[-]

Honest_Road17@reddit

We have Elephant Seals. I wouldn't say they are normal here, but they are normally here.

[-]

markpemble@reddit

Every time I smell a few elephant seals, I am not excited. I have only seen them in the wild a few times, but every time I do, I think, 'ok that is enough, time for me to move on'.

[-]

Honest_Road17@reddit

Imagine a whole beach covered with elephant seals the size of a small suv.

[-]

questtruck@reddit

There are free roaming peacocks in my city and the adjacent ones as well.

[-]

LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit

Where did they come from? Are they an issue?

[-]

questtruck@reddit

They are escaped/released ornamental birds from early estates. Some came from zoos too, but mostly from early 20th century estates.

They are loud sometimes and walk in the road but overall not a huge bother. They are beautiful birds though so I like them.

And it’s in/around Pasadena in SoCal

[-]

surelyshirls@reddit

I read your first comment and immediately guessed around LA Arboretum

[-]

I was at work one day in Georgia when I looked outside and saw a peacock strutting in the parking lot. Shocked the heck out of me. We couldn't figure out were in came from. We contacted animal control. They contacted a local person who had peacocks. She said it wasn't hers. I never believed that.

[-]

MelodiousMelly@reddit

They have been known to cause damage to cars on occasion. During breeding season if a male catches sight of his reflection in a car's side panels, he might attack thinking it's a rival. Other birds do this as well, but peacocks are so large that they can leave dents and scratches!

[-]

2DEUCE2@reddit

Oh yeah! They’re all over a campground in Ventura and the males frequently stop at my truck pecking at my chrome bumper on my truck! Loud, annoying but pretty birds.

[-]

sfdsquid@reddit

There are a bunch in part of Houston too. They were from some restaurant that thought it would be cool to have peacocks. Now they have bred and there are a bunch of them.

[-]

beaudujour@reddit

There's a few around Austin as well. And parakeet flocks.

[-]

WarrenMulaney@reddit

They can be loud AF.

[-]

shelwood46@reddit

I was housesitting for some friends and they left me a note to say their neighbors had peacocks and I shrugged it off, until that night and it sounded like small children screaming for help. Just the peacocks, I checked.

[-]

Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit

eeee-YAWWW Fellow Californian. I spent a lot of time around Arcadia when I was growing up. They didn’t stay in the arboretum

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

Crazy how there’s so many of them where u guys live. Also put on a California flair!

[-]

Imaginary_Ladder_917@reddit

I have no idea how to put on a flair. And I’ve moved to Illinois so I’d need the whole arrow thing

[-]

silkywhitemarble@reddit

We stayed in Arcadia, by the Arboretum, one time and saw one just walking across the street....chill as can be!

[-]

frieswelldone@reddit

In the Palos Verdes area too. They're beautiful but damn are they loud.

[-]

DeathandHemingway@reddit

There are peacocks down in Palos Verdes/San Pedro as well.

[-]

questtruck@reddit

Wonder if they migrated. I’ve never seen them there

[-]

DeathandHemingway@reddit

Ssme reason as the Pasadena ones, early 20th century estate owner Frank Vanderlip Sr was gifted them.

[-]

gorobotkillkill@reddit

I'm not OP, but we have them running wild in part of Portland. I think I head that somebody who kept them as pets dumped them at a local park and it just kind of went from there.

[-]

LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit

I was just in Portugal and did indeed hear their calls quite a bit in cities (and saw them in a lot of parks).

[-]

AtTheRealFuture@reddit

That’s a dream. Peacocks are so rad

[-]

horatio_corn_blower@reddit

We have them in New Jersey too. It’s a completely ridiculous animal to see in the wild in New Jersey of all places. Awesome though, they make the best sounds.

[-]

alltoovisceral@reddit

I remember seeing one as a kid and being surprised. It was pretty cool to see. I haven't seen a wild one in over 30 years though. Where do you see them?

[-]

horatio_corn_blower@reddit

Easiest non-zoo place to see them is Grounds for Sculpture near Trenton. It’s an awesome outdoor art museum even without peacocks. I’m not sure they can really be considered wild, I think they care for them in some way, but cool nonetheless.

As far as actual wild peacocks go, I used to see them all the time up near my office in Mahwah, near Ramapo.

[-]

Unusual-Material9443@reddit

there are free roaming wild chickens in my little town. i bet there is over 50 in all but they are in their own little groups. right now the ones that hang out near my place have 18 babies, but they wont all make it

[-]

Frickin_Bats@reddit

Tell me I didn’t just run into someone from my fairly small California hometown on a random Reddit thread. If so, howdy neighbor - small world!

[-]

fist_my_dry_asshole@reddit

We have turkeys in ours and I love seeing them!

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

Many of them in California. Also put on a California flair!

[-]

questtruck@reddit

I am not really on here. I’m a lostredditor just came across this one post.

[-]

ferret_80@reddit

West coasters always seem to love the lighting bugs

[-]

surelyshirls@reddit

I saw one randomly the other day at Knott’s Berry Farm and was shocked. I had never seen one! Didn’t even know we had them here??

[-]

Tinywife23@reddit

We do love the lighting bug🤩 I remember seeing them for the first time and its was so excited!

[-]

ShesGotaChicken2Ride@reddit

Went to visit family in Oklahoma and absolutely loved the fireflies

[-]

speed_of_chill@reddit

West coaster who frequently travels to St. Louis with my wife to visit her family, can confirm. Those little bugs are cool af!

[-]

frieswelldone@reddit

CA native here and can confirm. I still remember the first time I saw them in NY when I was 13.

[-]

whatiswrongwithme675@reddit

I had no idea fireflies were an east coast thing. Midwest has them too, at least as far as Missouri.

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

Missouri, Illinois, Indiana for sure.

[-]

concernedfern@reddit

Don’t leave out Wisconsin

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

Yes, but I have lived in MO, IL and IN. I've only been to WI twice on short visits so I didn't want to speak for them.

[-]

concernedfern@reddit

Did not mean it to sound aggressive lol more like wait us too! :)

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

I absolutely didn't take it as you being aggressive. I have been getting a lot of tags about other states, and I chose yours to say that I can only speak for the states where I have resided. I apologize if I said anything that sounded harsh.

[-]

4MuddyPaws@reddit

And Ohio. We grew up chasing them. There were so many more then. In Pa we have them, but there aren't nearly as many.

[-]

ashy320@reddit

I read lightning bugs (fireflies) are a sign of a healthy ecosystem. Would make sense why we’re seeing less of them than we did as kids 30+ years ago.

[-]

Kayura05@reddit

Michigan too.

[-]

MemeInBlack@reddit

That's all pretty far east, to be fair. Don't think there are fireflies west of the Rockies.

[-]

AuntFlash@reddit

Google it… there are! They just don’t glow in a similar manner as the eastern fireflies.

[-]

jessipowers@reddit

Yep, my downriver yard is full of them. Every time I start to feel self conscious about looking trashy with my leafy yard in the fall, or my untidy spring yard before Mother’s Day I remind myself that it’s all for the fireflies and pollinators and my neighbors will be happy in the summertime when our yards are all lighting up.

