IRL Wildlife Encounters
- Thread starter Markiz
- Start date
Seeing bottlenose dolphins are my favourite! I saw easily more than 50 of them on a whale watching tour last yearI've been sailing in Tenerife and we saw bottle nose dolphins, spotted dolphins and pilot whales
Fun fact: despite their names, pilot whales are actually dolphins, and not one has ever become a pilot due to anti-dolphin discrimination which is rampant in the air forceI've been sailing in Tenerife and we saw bottle nose dolphins, spotted dolphins and pilot whales
Last edited:
Black tufted marmoset possibly?
GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS
I SAW MY FIRST FOX TODAY. It was a cross fox and it crossed the road as well and he was pretty cross
I SAW MY FIRST FOX TODAY. It was a cross fox and it crossed the road as well and he was pretty cross
Awesome! I see foxes all the time (I saw 5 in one day earlier this year), but that's less of a boast and more a sign of how imperilled the local ecosystem is by their presence. I'd ship them all to you if I could!GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS
I SAW MY FIRST FOX TODAY. It was a cross fox and it crossed the road as well and he was pretty cross
In my own wildlife-watching news, I had a pretty awesome multiple-night trip to Innes National Park at the end of January. The main focus of this particular trip was reptiles - I had 4 big target species, the Peninsula brown snake, tiger snake, south coast gecko and Bight heath dragon, and unusually for a herping goal of mine I managed to find 3/4 of these! The only one I missed out on is the Peninsula brown snake, which funnily enough is supposedly the more common of the two large snakes in the park (and yet I saw 2 tiger snakes, which are pure black and missing their namesake stripes in this area). I might return in spring to have another go at finding the brown snake though.
Tiger snake, Bight heath dragon and south coast gecko
The highlight of the trip however was a chance encounter with a malleefowl on the last day, a bird I knew occurred in the park but is so uncommon and elusive that I had little expectations of finding one. Nonetheless, I was road cruising late in the day on the lookout for snakes when one miraculously appeared on the side of the road! It quickly made off back into the scrub but not before I got a few distant pictures. Easily the coolest animal I've found so far this year, and it also means I've now seen every species of Australian megapode in the wild.
Saw lots of other wildlife too of course (it was a bit lacking in the mammal department, but that's unsurprising when most of the area's native mammals are locally extinct*), which can be seen in the trip list below:
Mammals:
1. Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)
2. Tammar Wallaby (Notamacropus eugenii)
3. European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Birds:
1. Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
2. Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata)
3. Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
4. Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator)
5. Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus)
6. Painted Buttonquail (Turnix castanotus)
7. Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius)
8. Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus)
9. Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles)
10. Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)
11. Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)
12. Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus)
13. Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
14. Rock Dove (Columbia livia)
15. Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis)
16. Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
17. Brush Bronzewing (Phaps elegans)
18. Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
19. Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
20. Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)
21. Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus)
22. Purple-crowned Lorikeet (Glossopsitta porphyrocephala)
23. Rock Parrot (Neophema petrophila)
24. Purple-backed Fairywren (Malurus assimilis)
25. New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
26. Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris)
27. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis)
28. Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata)
29. Purple-gaped Honeyeater (Lichenostomus cratitius)
30. Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens)
31. Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus)
32. Rufous Fieldwren (Calamanthus campestris)
33. Spotted Scrubwren (Sericornis maculatus)
34. Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
35. White-browed Babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus)
36. Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen)
37. Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor)
