The horses were all standing out in the summer heat sweating and looking towards the run-in shelter where they would have preferred to be standing to get out of the sun.  But they would not go near it.  They were afraid.  Closer inspection of the run in shed revealed that it was full of wild turkeys. 

Mako shark: appeared beside me while diving (snorkelling, outer Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand) … maintained eye contact for maybe 20 seconds as she kept pace beside me, JUST out of reach, maybe four feet away. Then she vanished again (they can do phenomenal speeds)… the most beautiful, breath-taking creature I've ever seen.

As a child, I remember going to the Vancouver Aquarium and seeing the killer whales and I always dreamed of seeing them in the wild. Each time I would take a sailing trip as a child (something we did with some regularity since my Dad was a sailor) I would imagine looking out across the ocean and seeing a pod swimming in the distance but, alas, it never happened. I heard stories of people seeing them from ferry boats and always kept my eyes pealed whenever I travelled across. Finally, when I was in my mid-twenties, it happened. I was taking a ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, when the captain made a special announcement - a pod of killer whales were swimming off the port side of the vessel. Not believing my ears, I rushed over there - and there they were! I had tears in my eyes watching these incredible creatures swimming a couple of hundred meters away from the boat. When one of them breached, it took my breath away!

A couple of years later, I had another encounter with killer whales. It was the summer time and we had taken all of the kids from work to a beach north of town. We had about 50 kids with us and all were playing in the sand. I was on my way back from the bathroom when I encountered some tourists. One of them said, "I think I see something" and she pointed out across the waves. I looked in the direction that she was pointing and saw a pod of approximately 30 killer whales! I looked down the beach and realized that nobody else had seen them, so I ran down the beach flailing my arms and yelling as loudly as I could. Suddenly all of the kids stood there silently transfixed by the whales. It was an incredible moment!

I've been lucky enough to see killer whales a couple of times since then, and every time it takes my breath away!

I've been really blessed with many wonderful wildlife sightings

Riding horseback along a section of bush near Fort Sask. in the twilight and realizing a bobcat was paralleling us just in the woods. It was like 2 fields from home-and all was well. It just faded away.

Camping on the Athabasca river on Mother's Day and at breakfast watching a young eagle fish. It (on the 3rd try ) caught a large fish.

Riding horseback at Sundre and having a moose on other side of the barb wire fence. It was winter through deep snow.

Wrangling at Emerald Lake and seeing prints that meant a bear had wandered through the corral during the night-not disturbing the horses and mules-but over to check our the feed trough and get a drink of water,

and probably more but these 3 come to mind.

I saw a small youngish bear on the bunny-hill at whistler. I was staying in the hotel across the village with some friends, watching from  the balcony and we had a clear view (we had binoculars  edit, actually I think it was just a camera with a zoom lense, for close up too). It was end of season/ spring, so there was no snow on the bottom half of the hill, and there were tourist taking pictures, standing part way up the hill, the bear was about 50 metres away, uphill from them, checking them out,  and it started running playfully down the hill towards the people-- and they scattered like mad!  The bear didn't follow them into the village though...it darted off into the woods (and luckily mamma didn'tt come looking). That was probably the most exciting. I've seen plenty of deer, a moutain lion  sorry again it was a mountain goat not a mountain lion...never saw one of those...on a childhood family road trip--near Banff. I've seen seals, and orca in the wild.

Taking a water sample from a pond and looking at it under a microscope.  Also, flipping over rocks and finding the bug larvae.  So I'm a bit of a geek :)  There's something fun about searching for creatures and finding them.

Seeing bears, hawks, elk and deer is fun too, so I'm not just stuck on the little things.

I see squirrels running up the tree outside my window all the time...they can make quite a racket early in the morning...but they're cute chasing each other around. Also, we quite often see skunks in this neighbourhood. Fortunately, I haven't been skunked yet.