[-]

Kayura05@reddit

That’s a nice way to look at it.

[-]

jessipowers@reddit

Thanks, it’s for survival, lol.

[-]

WCowgirl@reddit

Wisconsin too.

[-]

EonJaw@reddit

First time I ever saw them was in Oklahoma in my 30s.

[-]

Last-Radish-9684@reddit

There were tons when I chased them as a child in Oklahoma in the 50s. It was shocking to me when we moved, and I learned northern Arzona didn't have any ('63). I was 10. But Oklahoma isn't as wet as it was 70+ years ago (mosquito abatement contributes), so my grandkids think I exaggerate my childhood experiences.

[-]

avalonfaith@reddit

Yall are making me take elementary geography again. I swear I've been in these areas but it turns out, besides east coast my Midwest travels were not in these states or by them...relatively.

[-]

Silver_Breakfast7096@reddit

Wisconsin and Minnesota

[-]

MetroBS@reddit

The dividing line is somewhere in Kansas

[-]

PrairieFireFun@reddit

Have them in Kansas

[-]

Turbulent_Table3917@reddit

Maine, too. We live in a rural area and our backyard lights up with them in the summer, especially after a good rain. They’re magical.

[-]

avalonfaith@reddit

Ok. My mother moved to Maine not a few years ago. She has not mentioned anything about firebugs.

[-]

snmnky9490@reddit

It's not a specifically east coast thing, so much as that the western half of the country is super dry in the summer. Missouri is still on the wet summer side

[-]

Honestly_ALie@reddit

We have them in GA

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

We have them in Central Texas also

[-]

h3rs3lf_atl@reddit

Atlanta checking in - fireflies are always a treat to visitors!

[-]

Working_Wasabi5189@reddit

Yeah we have some fireflies, when my friends come up from the east coast they are astonished by them and then I just laugh like “you think those are cool?”

[-]

geri73@reddit

Yes, I've missed them since I moved to the city.

[-]

ElefanteAmor@reddit

My friends and I looking like bug murderers with the guts squished all over us

[-]

GlitterPapillon@reddit

Arkansas has them as well.

[-]

primalpalate@reddit

I just watched a documentary that said they were only located on the east coast and it blew my mind! I just thought they were as common/widespread as like bees or something because I’ve only ever lived on the east coast. “West coast, best coast” my ass lol they don’t even have lightning bugs…

[-]

Ruth-Stewart@reddit

We USED to have them in Colorado when I was a kid… 😢

[-]

Auntie_Venom@reddit

I have a lot in my yard in Kansas, in fairness it’s a KC burb so we’re only a few miles from MO.

[-]

CountBacula322079@reddit

There are a few species in the west but they're restricted to isolated wetlands. One of my dear friends and colleagues started a citizen science project for tracking fireflies in the west: https://nhmu.utah.edu/citizen-science/fireflies

[-]

WanderFish01@reddit

We have them in Texas too.

[-]

Individual-Photo-665@reddit

Me either.. the more you know 🌈 🌟

[-]

Mysterious-Ruby@reddit

I grew up in Illinois and we had them. I live in North Carolina and have seen a couple over the years but nothing like we had in Illinois.

[-]

elsongs@reddit

More in the South. I saw some in a park just after sunset while visiting Atlanta and got really excited.

[-]

wolfysworld@reddit

We have them on our place in NM but only in the heat of late summer.

[-]

Enough_Equivalent379@reddit

Every once on a while here in DFW. We live very near to Lake Ray Hubbard if that makes a difference. Grew up in Wisconsin. Very typical up there.

Pir last house was on a creek lot. Over the 32 years we lived there, raccoons, possum, armadillos by the ton! But we also had a pack of coyotes that ran the creek, and bobcats. One bobcat had a regular schedule caught on my game camera. He'd come by around 5 pm daily and 'mark' the corner of my retaining wall on the creekside of my fence.

[-]

dasHeftinn@reddit

Just started seeing them out around 2 weeks ago in Arkansas. Very common for as long as I can remember.

[-]

ScarletDarkstar@reddit

Southern Texas was the first place I saw them.

[-]

Kindly_Decision182@reddit

I saw my first fireflies in Kansas when I was about 28. You bet your ass i ran around and caught a few to put in a jar. I had an absolute blast.

[-]

mirth4@reddit

They're in "the east" as in the more humid eastern side of the country (not limited to the east coast)

[-]

MangaMaven@reddit

Oklahoma too.

[-]

frieswelldone@reddit

That's definitely one thing the West Coast lacks.

[-]

SWEDDYG@reddit

Kansas also 😁

[-]

jdewith@reddit

Grew up with them in Illinois and DE. Then I moved to CA and didn’t realize I missed them until I saw ONE in FL. Now I’m in NC and we get them every summer, but not nearly as many anymore 😞.

[-]

Quisqeyano@reddit

I’m from Wyoming but moved to Arkansas a little over 5 years ago. Lightning bugs never get old. My first year in AR, we had an unusually cold winter, which killed a lot of spiders. That meant more ticks than usual in the summer, but also an insane number of fireflies.

[-]

CheeseFries92@reddit

TIL there aren't lightning bugs on the west coast

[-]

AuntFlash@reddit

Fun fact: There are actually lightning bugs on the west coast! They just don't glow like the ones in central and eastern US.

[-]

CheeseFries92@reddit

What???? Down another rabbit hole I go 😅

[-]

CountBacula322079@reddit

There is a citizen science project for tracking their distribution! (And there are ones in the west that glow) https://nhmu.utah.edu/citizen-science/fireflies

[-]

AuntFlash@reddit

Okay that is super cool. We did a firefly tracking citizen science project during Covid (in Texas where that is easy). I should look into doing another one this year.

[-]

CheeseFries92@reddit

Oooh cool! Thanks for sharing!!!

[-]

CountBacula322079@reddit

Many of them do glow, actually! But you're right that many species don't glow. That's true in the east too

[-]

AuntFlash@reddit

Yes! I should have said “in the same way” instead of “like”. Some don’t glow at all but some do! It blew my West Coast raised mind learning that.

[-]

Downtown_Confusion46@reddit

We do have cool glow worms!

[-]

Downtown_Confusion46@reddit

https://medium.com/the-great-outdoors-1/glowworms-6618956b2f2e

[-]

CheeseFries92@reddit

Those are legit cool!

[-]

sassycat13@reddit

They don’t have them far down south either. Some kids from southern North Carolina were excited about them.

[-]

JessicaGriffin@reddit

A while back, we were watching something set and filmed on the East Coast, and there were these weird glowing lights all over when the characters were outside at night. I finally asked what they were and my husband said they were fireflies. I was pretty shocked because I’d heard of them but I didn’t really know what they looked like, and (this is embarrassing) I didn’t know they glowed. I had heard the name but it never occurred to me that they were called that because they glow.

I’m still kind of suspicious about what they actually look like because they can’t really glow like they do in movies. Right? They also looked bigger than I imagined. I thought they were the size of flies, based on the name.

Anyway, I’m a college-educated 50-year-old woman and if I ever saw a glowing bug flying around in real life I would probably fall over in shock. I don’t travel a lot, as you may have guessed from this naive post. I’m not a dumb person, I swear. I just don’t get out much!