38. Black-faced C*ckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) - really Frontier?
39. Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica)
40. Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
41. Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
42. Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
43. Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides)
44. Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)
45. Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
46. Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
47. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Reptiles:
1. Thick-tailed Barking Gecko (Underwoodisaurus milii)
2. South Coast Gecko (Diplodactylus calcicolus)
3. Southern Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus)
4. Peron’s Earless Skink (Hemiergis peronii)
5. Southern Four-toed Slider (Lerista dorsalis)
6. Common Dwarf Skink (Menetia greyii)
7. Shrubland Morethia Skink (Morethia obscura)
8. Shingleback (Tiliqua rugosa)
9. Bight Heath Dragon (Ctenophorus chapmani)
10. Painted Dragon (Ctenophorus pictus)
11. Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus)
1. Western Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)
2. Tammar Wallaby (Notamacropus eugenii)
3. European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)
Birds:
1. Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae)
2. Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata)
3. Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)
4. Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator)
5. Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus)
6. Painted Buttonquail (Turnix castanotus)
7. Bush Stone-curlew (Burhinus grallarius)
8. Sooty Oystercatcher (Haematopus fuliginosus)
9. Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles)
10. Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus)
11. Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)
12. Pacific Gull (Larus pacificus)
13. Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia)
14. Rock Dove (Columbia livia)
15. Spotted Dove (Spilopelia chinensis)
16. Common Bronzewing (Phaps chalcoptera)
17. Brush Bronzewing (Phaps elegans)
18. Crested Pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
19. Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides)
20. Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)
21. Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus)
22. Purple-crowned Lorikeet (Glossopsitta porphyrocephala)
23. Rock Parrot (Neophema petrophila)
24. Purple-backed Fairywren (Malurus assimilis)
25. New Holland Honeyeater (Phylidonyris novaehollandiae)
26. Brown-headed Honeyeater (Melithreptus brevirostris)
27. Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater (Acanthagenys rufogularis)
28. Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata)
29. Purple-gaped Honeyeater (Lichenostomus cratitius)
30. Singing Honeyeater (Gavicalis virescens)
31. Striated Pardalote (Pardalotus striatus)
32. Rufous Fieldwren (Calamanthus campestris)
33. Spotted Scrubwren (Sericornis maculatus)
34. Weebill (Smicrornis brevirostris)
35. White-browed Babbler (Pomatostomus superciliosus)
36. Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen)
37. Grey Currawong (Strepera versicolor)
38. Black-faced C*ckoo-shrike (Coracina novaehollandiae) - really Frontier?
39. Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica)
40. Willie Wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys)
41. Grey Fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)
42. Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca)
43. Australian Raven (Corvus coronoides)
44. Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena)
45. Silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
46. Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)
47. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
Reptiles:
1. Thick-tailed Barking Gecko (Underwoodisaurus milii)
2. South Coast Gecko (Diplodactylus calcicolus)
3. Southern Marbled Gecko (Christinus marmoratus)
4. Peron’s Earless Skink (Hemiergis peronii)
5. Southern Four-toed Slider (Lerista dorsalis)
6. Common Dwarf Skink (Menetia greyii)
7. Shrubland Morethia Skink (Morethia obscura)
8. Shingleback (Tiliqua rugosa)
9. Bight Heath Dragon (Ctenophorus chapmani)
10. Painted Dragon (Ctenophorus pictus)
11. Tiger Snake (Notechis scutatus)
Emu, western grey kangaroo, tammar wallabies (reintroduced population - the only wild tammars on mainland South Australia, where they were previously driven extinct by fox predation) and painted dragon
*However, there is a great rewilding project being undertaken in the area at the moment that will hopefully return many of these mammals to the area, as has already been done with the tammar wallaby (and more recently with the brush-tailed bettong).
I'd happily run a fox farm and rescue them
Today I saw a very confident hoopoe in the park which wasn’t at all bothered by people. My picture isn’t great because I still didn’t want to get too close and disturb it.
I couldn’t get a decent picture but a flock of flamingos flew over me at sunset yesterday. I’ve also seen huge numbers of cranes flying in Sweden and Estonia and they are magical.
When I lived in northern Sweden mother and calf elk (moose) blocked the pavement in a local residential area and all we could do was stand around and wait but it was incredible to see.
When I lived in Stockholm I’d see roe deer all the time and they’d often run across my path not far from the centre of town. I also saw a beaver in a very central part of the city after years of only seeing evidence of beaver activity in much more rural areas.
I couldn’t get a decent picture but a flock of flamingos flew over me at sunset yesterday. I’ve also seen huge numbers of cranes flying in Sweden and Estonia and they are magical.
When I lived in northern Sweden mother and calf elk (moose) blocked the pavement in a local residential area and all we could do was stand around and wait but it was incredible to see.
When I lived in Stockholm I’d see roe deer all the time and they’d often run across my path not far from the centre of town. I also saw a beaver in a very central part of the city after years of only seeing evidence of beaver activity in much more rural areas.
I've been sorting through some of my photographs and figured I would post some of my favourites here. All of them were taken either in my garden or within five minutes' walk from my house:
1. A female sparrowhawk. They don't come by that often but when they do, they often stay perched for a long time and show no real fear of you, provided you remain in the house.