Oh, another interesting thing...there was, and I don't know if they're still there...but a family of raccoons living in the bushes in front of an apartment block not far from here. I passed them one night and the neighbour told me they live there.

We get quite a bit of wildlife here (Vancouver) for an urban neighbourhood.

Mmm, let's see.

Kangaroos, koalas, emus, peacocks, grizzly bears, whales, penguins, sharks, stingrays, redback spiders, brown snakes - and I just love seahorses!

Growing up in the bush I'm not particularly an animal lover - I got used to just letting them do their species thing, whilst I did my human thing.............

great thread.  will write more later, but commenting so that I can read updates!

I see a lot of wildlife at home and on holidays, but the most thrilling was in my own garden.  Granddolly and I were out early in the morning inspecting the growing things when there was crashing in the trees beside us.  An owl kind of fell down through the branches and with giant whooshes finally got his bearing to fly....he was only a couple feet from us and we were both astonished into speechlessness.

Another favorite in the yard was sitting with my coffee at the pond...again very early in my nightgown and bare feet...and a 5 little skunks walked under my bench!  They're sweet as kittens but probably old enough to spray...again, speechless.

Lucky Mike. I love sharks and Makos are among the most beautiful of the lot but, alas, my swimming prowess is about on par with my other athletic abilities - namely, nonexistent, so an encounter like this isn't going to happen for me.

I have a couple favorite tales of unexpected wildlife sightings:

One April Fools Day, my son had a buddy sleeping over. The friend and I were early riser, not so much Mrs. M and Little M. As we had breakfast, we sighted a wild turkey in the yard. Now, they are native to the area and there had been sightings in West London that spring so it wasn't totally unexpected, but I still grabbed the camera and took a picture so we wouldn't be accused of an April Fools' joke when I told the late risers.

Many, many years ago, my wife and I spent a week touring Banff and Jasper. We most B&B'd it and one morning, we arose to find a huge elk with a full rack on antlers lounging in the backyard. Now, I realize that elk in Banff are hardly unusual, but with me as an urbanized Easterner and my wife still relatively new to Canada, it was quite a thing to awaken to a big beast like that in the yard.

Of course, my family have had many wildlife encounters up in cottage country over the years. Some, though not I, have even seen bears in the wild.

We have run across some interesting wildlife in our travels (monkeys in both South America and Asia, for instance) but somehow these more domestic ones seem to be the ones that stick with me, maybe because my urban Canadian upbringing tends to make encounters with wildlife here more surprising or something.

Mendalla

Hi somegalfromcan,

To date is was the pod of humpback whales we observed while on a tourboat off the coast of St. Anthony, NL last August.  Our boat drifted into the middle of them and we had several adults swim by and give us a curious look.  Meanwhile a calf was breaching, doing some flipper waving and some tail slapping.

Prior to that it would have been when a humpback calf surfaced and took a breath within two metres of where I sat in a fishing dory cruising into harbour.  I turned quickly and was eye-ball to eye-ball with the calf.  Then, curiosity satisfied it, disappeared into the deeps.

Seen any moose?  One morning I counted 98.  Some solitary Bulls some cows with calf.  And that was just on the 50km drive between St. Anthony, NL and the airport.  Moose are thicker than flies on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland.  Unless it is hunting season then they become almost invisible.

We've had moose in our yard playing with the swing set.  Great big, beautiful creatures Moose are.

I imagine we'll see more than a few when we head back to the Rock for vacation this summer.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Favourite wildlife sighting lately was last fall, I had rented a cabin near Bancroft.

My son and I were just sitting by the river when a big barred owl came out of the bush. And I heard that whooshing sound AbPenny was mentioning. She didn't appear very concerned about our presence and I was surprised to see an owl late morning (I thought they were nocturnal). She was hunting and stayed around for a good while. My son took some pics.

I always feel in the presence of something marvelous when I see wildlife. It's always moving and special . I've also seen elk -- didn't know what it was at first -- and a family of crazy cute little otters playing together in an inlet in BC. 