[-]

IShouldHaveKnocked@reddit

Mississippi has a special species called “snappy syncs,” that synchronize their flashes when they see each other. Certain areas host tours after dusk where you can walk along a path and be fully surrounded by synchronized little flashes on the floor and in the trees. It’s breath taking.

[-]

EtherealProblem@reddit

They really do glow. Almost like those twinkling fairy lights. So maybe "light up" is better way to put it. It's been a long, long time since I've caught fireflies, but I recall them being roughly ladybug sized.

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

The ones in central Texas are four times the size of a ladybug

[-]

EtherealProblem@reddit

That sounds incredible.

[-]

Auntie_Venom@reddit

As post-graduate educated 49 year old, I can confirm, they do in-fact glow and twinkle like they do in the movies. My flower gardens are magical in late June & July.

[-]

daisychainsnlafs@reddit

There's a 5 acre alfalfa field directly behind my house and on summer evenings there are thousands of twinkling lights. It's beautiful. They're easy to catch in your hand too so the grandkids love catching and keeping in a jar for a little bit.

[-]

Seguefare@reddit

I'm 57, and I caught one last year just to hold it for a few seconds before letting it fly off again. I caught one the year before and put it in a jar to show a visitor their light organs. We let him go after about an hour.

[-]

avalonfaith@reddit

Yeeeeessss! West coaster and I don't think I've ever seen one! I want to so so so so so bad. I'm also 44, this is on the bucket list.

[-]

OneAccurate9559@reddit

That was the only thing I liked about Pennsylvania!

[-]

Cowboywizard12@reddit

I'm in Western Massachusetts and last summer I actually full on cried one night.

Went out to the backyard at around 9 at night and my backyard was full of them, I hadn't seen lightning bugs like that for at least 15 years my ago at my Aunts farm in New Hampshire they slowly stopped showing up with their dwindling numbers, the populations had been dropping for so long, and to see what must have been hundreds of them in the field behind my place gave me much needed hope last year.

I was bawling

[-]

Master-Performance70@reddit

I read somewhere that we had the perfect conditions for them last summer. I took my boys camping in July and there were thousands of them. It lit up the woods. I might have cried too.

[-]

LieutenantStar2@reddit

I feel the same. When I was little you could see them along the roads in upstate NY. Millions of them.

[-]

missxmeow@reddit

We had them all over in Missouri when I was a kid. After moving away I thought I didn’t see any because I was living in cities. Was so sad to hear their numbers were declining, but so happy to hear they are coming back!

[-]

RemonterLeTemps@reddit

We had tons of them in Chicago when I was a kid (1960s/70s), but then they slowly began disappearing. A lot of the surrounding suburbs used DDT to combat mosquitos back then, and I've always wondered if it killed off the lightning bugs too

[-]

4MuddyPaws@reddit

It's the price we pay for everyone wanting perfect lawns.

[-]

Practical-Emu-3303@reddit

Yeah, I know the feeling. Similarly... I'd get a thousand hugs From ten thousand lightning bugs As they tried to teach me how to dance A foxtrot above my head A sock hop beneath my bed A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

[-]

Cowboywizard12@reddit

You'd like to make yourself believe

[-]

Seguefare@reddit

Leave the fallen leaves on the ground as mulch. That's where lightning bugs lay their eggs. In some species, the females can't fly. High grasses that don't get mowed will also work.

[-]

LocoinSoCo@reddit

Go to rural southwest Missouri. You can see swarms flash in unison sometimes. Very cool.

[-]

mooshinformation@reddit

They made a comeback in NYC last summer too. One night my street was full of them and I realized I hadn't seen any in like a decade.

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

Totally understand that sentiment. I haven't seen them for decades. And now I live in a place where they probably don't live. But even when I lived and places where they used to be common, they were just gone. It seems like they've all disappeared! If I were suddenly somewhere in the midwest or out east and saw a field full of them, I would probably cry too! They remind me so much of my childhood and Ohio and my husband tells me that where he grew up in Minnesota they used to be plentiful as well. By the time I moved to Minnesota, they had dwindled to virtually nothing.

[-]

gemInTheMundane@reddit

Leave your leaves. It helps the lightning bug population.

[-]

duke_awapuhi@reddit

Yes we are completely mesmerized by them when we finally see them. It’s like this unbelievable legend you hear about as a kid and then one day you finally get to see them

[-]

cats-n-cafe@reddit

We definitely don’t have those in Ca

[-]

spookybatshoes@reddit

Where I live, they spray for mosquitoes, so we don't have any. I've never seen one.

[-]

Astro_Birch_317@reddit

Alaskan here. Can confirm.

[-]

snotrocket2space@reddit

We do, first time I saw lighting bugs I was with my 3 y/o niece and she excitedly exclaimed “TINKERBELL!”

[-]

Matt-of-Burbank@reddit

Yes, I’ve only seen them a couple of times. It’s quite unfair that we don’t have them on the West Coast. 😔

[-]

i-touched-morrissey@reddit

I think you need a lot of leaf litter for firefly larvae. Places that have few trees probably don't have many, maybe? I have a yard full of trees and plants with lots of leaf litter (KS) and I have a lot of fireflies.

[-]

Puppy-bandit-2019@reddit

Lived with them my whole life and still think they're magic! Love a summer night and fireflies!

[-]

4MuddyPaws@reddit

I met a woman in Hawaii, and have no idea how the conversation got around to lightning bugs/fireflies and she didn't believe me they really existed. She did find proof on Google.

[-]

wwhsd@reddit

I grew up with lightning bugs and then moved to California. I didn’t even notice we didn’t have then here until I went back to the midwest to visit family and saw some.

[-]

Aggravating-Kick-967@reddit

We actually have the same genus of beetle but they don’t light up. And they say has no sense of humor.

[-]

vengefulgrapes@reddit

So you're saying that...they would not believe their eyes, if ten million fireflies....

[-]

EloquentBacon@reddit

I just learned right now that not all parts of the US have them. I’ve always lived in New Jersey and had no idea that not all states had them.

[-]

ferret_80@reddit

Technically the family, lampyridae, is extant across the Continental US, but the ones out west often don't fly or flash their butts in the same way the ones us East Coasters are used to.

[-]

AuntFlash@reddit

Fun fact: There are actually lightning bugs in west coast states. They just don't light up like the ones in the central and eastern US.

[-]

ferret_80@reddit

They also have flightless glow worms that are actually in the same family as the lightning bug. But yeah I do mean the common ones on the east coast that fly and flash their bootys

[-]

Pomeranian18@reddit

I had no idea this was not universal.

[-]

52IMean54Bicycles@reddit

After almost thirty years in Montana and Colorado, there are very few things I genuinely miss about living in the Midwest. Lightning bugs are really high up the list.

[-]

East2west87@reddit

Yes! I didn’t know growing up in Maine that these weren’t common in all of the US. So much nostalgia of summer nights when I see them 😌

[-]

wildeberry1@reddit

I miss them. We used to catch them in jars when I was a kid in central New York. I don’t think my adult kids have ever seen any.