2. A male Reeve's muntjac. Introduced to Britain in the early 1830s, they are now by far the most common deer species in our local area. We have had adult males and females in the garden and recently a female has also been bringing her well-grown offspring into the garden. In this case, there was a European robin following the deer around (you can actually see it on the ground to the left of the deer).
3. Birch sawfly larvae. The young of Nematus septentrionalis, an insect that is related to bees and wasps. They raise their bodies off the leaves as part of a distraction tactic to try and deter predators.
4. A female hedgehog. I know this one was a female because, the following evening, it came back to the bowl with two well-grown youngsters. We're pretty lucky to still have hedgehogs in our garden, as they have declined by up to 75%.
5. Barn swallows. A fairly common summer visitor, this photo shows two of a flock of about thirty that used the roof of the house as a resting post in mid-autumn. I imagine they were regrouping and preparing to migrate south for the winter.
6. A red fox cub. For the past couple of years, a female red fox has brought her cubs into our garden. In the first instance, she had four cubs while last year she only had this singleton, as far as I could determine.
7. A fieldfare. These birds are extremely rare as breeding birds in the UK and where I live they only appear during the winter. The crab apple tree this bird is standing in often attracts fieldfares in poor weather - the record for our garden was 50, during the winter of 2018.
8. A European badger. The only photograph I've ever managed of a wild badger. I was walking down the road to test out a new torch, only to find the badger on the path walking in my direction. I only managed this brief photo before it turned and walked back the way it came.
9. A common kingfisher. These tend to mostly be around in the summer (during the winter the rainfall muddies the river, so they move to the coast), but this one came in early spring to a little pond in a cattle field to catch fish stranded by falling floodwater.
10. A barred grass snake. Not the most common reptile in the area (slow worms definitely have them beat), but they are quite widespread where I live and I have even found them in the garden a few times. This one I saw swimming across the river just down the road from where I live.
1. A female sparrowhawk. They don't come by that often but when they do, they often stay perched for a long time and show no real fear of you, provided you remain in the house.
2. A male Reeve's muntjac. Introduced to Britain in the early 1830s, they are now by far the most common deer species in our local area. We have had adult males and females in the garden and recently a female has also been bringing her well-grown offspring into the garden. In this case, there was a European robin following the deer around (you can actually see it on the ground to the left of the deer).
3. Birch sawfly larvae. The young of Nematus septentrionalis, an insect that is related to bees and wasps. They raise their bodies off the leaves as part of a distraction tactic to try and deter predators.
4. A female hedgehog. I know this one was a female because, the following evening, it came back to the bowl with two well-grown youngsters. We're pretty lucky to still have hedgehogs in our garden, as they have declined by up to 75%.
5. Barn swallows. A fairly common summer visitor, this photo shows two of a flock of about thirty that used the roof of the house as a resting post in mid-autumn. I imagine they were regrouping and preparing to migrate south for the winter.
6. A red fox cub. For the past couple of years, a female red fox has brought her cubs into our garden. In the first instance, she had four cubs while last year she only had this singleton, as far as I could determine.
7. A fieldfare. These birds are extremely rare as breeding birds in the UK and where I live they only appear during the winter. The crab apple tree this bird is standing in often attracts fieldfares in poor weather - the record for our garden was 50, during the winter of 2018.
8. A European badger. The only photograph I've ever managed of a wild badger. I was walking down the road to test out a new torch, only to find the badger on the path walking in my direction. I only managed this brief photo before it turned and walked back the way it came.
9. A common kingfisher. These tend to mostly be around in the summer (during the winter the rainfall muddies the river, so they move to the coast), but this one came in early spring to a little pond in a cattle field to catch fish stranded by falling floodwater.
10. A barred grass snake. Not the most common reptile in the area (slow worms definitely have them beat), but they are quite widespread where I live and I have even found them in the garden a few times. This one I saw swimming across the river just down the road from where I live.
Hello from Galapagos!
