I happened upon a Gila Monster the other day.

[sublimelobc]

I love living in the desert! I happened across a gila monster the other day while hiking. Other animals I've seen in the last year include a california condor, a very young coyote pup , rattlesnakes and a huge red racer (related to the boa).

I've also seen bobcats, bighorn sheep....but still haven't happened upon a mountain lion.

I live about an hour and a half north of Las Vegas, just across the border in Utah.

Anybody else out there see any crazy wildlife near where you live?

[leonard]

i used to live very close to a national park.
used to see kangaroos and koalas up there all the time, heard kookaburras constantly too.
koalas may seem cute at first glance, but those bastards are vicious when they got the horn....

[contakt321]

I see a lot of rats, roaches and hobos.

[scott nathaniel]

I live in the Coachella Valley, Ca. I'm a short drive from Joshua Tree National Park. I've been here about four years, and after having come from the PC NW, it's quite a change. Roaches the size of a baby's foot. Black Widows everywhere. Roadrunners, coyotes, and once I saw a a lizard the size of an adult woman, then I realized it was actually a woman, just horridly sunbaked.

[ThrowAway]

Im pretty sure you dont want to see a mountain lion while your hiking....

I go out by the rivers here in florida and look for albino turtles and snakes,Indian tools stuff like that all the time. Ive seen rattlers, cotton mouths, black racers, bucks(theres a deer farm near by) all kinds of owls and predacious birds and gators. I volunteer at a alligator/croc rehab center so I come into contact with gators, crocs and caymans all the time. Sometime soon they will be getting some large cats so Ill get to play with those....I cant wait.

[liveISlife]

once I saw a a lizard the size of an adult woman, then I realized it was actually a woman, just horridly sunbaked.

<--- I just did this

[uku]

Dolphins are by far the coolest thing I see here in north county San Diego. I see them quite often, more in the winter months. They ride waves, its nuts! Turtles, rabbits, lizards, crazy spiders too... no sharks (yet)...

[aqua_tek]

I see a lot of rats, roaches and hobos.

I LOL'd

once I saw a a lizard the size of an adult woman, then I realized it was actually a woman, just horridly sunbaked.

I LOL'd again.


When I lived down in PR, I used to surf. Saw all kinds of critters.

Sea turtles were almost a daily sight. Got pretty used to them, though the first couple of times they scared the shit out of me. They'd be swimming under my board and I'd just see a grayish-brownish shade right under me. I would start praying for my life. Then they'd pop their cute little heads for a breath of air and I'd breathe a sigh of relief.

Saw schools (not sure if its the appropriate term) of dolphins every once in a while.

The occasional whale, popping up in the distance.

Had a scary moment with a baby shark once. The baby shark itself seemed harmless enough. Just poked its dorsal fin out and swam around me. But where baby shark swims, mama shark is probably lurking... or so we thought. It was a lonely day in the water. Only 2 or 3 of us. We paddled back to shore almost immediately just to be on the safe side.

Another scary moment was seeing a school of 3 or 4 barracudas "surfing" a wave right past me. Looked kind of cool too. They swam inside that wave quite gracefully. Didn't scare me enough to warrant paddling back to shore. But I did keep a close eye on the water for the following hour or two.

Then one of the coolest things... this one day I was out surfing with just one other dude. We were chatting it up while we waited for waves to come. Long lulls. Then out of nowhere this HUGE... and I mean HUUUUUGE ray (manta ray maybe?) just flies out of the water right in front of us. I swear that thing jumped like... 6 feet across or something. Very cool sight. We let out a long "WHOOOOOAAAAAAA" as it crossed the air. We were pretty amped about it... continued talking about it and reminiscing and whatnot, were so distracted that we missed the next set that came our way. That turned into another almost 10 minutes of waiting around for somehting to happen.


Sigh... I miss surfing.

[eisnein]

three bald eagles on 1 mountain!

[Lo-Fi Massahkah]

I saw one of these f****rs while snorkling in Egypt a few months back. I few meters below me. Scared at first, but when I realized he wasn't really coming after me - I continued to observe.

Apart from that - a couple of deer or angry dogs (with crap owners) while I'm out cycling or running.

.m

[hacktheplanet]

I see a lot of rats, roaches and hobos.

Heh, you too?
Here in Chicago, I also see the occasional rabbit.

[oblique strategies]

I love living in the desert!

Do you have these where you live?

[littlepig]

The last few years I keep seeing lots green parakeets flying round. At first I thought I was seeing things then I thought they were a good result of global warming but then I read they are displacing indigenous birds and wrecking trees and wooden buildings by sharpening their beaks.

[mikemc]

The regular stuff: squirrels, chipmunks now and then. Fair amount of deer. Haven't seen rabbits yet this year but will. Woodchucks. Geese and ducks.

See a lot of birds, the regular starlings, ravens and sparrows but also bluejays, cardinals and goldfinches. Woodpeckers, big ones, vultures and roadkill. Box turtles now and then.

Treefrogs, tons of them at the end of this soggier spring, and toads.

Snakes, black rat snakes, not dangerous.

Foxes, hear them bark/yipping at night-- I didn't know there were coyotes in Maryland but there are supposed to be, so maybe hearing those too.

[corygilbert]

I:ve seen 2 tanukis here in kyoto near my house this week.
they:re supposed to be really good luck and the japanese love to see them,
they are pretty cute and are known as tricksters and messengers of the gods.
oh and hi Mike ........... Japan is really even better than I thought it would be.
this is what a tanuki looks like if you:ve never heard about them

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... N%26um%3D1