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

I love lightning bugs too

[-]

Mychihuahuaisevil@reddit

As a Washington native, I absolutely did not think that fireflies were real until I moved to the Midwest.

[-]

Dry-Chicken-1062@reddit

One of my California friends says that seeing fireflies is on her bucket list.

[-]

LieutenantStar2@reddit

Sadly there are fewer now.

[-]

trustme1maDR@reddit

That's a good one. My niece grew up in the Mid-Atlantic and had never seen them. She got really excited.

[-]

Bluecat72@reddit

If her area had a lot of pesticide use, especially the kind that kills grubs in lawns, I can understand her not having seen them. But I’ve seen them all my life in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs.

[-]

Reddit_Inuarashi@reddit

Out of curiosity, where in the Mid-Atlantic doesn’t have fireflies? I’m from Long Island and they’re all over the place here in the summer.

[-]

EaglesFanGirl@reddit

maybe one of the cities?

[-]

EaglesFanGirl@reddit

We have fireflies here. I live in PA and suburban PA too boot.

[-]

mirth4@reddit

My parents in Western North Carolina get blue ghost fireflies. Even in this area, you have to know specific coves or hollers that have them, but in those areas they're plentiful for about two weeks a year (a much shorter season). They are smaller, more white to blue tinted, they fly closer to the ground, and they stay lit for long periods instead of frequent blinking, which gives them an ethereal quality. They're pretty magical.

[-]

jk_pens@reddit

Can confirm—I grew up in VA but settled in CA as an adult. Our kids have been back east a couple summers and were totally amazed by the lightning bugs

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

Put a California flair on man

[-]

Sirenista_D@reddit

California girl here and, yeah, they seem like real life magic to me. Def on my bucket list

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

Put a California flair on.

[-]

butterflydraw@reddit

Yes, please. I never saw one in person.

[-]

silkywhitemarble@reddit

I went to Walt Disney World and hoped to see lightning bugs, but didn't see any!

[-]

IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit

I remember the first time I saw one that wasn’t in Pirates of the Caribbean.

[-]

SheepPup@reddit

Can confirm! I saw them for the first time when I traveled to kansas and it was magical! It was a horribly hot and humid summer but I loved the lightning bugs

[-]

missgiddy@reddit

Yes! I first saw one at the age of 30. I’m older now and still get super excited when I see them.

[-]

alicelestial@reddit

i've only ever got to see them once and they were magical.

also as a fun fact, i guess this isn't a "normal" animal here, but there are basically wild zebra in part of california. they were let out from the hearst castle private zoo during the 30s or 40s when hearst lost his fortune, and they just ran off and continue to live in the area.

you can see them hanging out with horses a lot. no one owns them. they're just around.

the mojave desert also has wild horses descended from escaped domestic horses. not as cool as the zebras though.

[-]

MorgessaMonstrum@reddit

Yeah, they’re friggin’ magical!

[-]

etchedchampion@reddit

One time my friends and I were driving on a back road in seacoast NH and we passed a clearing that had thousands if not a million of them just chilling in it. I've never seen anything like it before or since. We stopped and looked at it and took some pictures but it was before smart phones so the pictures didn't do it justice.

[-]

Entropy907@reddit

Moose. Fuckers are everywhere. My front yard. Middle of the road. Costco parking lot. The dog park.

[-]

Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit

Same here. Common in small towns to see them wandering around and looking in your windows. Every year we have to warn tourists that they are not friendly.

[-]

Entropy907@reddit

Or smart. I’ll take a bear over a moose. At least they are intelligent enough to do a cost/benefit analysis. Moose just … react.

[-]

myfacepwnsurs@reddit

I live in an area with both moose and black bear, I would 100% take the bear over the moose.

Especially black bears are just giant raccoons 90% of the time. They want food and to be left alone.

[-]

Educational-Piece-18@reddit

I've always considered black bear to be the racoon of the bear family, which is exactly why I'd prefer a brown bear or moose to a black bear. Black bears are way to comfortable in human presence for my liking. I'd rather something that would prefer respectful distance, like brown bears.

[-]

myfacepwnsurs@reddit

I can see what you are saying, having a bear be food conditioned can be terrifying. Just from my experience, all of the black bears that I have come across bolt when they see people. They square up when their cubs are around, but wild animal doesn’t? As a matter of fact in the country, there has only been 67 black bear fatalities since the mid-70s. The last one in my state was the 1700s.

[-]

Educational-Piece-18@reddit

I was working in an Alaskan village, a boat ride away from the residents. We had black bears and brown bears. The brown bears just wanted to be safely away from us, the black bears would make/hold eye contact and just keep walking towards until there would be a group of us. They were never aggressive, but their comfort was unnerving.

[-]

Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit

Growing up if the huckleberry season wasn't great they would come into town and raid our trash.

There was a rural dump you'd always see black bears scamper out of the dumpster and run into the woods when you came by to dump your trash, then when you were far enough away they were running back to see if you brought anything good.

[-]

Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit

I remember talking to a lady who had just recently moved here and I was telling her some of my funny bear encounters and she was not amused, she was terrified lol

[-]

Entropy907@reddit

Hahaha. A few summers ago I was fishing salmon, and a brown bear kept creeping closer hoping to steal some fish. I finally threw a rock toward him him (just to make noise, not aiming at him) and yelled “f**k off!” He gave me the stink eye, then turned around and walked downriver to munch on some salmon carcasses caught in a log jam.

[-]

Cin131@reddit

I'm sorry, but they are my favorite animal.

[-]

No_Practice_970@reddit

I remember the first time seeing a moose walking in the backfield at my uncle's house as a child. I was already overwhelmed by the amount of snow but my mind couldn't process how massive a moose actually is.

[-]

DexterDubs@reddit

Here in Colorado they’ll run down the ski run with you

[-]

Entropy907@reddit

Moose here are larger though.

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=moose.main

Everything’s bigger in Alaska 😜

[-]

cats-n-cafe@reddit

I used to watch a show called Alaska State Troopers, which was basically COPS….but with Moose. I learned moose are mean.

[-]

Entropy907@reddit

They mostly don’t care; their goal is to expend as little energy as possible, especially in the winter, in order to conserve calories and stay alive. But if you get in one’s space — all bets are off. They are stealthy for their size (prey animals) and it’s not uncommon during winter when the days are short to be walking outside and suddenly realize there’s a moose ten feet away.

[-]

Astro_Birch_317@reddit

There were a few very heavy snow winters in the 90s on the KP and eventually the moose were too exhausted to leave plowed areas. I had to skip school numerous times because a moose was resting in the middle of our dead end road and nothing short of a bulldozer could move it, yet it was also too big to drive around. It was an excused absence without question. Once I missed 1-1/2 days of school because a moose was laying against the garage door the entire time. She stood up to change position once in a while, then flopped down again and went back to sleep.

[-]

nowhereman136@reddit

A Møøse once bit my sister

[-]

SublimeCatfish@reddit

Grew up in Anchorage. Moose were pests. So were ravens. And don't even get me started on those damned bald eagles.

[-]

Entropy907@reddit

I like ravens, they’re entertaining. And they don’t eat my damn tulips every May.