Gecko loves whales -- maybe she'll share some stories. I've never seen one.

In Toronto we used to have a fox that lived in our ravine.  I have a photo of him sitting on my back steps.

One spring day a nest of garter snakes erupted from our rock garden .  Hundreds of them.  It was very cool and amazingly they were out of sight with in an hour

One early morning at our cottage I had a large tom Turkey strutting around by my bird feeder.  Huge, had his tail all up and proud like a peacock.  Pushing the little birds around.  Then he saw my reflection and scooted away as fast as he could.

A young moose swimming down the lake in Algonquin early in the morning.

A grizzly bear in Banff.

but my favourite little visitors are the chickadees at my feeder

My favorite wildlife sightings were driving up the hill in Jasper and the cougar just nipping into the woods. I only saw the back half of it, it's mightly haunches and massive, long tail. Ad the other one, a lynx. It was watching by the side of the road, with it's tufted pointy ears and it's aboninable snow cat paws, all gorgeous in it's black and white, and it too darted off into the forest. I thought wow, that such beautiful, big things live wild in those prickly woods, thriving. It knocks yer socks off just to see them.

I agree -  although it becomes a little less spiritual and moving when it's a creature you see on a regular basis (eg. crows, squirrels and pigeons for me).

This morning a friend showed me a video that one of her friends had posted on Facebook. He is volunteering in Tanzania right now and they were in their vehicles at the job site when a lion walked up to them. I sat there watching it in awe, wondering how I would react to such a situation.

oh, lots of 'em

i still love seeing ants swarming aboot their nest -- it's like they're little bits of dirt that move

there was this time we were driving out to Buntzen Lake, which if any of you have watched the X-Files episode "Quagmire" you have seen it, when we saw a crowd of people by a public dock on Indian Arm, which is part of the local ocean.  We stopped and took a look and just under the surface was this HOOGE jellyfish just pulsing and floating there.  It's bell must've been some 8 feet across.

there was another time I met a grizzley when I was working atop a mountain for a summer.  A coworker and me were walking back from the worksite, a very long walk across snowfields and steep terrain.  We noticed one of our coworkers, a little dot on a ridge, and we could hear him so we waved back.  We got back to camp and got him on the radio -- he had seen a grizzley that was following us.  So what do we do?  One of us grabs a rifle for protection and looks for it!  We walk down, joking aboot only having to run faster than the slowest person, how fast bears can run, what to do in case of an attack when, at the same time, I hear something HUGE moving in the snow to my right I turn and see big bear butt heading downhill.  There were no trees or other blockages to sight.  Thank goodness for...luck?

another time i was heading back from the store and I saw this crow (i call them 'cousins' or 'demon birds' for fun) who was on this busy street and i was cringing every time a car drove by...it got hit eventually (i think it was trying to kill itself) so I dragged it off the road and it's friend in the tree was SCREAMING at me and i tried to tell it that i was trying to help his friend...luckily i wasn't divebombed or hit by a car but i felt really bad for the friend...

another time i was walking with my dad and these guys were driving recklessly and they ran over a pigeon who started doing the wing flapping tango...the guys stopped and got out and looked very guilty and everyone was standing around and watching, someone got out a phone and phoned the local bird rescue, but they were too far away...so i searched in a garbage bin, found a bag, emptied it, wrapped the bird in the bag and mercy killed it.

when i was in wikiwiki i really loved chasing after cuttlefish...of course i never could catch them

i still would love to see some live fireflies and spend some time scuba diving in a kelp forest.  one time i went scuba diving by Whidby Island I got to kneel on the ocean floor among some wooden pilings and be surrounded by countless diaphanous floating sea creatures, pass my hand through their movements...total peaceful experience

Around town . . . foxes, wolves, a variety of birds, waterfowl, and insects.  Many have seen bears in town, but I never have.