View attachment 350280
The ingame turtles are super small compared to the real thing
View attachment 350280
The ingame turtles are super small compared to the real thing
Yoav, I think I'm officially jealous because you go from Antarctica to the Galapagos to wherever else you've been and see all these animals
And I thought the ones I saw at Busch gardens Tampa were massive, that's one impressive tortoise
I am a wildlife photographer so I have a ridiculous amount of wildlife encounters. I won't post them all because that would take forever. Here a couple from the last few months
Wallaby joey that was sitting in the long grass. This guy was just happily grazing and let me approach and sit down to take some eye level photos. Very calm and not bothered by people - NSW coastal area in December.
Azure kingfisher - there was a pair of these gorgeous beauties at the campground I was staying at. I couldn't get too close, so this is the closest photo I have. It was a joy to watch them dive for fish in the creek.
King parrots at queen Mary falls. The caravan park here feeds these guys and they are really not afraid of people. I had multiple parrots and crimson rosellas land on my head, the focus is a bit off in this pic but eh, I still like it. I ended up extended my stay here just for the birds
Black kite at bowenville reserve. This guy was hunting on the wing right over the campground
I have more I would like to post but when I try to add the photos the page says they are too big to upload.
What scares me the most is wild pigs. I am currently caretaking a 65k acre cattle property and they are out here. While I absolutely love the bio diversity, they scare me the most so I am always on alert. I haven't seen any yet but I have come across fresh tracks and scat. And old pig skulls.
We also have a massive variety of birds here and Im sad I cant post photos. Emus walk past the house regularly, and just last week I saw a dadda with 12 juveniles. They're doing really well out here, there is always fresh emu tracks. There is also dingos - I have found tracks and heard howls but I haven't spot them, and a small population of greater bilbies - I am working with local bilby conservation groups with them. I haven't seen the bilbies but I have found tracks and located several burrows.
Wallaby joey that was sitting in the long grass. This guy was just happily grazing and let me approach and sit down to take some eye level photos. Very calm and not bothered by people - NSW coastal area in December.
Azure kingfisher - there was a pair of these gorgeous beauties at the campground I was staying at. I couldn't get too close, so this is the closest photo I have. It was a joy to watch them dive for fish in the creek.
King parrots at queen Mary falls. The caravan park here feeds these guys and they are really not afraid of people. I had multiple parrots and crimson rosellas land on my head, the focus is a bit off in this pic but eh, I still like it. I ended up extended my stay here just for the birds
Black kite at bowenville reserve. This guy was hunting on the wing right over the campground
I have more I would like to post but when I try to add the photos the page says they are too big to upload.
What scares me the most is wild pigs. I am currently caretaking a 65k acre cattle property and they are out here. While I absolutely love the bio diversity, they scare me the most so I am always on alert. I haven't seen any yet but I have come across fresh tracks and scat. And old pig skulls.
We also have a massive variety of birds here and Im sad I cant post photos. Emus walk past the house regularly, and just last week I saw a dadda with 12 juveniles. They're doing really well out here, there is always fresh emu tracks. There is also dingos - I have found tracks and heard howls but I haven't spot them, and a small population of greater bilbies - I am working with local bilby conservation groups with them. I haven't seen the bilbies but I have found tracks and located several burrows.
Last edited:
Juvenile rainbow bee eater, by one of the dams at my property. I had a flock hunting some flying insects, they all seemed on the younger side. There is a flush of bird life due to an unusual amount of rainfall over the last year.
Greater egret at the property, a very calm one. There was peace between us as I sat and observed for half an hour or so
Male mulga parrot, there is a flock of about 20 that I found
There is always Galahs sharing opinions
This big old new Holland Frog scared the absolute crapola out of me when it jumped into my path on a evening hike
Of course, there are wild budgies out here too! Here is one grazing on seed just outside of the house yard
Not the greatest photos but a beautiful adult male splendid wren in breeding plumage. Found a small family group of these guys in the front house paddock.
There are thousands of zebra finches flitting about
And wild cockatiels too!
Greater egret at the property, a very calm one. There was peace between us as I sat and observed for half an hour or so
Male mulga parrot, there is a flock of about 20 that I found
There is always Galahs sharing opinions
This big old new Holland Frog scared the absolute crapola out of me when it jumped into my path on a evening hike
Of course, there are wild budgies out here too! Here is one grazing on seed just outside of the house yard
Not the greatest photos but a beautiful adult male splendid wren in breeding plumage. Found a small family group of these guys in the front house paddock.
There are thousands of zebra finches flitting about
And wild cockatiels too!