[-]

ABrightOrange@reddit

I would love to see a moose. I might shit my pants at the same time tho

[-]

toodleroo@reddit

I narrowly avoided hitting a moose with my car driving at night in Colorado. While I did not actually shit my pants, I did so in spirit.

[-]

BoozeAndTheBlues@reddit

The size of a draft horse, the strength of freight train, the temperament of a wasp hive.

[-]

Stan_Deviant@reddit

We get asked ALL the time where people can see a moose and honestly the answer I give them is to schedule something you need to be on time for, then you will get a moose on the road that won't move while you are trying to get there.

(the BWCA)

[-]

Kscarpetta@reddit

I spent 6 weeks in Maine hoping to see a moose. Finally saw 3 while in the North Maine Woods.

Going to Alaska in 19 days so I'm hoping I'll see some then!

[-]

mrsxpando@reddit

The moose on our farm used to stand between us and the bus. They would make us late for school.

We loved our moose.

[-]

Broad-Cranberry-9050@reddit

I moved from northeast to texas an was surprised that squirrels had a more brown shade to them.

I also have relatives that live in another country and one time they were visiting and onee person goes "omg what's that weird cat?" i look and i dont see a cat. So i ask him again where he saw it, he points at a squirrel and then i realized that where he's from doesnt have squirrels and to me squirrels were just a thing you always just see around becuase theyre just so part of the areas with trees.

[-]

karenftx1@reddit

There is a family on YouTube who live in New Zealand and the youngest boy was amazed at the sight of a squirrel, because, as was explained, they don't have them over there.

[-]

katarh@reddit

The first time I saw a squirrel with all black fur was up in Washington DC. I didn't know that was a thing.

[-]

tacosandsunscreen@reddit

So there’s also black squirrels and I was shocked the first time I saw one.

[-]

AineDez@reddit

More than half the squirrels in metro Detroit are black furred and it threw me for a loop as well. Apparently helps with staying warm?

[-]

Annjenette@reddit

Black squirrels were the norm when I moved to Montréal. I’m from North Carolina, we had gray squirrels.

[-]

DirtyMarTeeny@reddit

We have white squirrels up near Brevard in WNC too.

[-]

Annjenette@reddit

There was a family of white squirrels living in Carowinds some 20 years ago.

[-]

Seguefare@reddit

There are black "fox squirrels" in parts of NC. I used to see a few around Wilmington.

[-]

CemeteryDweller7719@reddit

We have both in my area. When I was a kid (I’m not joking) there were gray squirrels everywhere except one town near us had black squirrels instead. It sounds like some weird squirrel segregation, but it was true. Now the black squirrels have spread so I occasionally see one in my yard. The gray squirrels are more brave. Those are up on my porch even when I’m out there. They don’t care.

[-]

RupeThereItIs@reddit

Michigan, we got grey, black & brown.

They are not fond of eachother.

[-]

Guernica616@reddit

We also have Fox Squirrels which are larger than gray squirrels and can be darker.

[-]

mirth4@reddit

Have you seen a hellbender? Because I would love you see a hellbender. (I live where they live, but I've not yet been so lucky)

[-]

Annjenette@reddit

Not OP but omg you should see the blind cave fish in Linville cavern!

[-]

anarcurt@reddit

I'm outside of Cincinnati and I have both black and grey squirrels plus the occasional brownish red.

There's one town, Glendale, where some guy back in the 1940s brought back 4 black squirrels from Michigan and they took over the whole town.

Also Montreal is amazing. I have often wished I found a way to move there when I was younger.

[-]

Global-Baseball-6131@reddit

Growing up, seeing a black squirrel was a rare occurrence. I moved 30 minutes east and now all I have is black squirrels.

[-]

Kittyvedo@reddit

The first time I saw a gray squirrel, I thought it was an old squirrel. I was like “awe look at the old man!” Then I got the most confused looks and they explained it wasn’t old it’s color was just gray.

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

Albino as well

[-]

Queasy_Opportunity75@reddit

And white ones in Michigan

[-]

Krispybender@reddit

We have black squirrels in our neighborhood. They’re kinda cute!

[-]

sfdsquid@reddit

There are pockets of black squirrels here and there. They're a mutation. Technically they are still grey squirrels. Toronto has a lot of them for some reason.

I went to Bryn Mawr College in PA. Haverford is a few miles away. You could take classes at the other when you went to one. Haverford had black squirrels but Bryn Mawr did not.

I think black squirrels look fancy. Like they're dressed for dinner at an expensive restaurant.

Albino squirrels are really cool.

[-]

Alternative-Law4626@reddit

They have black squirrels in DC. I saw red squirrels in Scotland.

[-]

GlazedDonutGloryHole@reddit

My dad always called them squiggers -.-

[-]

alltoovisceral@reddit

They live in Princeton NJ. I enjoyed showing my husband the black squirrels for the first time. He was super excited.

[-]

Special-Reindeer-178@reddit

Black squirrels are a commonality where i am in NE Ohio. Had never seen one before I moved here

[-]

Eureecka@reddit

My mom’s uncle used to go to Canada to fish ALL the time. He thought the Canadian black squirrels were cute. So he spent several decades live trapping them, hauling them down to his house in Kent and letting them go. That’s why Kent OH has black squirrels.

[-]

nosidrah@reddit

Yeah, the first time I saw black squirrels was in Canada. I’d gone forty-some years thinking all squirrels were gray.

[-]

tzentzak@reddit

I visited my family in coastal central California for Thanksgiving and was surprised to see black squirrels there! My cousin told me that they used to be pretty rare but their population seems to be increasing. I live in Colorado and have never seen one here.

[-]

Genepoolperfect@reddit

We see black squirrels rarely in NY (we mostly have grey). But every time we do it's on a school or university property. Every time.

[-]

RunForTheWoods@reddit

They are all around but pretty rare, I’ve seen them a handful of times in all different places around the eastern half of the us

[-]

takingtheftrain@reddit

Came to these comments to say we have black squirrels in DC and even after 20 years living here I am still always delighted to see them.

[-]

Bluecat72@reddit

So these are not native - a century ago we were given some melanistic squirrels by Canada and they were released at the National Zoo and established a population from there.

[-]

11twofour@reddit

I was in DC for the first time in years last month and I almost cried when I saw a black squirrel

[-]

Stmpnksarwall@reddit

I saw them a lot when we visited the Lake Erie Islands and was pleasantly surprised. Ours are mostly grey here or brownish.

[-]

BakedMitten@reddit

My state has black squirrels but they were especially common in an neighborhood I lived in for a while. In this localized section of town the black squirrels had almost completely out competed and breed the brown/grey varieties.

I got asked multiple times by new neighbors where the hell the 'normal' squirrels were

[-]

doublebogey182@reddit

Golf course near me called Black Squirrel. You'll never guess what they have there. A guy from Virginia was very pumped to go there with me and see one.

[-]

RubGlum4395@reddit

Yup. I didnt realize they were a thing until moving to N. California from S. California.

[-]

No-Contact6664@reddit

I have Rock Squirrels and the dig tons of holes in my rock retaining walls.