On the highway . . . moose, dear, foxes, bobcats,

At the cabin . . . brown bears (when they frequent the cabins they are very brave - one came up on our deck and looked in at me through the window - scared the crap out of me - hollored at husband, he came and started banging pots but it took awhile for the bear to go away), bobcats (one summer one used to come and sit in the tall grass at the neighbours down by the lake - fishing I guess), deer, rabbits, ground hogs, beavers, squirrels, chipmunks, pelicans, blue herons, geese, loons, variety of birds, etc.  Some in our area have seen a cougar several summers in a row, but I have never seen it.  We have had many bear sightings at the cabin over the years.  I no longer feed the birds there as the first thing the conservation officers ask you if you report a troublesome bear is "do you have birdfeeders" - if yes "get rid of them".

Two memorable "nature" occasions were:

1.  one summer we had frogs eggs (thousands), which turned into tadpoles, which grew arms and feet, which started coming on shore with tiny little tails, and eventually became regular frogs.  It was so interesting.  Unfortunately the neighbours little grand-daughters came out one day and thought it was cool to feed them to the ducks - that really bothered me.

2.  several summers have had the opportunity to watch dragonflies  evolve from their hard shells to flying above once their wings dry off.  It was amazing to watch them as they crawled up on the grass, come out of their shells, dry their wings as they unfolded and then watch thousands of them flying above.

One of my fond memories though not marvellous from a wildlife being unusual is from the experience.

Five Oaks has window wells which are deep & dry.  Little toads have a habit of falling into them as they hop along.

Now, picture family camp at Five Oaks.  Kids arrive from all different southern ontario cities.  some are new, some are returning.

My memory is when the little ones, typically the 6-8 year olds begin their "save the toads" excursions and the new ones join in.  They come back so excited sharing how they saved the life of these little toads....and in so doing, get a sense of community, independence and also that they can make a difference.

I love that Pinga! It sounds similar to my "save the spider/insect" exploits.

A highlight this winter was a close approach to a snowy owl perched on a hydro pole. The owl watched me intently, and I got some great pics before it flew.

A few years ago I was in Juneau, Alaska.  I rented a kayak and had spent several hours paddling along Douglas Island enjoying a beautiful sunny day and awesome mountain scenery.  Returning to the kayak shop, I saw a commotion on the beach in a small cove and approached.  A bald eagle had hauled a large salmon onto the beach and was devouring it.  I approached to within 15 feet when the eagle started flapping its wings and screeing at me.  I respectfully backed off until the eagle settled down and continued with its meal.  What an incredible bird!

Most of my other special encounters have been with whales and the most memorable was an orca encounter off Battle Harbour, Labrador 3 years ago.  Someone came to the dining room to tell us there were orcas about, so friend Mike and 2 other friends and I quickly grabbed camera gear, extra clothing, life jackets and climbed into Mike's 20 ft. fishing boat.  About 4 miles south we came upon several orcas.  As we watched 3 different groups came together, some breaching, others spyhopping,  before forming a super pod next to our boat.  I counted at least 14 - large males, females, juveniles and a couple of calves.  They broke off and appeared to be fishing while some whales played around our small boat, followed in the boat wake and one female came close alongside and arched her back, then slapped her tail on the water in what appeared to be an attempt to splash Mike at the console.  She succeeded in getting him fairly wet.  Unfortunately night was approaching so taking pictures became a challenge but we did manage some nice pics, including a beautiful sunset.

We had had enough previous encounters with orcas to know they were just being playful since they are large dolphins, but felt a bit of apprehension along with our exhilaration, especially since some of the big males are 25 ft. long and outweigh us by a few ton.

I can clearly recall the events of that incredible evening.

Any encounter with wildlife is good.  I enjoy the birds at my feeders - cardinals, chickadees, etc., and the red-bellied woodpecker that visited over a period of several weeks this winter. 

Today there were lovely yellow butterfiles perched on some dandelions.

