant yellow eyes. That's when I realize we have no camera. He eventually tires and I am able to get a towel on him. We took him out front and he roosts on my bare index finger. His talons wrapped gently around the finger. Amazing those things could have shread my finger to pieces, I could feel the sharpness, it was very gentle.

We stood out in the darkness for a while. It just sat there, fully conscious. I eventually dropped my hand a few inches and off it flew. We thought Christmas was a lot better after the visit.