[-]

Classic_Climate_951@reddit

My husband and I travel in an RV full time. We've lived in 25+ states. I am OBSESSED with different area squirrels. There's a small community in Wisconsin that has a huge concentration of pure black squirrels. I only know this because I saw three in a row and had to know why lol.

[-]

Panda_Undies@reddit

Bowling Green, Kentucky is home to a population of WHITE (not albino) squirrels! Definitely shocked me the first time I saw one. I think they're mostly on the university campus, but I saw them in a neighborhood :)

[-]

OrigRayofSunshine@reddit

Maybe that’s what I’ve seen around Cincinnati?

[-]

Slow_Concern_672@reddit

I just visited brevard nc and they had white squirrels supposedly tho I didn't see any.

[-]

Dry-Quiet6526@reddit

I'm sorry you didn't see them. They are definitely there - I've seen them!

[-]

Slow_Concern_672@reddit

Me too I don't realize why there were squirrel statues and pictures everywhere until our last two days lol.

[-]

ryamanalinda@reddit

There is an area of a couple of subdivisions in st. Louis that has a larger concentration of "blonde" squirrels. Not albino either. I deliver pizza and told the customer "hey! You have a blonde squirrel!". He said "yep, I have about 10 running through my yard.". But I had also seen blondes like 2 aibsiviosns over.

[-]

PNWCheesehead@reddit

In response to your comment and Classic_Climate_951 mentioning my home state, in northern Wisconsin (Vilas County) there is a very large population of albino white tailed deer. You are not allowed to hunt them and they have few predators so their numbers have blown up. My family has a cabin up there and we see at least one almost every time we visit. Seeing them still hasn’t lost its charm.

[-]

DruncleMuncle@reddit

My college had an unofficial mascot of an albino squirrel. And it wasn't a one squirrel thing, there was generations of the albino gene on campus. The mascot was always named "Alby"

[-]

dabisnit@reddit

There are black squirrels with white tails on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Kaibab Squirrels

[-]

mesembryanthemum@reddit

There was a colony of them on the UW-LaCrosse campus, or was back in the early 80s.

[-]

Willing_Calendar_373@reddit

Douglas squirrels are way cooler than gray squirrels. In the rockies, you also have golden maned ground squirrels, which look like massive chipmunks. They're grouped with chipmunks, prairie dogs and marmots rather than tree squirrels. Beware though, my cat caught the bubonic plague from them and exposed me to it. She died, I lived. Will forever hate ground squirrels.

[-]

jessipowers@reddit

I’m in SE MI and have a ton of black squirrels. They’re technically just melanated gray squirrels. I have about 5 or so of each plus 2 red squirrels living in my backyard. My neighborhood is full of them. This year I have a couple of young ones that I’ve been calling patches because they’re clearly a mix. Two of them are mostly black but with dark brown patches, and the other one is gray with brown patches. They’re very cute.

[-]

ChickenBossGirl@reddit

My home town is on the coast and the jetty harbor squirrels are mottled gray and white. They camouflage with the seagull poop splattered rocks perfectly. The ones that live on the land side of the harbor have standard coloring, it’s so cool

[-]

khak_attack@reddit

Tourists in NYC are obsessed with squirrels, and are always taking pictures of them in the parks.

[-]

Diligent_Mulberry47@reddit

Had some coworkers over to the US from New Zealand and they had never seen squirrels before.

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

I went to visit someone in Florida and realized all the squirrels are tiny and have way less fur on their tails and bodies. I'm used to seeing big fat fluffy squirrels up north and I couldn't believe how sickly all the squirrels were in Florida 🤣🤣

[-]

Gravesh@reddit

The same is also true of deer. They' get slimmer and overall smaller the further South you go.

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

That freaked me out too. My cousin was like "it is hotter here, baby girl. Trust me those Lil so-and-sos are eating good."

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

Yes lol I worried about them! 😂

[-]

jebuz23@reddit

Liam Hemsworth (from Australia) thought squirrels were a Disney invention the first time he came here.

https://youtu.be/Zp9z05zruWU?t=152&si=H89OVm6EjKbpb2Wh

[-]

Jorgedig@reddit

My husband is a kiwi, and when he first got here to settle, he was enchanted by the squirrels.

[-]

send2steph@reddit

Red and Grey are common here. Some black and some white, but they are rare.

[-]

ForestOranges@reddit

I remember in Washington DC I was hanging out with a girl from Chile in the US in the first time and she was absolutely obsessed with the squirrels. She thought they were just the coolest thing and she was taking pictures.

[-]

Unusual-Material9443@reddit

we have brown squirrels where i live in Texas but there are grey ones further south. i have seen black ones in Pennsylvania

[-]

schonleben@reddit

I moved from Texas to the northeast. I still get excited when I see a chipmunk or a groundhog.

[-]

dragonbec@reddit

The rock squirrels in central Texas are cool, kind of half and half colored and beefier looking, but we do have the smaller grey tree squirrels too.

[-]

Rhiannon1954@reddit

My husband came from a small town in Illinois known for its white squirrel population.

[-]

SpeakerCareless@reddit

Olney?? I desperately want the olney poster lol

[-]

Rhiannon1954@reddit

Yep. Olney.

[-]

klef3069@reddit

I'm not from Olney, but just down the road and was looking for the white squirrel mention!

[-]

klef3069@reddit

Oh it's gotta be Olney...

[-]

RefrigeratorHotHot@reddit

There’s a town in north(?) Carolina that has white squirrels. Only place I’ve ever seen that has them, and they have little squirrel decorations on all the light posts and stoplights because of them.

[-]

Canada_Haunts_Me@reddit

It's Brevard with the white squirrels!

[-]

drowsydrosera@reddit

Lot of allwhite grey squirrels around Tallahassee plus big fox squirrels that can be all black

[-]

asarious@reddit

Wait. Your squirrels aren’t brown?

[-]

Financial_Emphasis25@reddit

Where I’m from there used to be mostly fox squirrels, but then all gray and all black squirrels started showing up. Now you can see where the gray and black squirrels started mating and some will be all black but with a grey tail or visa-versa. We also have tiny squirrels that can get really aggressive but are very fast and annoy the larger squirrels.

[-]

Suzee321@reddit

Red squirrels!

[-]

Solid_Parsley_@reddit

I live in a very tree-filled area, but we have no tree squirrels. Just a ton of ground squirrels. I get very excited when I travel to a place with tree squirrels, lol

[-]

ucbiker@reddit

Grey squirrels of the East are more intelligent than the red squirrels of the West.

[-]

Plato198_9@reddit

We have a lot of the same animals in a lot of regions, though I was much more excited than I thought I’d be when I saw a Hummingbird for the first time in the Southwest

[-]

chrs_trnr@reddit

Black panthers in South Ga and north to middle FL are a rare but crazy sighting

[-]

musing_codger@reddit

Nobody here gets excited seeing an armadillo, but they're objectively strange beasts. Alligators are also common, but most people don't hang out by the bayous and so they don't see them.