I went for a walk with a friend today and we saw both Painted Lady and Swallowtail butterflies. There seemed to be a lot of them. I don't remember having seen the swallowtail before. 

Everyone has such amazing stories! I'd love to see some pictures if anyone's able to post them?

Orcas by Night and Day, Battle Harbour, Labrador

That's me - blue jacket, red life jacket, Tilley hat, looking completely gobsmacked.  This guy was very playful - sprayed us with his breath, and pushed our boat sideways.  All whales, but especially orcas and humpbacks, are the love of my life.  We named this rambunctious young male the F-male because it looks as though he has the letter "F" in his saddle patch.

why it's important to ask first before taking pictures; i didn't know that crows could be that powerful

here's a bit of wildlife at the stables where my mom has her horse apparently Audrey dominated as soon as she moved in, chasing away the other dogs (except my mom's, who loves cats) and cats but she's a sweetie

this ferocious beast was rescued from an owner who left her tied up ALL THE TIME. when my mom first got her, her fur was grey and she was afraid of everything. but she is so awesome, never licks without asking and never jumps up. she's quite blind and seems to be getting senior moments and/or is going deaf, but she's an awesome friend. she's a Dutch shepherd

this is one of my fav encounters, just walking through a neighbourhood and seeing some kind of Thrush (I know their call, it sounds very much like a bird laugh to me)

now this type of wildlife we all know; this was taken before the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots. it was my dad who picked up on some negative vibe so we left before the riots actually happened

all videos are licensed Inannawhimsey under a CC BY license, which means that you can create your own works with my videos, you just have to attribute me :3

Geck, just curious, when and why did this passion for whales begin?

Gecko - those photos are phenominal!

Once when i was 12 and visiting the Magdaline Islands ( a small group of Islands in the middle of the gulf of St Lawrence )my father flew and I flew out to the Ice flows in small plane to look at thousands of seals and we landed amongst several hundred seals who had just given birth to hundreds of baby seals. It was awesome. When i was around 31 i sailed to the magdaline Islands from Prince Edward Island in a small boat. For an hour or so we were joined in our trip by a pod of whales.

Just last week I watch a beaver having fun in the Ottawa River, 5 minutes from my home and not 15 minutes from Parliment Hill.

My sons were able to pat a young beluga from a dory in a harbour near St. Anthony's, Newfoundland.

The moose, fox, bear, owl, deer.... sightings are frequent here right in the yard, but never too frequent as to lose the breathtaking factor.

Pretty awesome to be able to pat a beluga.

There are presently 2 belugas hanging out along the Newfoundland coast.  The first beluga of 2012 spent 8 hours around New World Island a week ago before swimming away.  It was a small 8-9 foot animal.

Bethany, I'm afraid the cats I saw darted off too quickly for me to even think of getting the camera out, but we saw lots of elk, and a few moose during our three years there, and got pics of them. Those pics can be seen in my Jasper slideshow:

But here's somebody else's lynx pic, jus' 'cuz:

The one I saw was sitting more upright, beside a tree, and was more alert, and it's markings were more distinct.

And here's a cougar sighting similar to mine, except mine was leaping off into the trees in a hurry, rather than walking casualy behind some plants.

I went whale watching off Vancouver Island on my trip out west- the Orcas were beautiful.   But they didn't compare to the humpbacks we saw in the Bay of Fundy.  Our guide was careful to keep the boat the regulated number of meters away from the pod - but no one told the whales.  As we stood on deck gazing at the pod, the boat rocked and the young whale surfaced within ten feet of us, then casually swam on the surface over to the half-dozen we had been watching.  Breathtaking.  Unbelievable how huge they are. 

Growing up in the country, I've encountered deer, bear and moose (see the Room thread).  Also smaller animals.  Loved the time I was a teenager bicycling the six miles of forest between my village and the next when I came up behind a fox trotting along paying no attention to the swish of the bike tires on the road.  Beautiful red coat and oh so graceful.