[-]

chrs_trnr@reddit

Surprisingly enough we have lots of armadillos in Georgia

[-]

gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit

Lived in Texas for 7 years and never saw a live armadillo but I saw plenty of flat ones

[-]

DitzyGeniuses@reddit

As a kid, I would see so many of them decapitated on the side of the road and thought crazy people were all over the place, chopping off armadillo heads. Then, one night, I was in the car with my mom and we were following behind my dad in another car. Armadillo runs out into the road, gets spooked by my dad's car and jumps. Dad's car proceeds to hit armadillo. All that my mom and I saw in the car behind was the head roll one way and the body kind of stayed where it landed. I understood why so many were decapitated then.

The only live one I have seen that stayed that way was walking in the arboretum. No cars to hit them there.

[-]

TexGardenGirl@reddit

I have live ones in my yard. Don’t actually see them very often but they dig little holes in the dirt everywhere overnight whenever it rains. They root with their little pointy noses looking for worms and grubs. Fortunately we don’t care that much what the yard looks like but we now have fences around the gardens. They’re harmless otherwise and fun to watch when we do see them.

Also fun to watch are the roadrunners.

And snakes. So many snakes. Mostly nonvenomous but we do have members of all 4 major venomous groups. I’ve personally seen rattlers, copperheads and cottonmouths, and we also have coral snakes.

[-]

toodleroo@reddit

I go hiking in an area with a lot of them. Last year we came upon two males fighting next to the trail and they ran right at me!

[-]

DragonTigerBoss@reddit

Nobody here gets excited seeing an armadillo, but they're objectively strange beasts.

I hate those damn things. They might look kinda cute, maybe, if you just see a picture of them on Wikipedia, but IRL, they're leprosy on four legs, and they have teeth and claws and can jump 5 or 6 feet straight in the air. I can deal with some of the other notorious wildlife in Texas--coyotes, brown recluses, black widows--but armadillos are the nopest of nope.

I did drink armadillo milk once. It was surprisingly inoffensive.

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

I'm a transplant to Arkansas and I still get excited to see armadillos. The live ones though.

[-]

chrs_trnr@reddit

We jokingly call mosquitos the Georgia State Bird.

[-]

chrs_trnr@reddit

Alligators. They’re dinosaurs, Dwight.

[-]

Illustrious_Code_347@reddit

In the western part of my state there are these black squirrels. And I mean truly black. I live in a very small state yet had never heard of a friggin' black squirrel in my entire life, so it was mind-blowing to see for the first time.

My friend told me they were called "squiggers" and this went right over my head (since I am not really a dirty person and that word does kind of sound like it could be a legit cute animal name, so I believed him). And I swear, I had literally told all these other people they were called that, completely innocently, like I may have even told a college professor they were called that. And then one day I told my brother they were called that and he just burst out laughing and only then did I have the lightbulb moment and realized 💡

[-]

maimou1@reddit

Alligators. Bald eagles.. And after living next to a huge wildlife preserve for the last 35 years, not much is exciting.

[-]

Tater42317@reddit

Northern Nevada, we have wild horses in our yards.

[-]

EnthusiasmAny8485@reddit

Alligators, rattlesnakes and manatees

[-]

Cin131@reddit

So I'm in ohio. We have deer, coons, possums, coyotes, robins, cardinals, sparrows, & redwing blackbirds. Garter snakes & black snakes, grasshoppers & praying mantis, and other wildlife that my brain can't recall after a full week of work.(Started full time about 3 weeks ago, and am way too old for this 💩)

[-]

Over_Table3898@reddit

My friend from Australia took photos of a grey squirrel…a grey squirrel!!!!!

[-]

Infamous_Bar_6819@reddit

I live in New Mexico. We have a lot of roadrunners, which are very cool.

[-]

speed_of_chill@reddit

West Coastie here, when I joined the Navy and got stationed in Florida, I thought it was pretty cool to see alligators in the wild. And manatees. And dolphins. And flying fish. And coral snakes. Wish I could have seen at least one jaguar in the wild (from a safe distance, of course), but no…

[-]

sc4ry3qu1n0x@reddit

I know koalas are somewhat common in Australia but I LOVE them. I think Australians are pretty ambivalent towards them but I'm traveling to Australia for the first time in August and cant wait to see them in the wild!!

[-]

Okbrain_456@reddit

We have alligators in Louisiana. I lived in NJ for a while and I miss chipmunks, they don’t live here and they’re very cute.

[-]

not_that_hardcore@reddit

Florida. And people go nuts over lizards. Just plain old anoles. They’re everywhere. They’re just part of the scenery.

[-]

One_Advantage793@reddit

Well, they are more related to geographic features than region per se, but I live on a river, next to a swamp and have beavers and otters that visitors love seeing.

[-]

katarh@reddit

Up in the NE part of the state the only thing that visitors seem to be genuinely delighted to see is a possum.

Granted, I too am genuinely delighted to see a possum.

[-]

ThumbsUp2323@reddit

Beavers are shockingly huge and somewhat dangerous looking in person

[-]

One_Advantage793@reddit

They are bigger than you might expect. I think they're really cute and could watch them all day. If your presence scares them, they do the warning slap with their tail on the water, and that's louder than you'd think, too. They're used to me, as long as I don't get too close or come up too suddenly. They don't really like it when I bring visitors to look at them. That nearly always gets a warning slap.

The warning is just a heads up for the other beavers, BTW. I've had an otter come very near, to look at me. They are very curious little guys (also a tad larger than you'd guess, having only seen them in nature shows. Beavers, I think, may be a bit near sighted. They seem interested in what's happening in their surroundings, but they tend to notice you by sniffing the air. I've never had one approach me.

[-]

Carinne89@reddit

Black Squirrels have blown the minds of a lot of my out of province visitors 😝 always makes me laugh.

No one ever believes us about how big moose are until they see one.

Tourists always think it’s a good idea to get close to a Canadian goose for a picture. There’s a reason locals give them a wide berth. Government protected Assholes with teeth.

[-]

Not_Write_Now@reddit

I'm just getting old because I can't imagine being excited about any animal. I'd never seen armadillos in person before I moved to Texas, but my thought was more like "Huh. Haven't seen one of those before." rather than excitement.

[-]

GrannyTurtle@reddit

Well, this is the Sonoran Desert. 🌵 Even the plants try to kill you. I guess one of the biggest pests we have are Javelinas. Google them for a picture. It is a species closely related to pigs. They live in packs, are omnivorous, and can kill you.

We have a venomous lizard called the Gila Monster - it is large, orange, and black. Give them a wide berth. We have venomous snakes, too. We have mountain lions, leopards, and bobcats. Bears. Urban coyotes (I just love being jolted out of a sound sleep at 2 am because a pack decided to have a yip fest right outside the house.)

Scorpions of various kinds. Bats (they pollinate the saguaros 🌵 (multi-ton giant cactus some 20 feet tall - the flowers need something that can fly to pollinate them.)) So the bats like nectar and will visit your hummingbird feeders at night. They also love sleeping in the protection of the freeway underpasses. Ask about the 🦇💩.

[-]

Omgkimwtf@reddit

We have bison. Have I personally seen them? No. Are they here? Yes. Apparently we also have herons, which somehow surprised me.

If I see ocean animals, I squeal like a fat kid in a cake store.