There was a nest of garter snakes under a rock by the path I took to elementary school.  They would be out sunning themselves when I returned towards home in the afternoons.  I wasn't afraid of them, and I learned to expect them.  I find snakes can trigger quite a startle reflex if I come on them unexpectedly.  Unfortunately they seem to have become quite rare, even in rural areas.

Our temporary office space was down the road from the city dump.  (It was actually a nice spot though it doesn't sound it). 

Critters, such as foxes were seen,  but the best was the night I was working quite late.  It was between 2:30 & 3:00am when I decided to shut my pc down and head home 

When I went to open the door, what was on the lawn beside the sidewalk, grazing for grubs?  a skunk!   

Now, having been close to a skunk once before I knew that I did not want to be in that situation again

I went back to my desk, and killed an hour until such time as s/he decided it was time to move on.

*** yup, i was held hostage by a skunk

this little 'local' story of a gull who lost a battle with some tako...

I'm going to have to look a little more closely at the water next time I'm on that breakwater! I've see plenty of seagulls there, a gazillion fish and the occasional seal in the area, but never an octopus - and certainly never an octopus eating a seagull for lunch!

Gecko, It's nice to see you enjoying your passion!

Raccoons are pretty neat. Their miniature human hands. I've seena fox on the roadside once, in northern BC. It came up to the car so that we almost stopped, and it looked really cute and fuzzy, big drippy eyes. Then as it became apparant we weren't stopping, it's whole demeanour changed to that of an angry bandit, who would have done us severe harm could he have, for denying him a morsel. His coat became coarce and straggely, some of it standing on end, his head dropped to the position of a predator, his eyes narrowed. It was really shocking. The wiley fox!

I've also seen seals in the sea, their big black eyes and whiskers like a cat's. They look at you with such sentimentality. No wonder we have the selkie legends.

Went for a long drive in rural NB yesterday - saw: rabbit, two deer, partridge, hawk, turkey vulture as well as the usual crows, finches, sparrows, jays.  Kept our eyes pealed for moose when in swampy areas or near the rivers but didn't see one.

It was Christmas Day of 1996, and we got a phone call to say that there was a pair of whales in the harbour at Triton, Newfoundland - maybe a half hour drive away. Who could pass up such a Christmas gift? So we drove up, and there they were. I'm not sure what species of whales they were, but they were beautiful, almost spiritual animals. When they surfaced you could hear them breathe; you could see their eyes look around - with curiosity? Maybe even some degree of understanding? Beautiful. 

I took my daughter to Florida last April.  She was interested in Disney but her best memories of the trip came from a place called Gatorland, which is an alligator and crocodile preserve (and educational tourist attraction of sorts.)  I have never seen or been so close to so many different kinds of exotic birds, many of whom were nesting near the breeding ponds.  We also took a kayak trip through the mangroves and our guide took us into a small cove where manatee whales are known to hang out.  We sat quietly in our kayaks and waited for them to surface to check us out.  They were about six feet away.  We could only see the tops of their heads and their eyes but it was very cool to watch them watching us, brief as it was, before they dipped again ever so quietly below the surface.

The "Christmas Whales of Newfoundland" are mostly humpbacks.

Beautiful, sentient beings.

thanks for all these images & also knowledge.....

much appreciated

Deer.

Mink.

Great blue herons.

Merganser ducks.

Chipmunks, cardinals, loons.

Nothing out of the ordinary, but all so beautiful!

We have a gang of wild turkeys roaming our hood. They look delicious.

has anyone seen/heard/etc any cryptids?

Loch Ness Monster, anyone?

Now, IW, why exactly are you trying to derail this thread? Trying to be funny, perhaps?

Actually the most amazing thing I've ever seen in nature is a hummingbird.  Maybe not so rare or exotic at all, but have you ever really WATCHED one?

Amazing, aren't they?

Cryptids fit into this thread