[-]

Original_Cable6719@reddit

I’m in the Pacific Northwest. People freak out over elk, turkey, deer, lots of bird species, bears, mountain lions, beavers… nutria (not native) are always eye-catching.

[-]

_princesscannabis@reddit

Always the alligators and the millions of turtles!!

[-]

JoeyBag0Dildos@reddit

Tourists come to the smokies to see the black bears. Black bears are awesome, but they’re STILL BEARS and people often don’t give them the respect they deserve. A lot have to be euthanized after people feed them and they become too comfortable with humans.

[-]

TiFist@reddit

Visited a zoo in Germany and they had a whole major exhibit on Raccoons. I can see the wandering around the trash dumpsters at work... so they don't really feel so exotic.

But they are cool animals if you're not from N. America.

[-]

yensid7@reddit

Funny story, a wild raccoon broke into an enclosure like that in Germany once, and since they weren't allowed to release it back into the wild since it's an invasive species, they ended up keeping him there.

[-]

GiraffesCantSwim@reddit

Maybe that was his plan all along. He saw those raccoons getting 3 squares, a safe place to sleep out of the weather, and humans fawning over them instead of yelling and chasing them away. Also friends and potential mates? It probably looked like a pretty good setup.

[-]

yensid7@reddit

Yeah, living the easy life now!

[-]

LocoinSoCo@reddit

What?! In a zoo? We call them trash pandas here. Those mischevious effers will get into anything. People used to wear them as hats (coonskin cap). A fellow leader told me that one of his Cub Scouts didn’t wash the marshmallow residue from s’mores off his lips/fingers before going to bed and woke to a raccoon licking it off.

[-]

TiFist@reddit

Yep, but remember they're native to N. America! It's probably pretty common for an American to have seen one relatively up close (even if not licking your s'more residue) but less so for folks in Europe. It wasn't so much that they had one but that it was one of their big showcase exhibits at the time.

[-]

LocoinSoCo@reddit

I know. It just makes me smile and laugh :) !

[-]

Fuck_U_Time_Killer@reddit

Yeah we have city raccoons here and I will cross the street when I see them. They look like they wouldn’t fuck around

[-]

CemeteryDweller7719@reddit

The thing about raccoons, particularly in populated areas, is they don’t fear people. They DGAF and just want food. In general they won’t run but they don’t care enough to start anything. Just leave them be though because they will fight back. I went out on my porch one night and I thought I stepped on the tail of the neighbor’s cat. I hit the light on my phone as I’m apologizing to neighbor’s cat when I realize I stepped on a raccoon. It didn’t care. It didn’t move. It just stared at me as I went back in the house, lol. I’m just glad it didn’t care because I don’t want rabies treatments.

[-]

LocoinSoCo@reddit

It’s not the raccoons you worry about. It’s the badgers.

[-]

dixbietuckins@reddit

Im from north America and was chasing raccoons around taking pictures. A horse and cow up close were pretty crazy.

I can see bald eagles and deer in my yard whenever. Whales are cool, but get tiresome when you are worried about running into one every day and orcas are a nuisance when trying to fish. A possum is still more interesting than any of that to me.

[-]

horatio_corn_blower@reddit

I’ve seen hundreds of raccoons in my life and still think they’re cool. I feel like it’s really easy to understand the fascination of those that didn’t grow up around them.

[-]

Lost-Connection-3286@reddit

how common are turkeys? I see turkeys daily in the spring and fall just outside of Boston.

[-]

Finzinnati@reddit

They are common to see in Ohio! Although in other parts of the world, I guess there are no turkeys.

[-]

FindYourselfACity@reddit

I have never seen a live turkey in real life.

[-]

SportyYoda@reddit

Me neither. I know they exist in OR and WA but west of the cascades they're either super rare or non-existent.

[-]

FindYourselfACity@reddit

Same. I know they exist upstate, but I live downstate. Parakeets. Now those I’ve seen just chilling.

[-]

AineDez@reddit

Suburban Detroit, see turkeys pretty regularly. But in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma I don't think I ever saw one in an urban or suburban area

[-]

DirtRdDrifter@reddit

I'm in northwest NC. I don't remember ever seeing wild turkeys when I was a kid in the '80s, but it's very common to see them now.

[-]

Interesting-Long-534@reddit

Turkeys are common in Illinois.

[-]

RemonterLeTemps@reddit

In certain areas, I'm sure, but not Chicago. Unless you're talking about in the freezer case lol

[-]

Interesting-Long-534@reddit

You are missing out if you think Chicagoland is Illinois. You may have the largest population in the state but it occupies less than 15% of the state in area.

[-]

RemonterLeTemps@reddit

Oh, I've explored other parts of the state. Springfield, Geneseo, and Aurora to name a few places. But even there, I've never seen turkeys in the wild

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

You know, they are now. When I was a kid I literally never saw them. Starting somewhere around 2000 I started seeing them regularly. I moved about 10-12 years later so no longer get the thrill of seeing them. I think they're cool.

[-]

kippen@reddit

I think every state in the lower 48 has turkeys.

[-]

riotousgrowlz@reddit

I live in Minneapolis and the urban turkey is a phenomena.

[-]

theEWDSDS@reddit

See them all the time on 13.

[-]

whatever_rita@reddit

Was going to say… had a turkey walking down the sidewalk in front of my house the other day

[-]

Mr_BillyB@reddit

Um, actually, it's a phenomenon.

[-]

LVuittonColostomyBag@reddit

Hey fellow Minneapolis resident! I live in NE and our turkeys are indeed legendary. My Italian friend cannot believe they’re real lol

[-]

DangerousDave303@reddit

I occasionally them in the Denver burbs. They seem to travel along irrigation ditches if there's good tree cover.

[-]

Alternative-Law4626@reddit

We have loads of wild turkeys in Virginia. But, we have virtually all the North American major mammals here except grizzly bear, and moose. Some are as yet not officially confirmed like mountain lions (although photos have been taken of large wild cats that look very much like mountain lions), and wolves. Many reports of what are either wolves or cross breeds. Elk was reintroduced in southwest Virginia after a successful program in North Carolina. Black bear and deer are approaching pest level populations. If the wolves and mountain lions have made it back here they won’t go hungry.

[-]

battlecat136@reddit

I waited for a family of them to cross the street today, also outside of Boston. They're derpy, weird assholes and I love them.

[-]

AuntieWatermelon@reddit

few months ago i was in a line of cars waiting for a family to cross the street and one of the males was trying to fight the car in front lol

[-]

alixtoad@reddit

I live in Nor Cal and we have turkeys everywhere. Peacocks too!

[-]

mrmagic64@reddit

I don’t know about all of Sacramento but along the neighborhoods on the American River, they are almost a daily sighting. When I got home from work today there were two chilling in my front yard.

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

Peacocks are in Los Angeles as well. I was pretty suprised to hear that. Also put on a California flair!

[-]

silkywhitemarble@reddit

I've seen turkeys a couple of times in Walnut Creek.

[-]

RupeThereItIs@reddit

We've got a flock that moved into my neighborhood a few miles north of Detroit.

Very weird place to see 'em.

[-]

EloquentBacon@reddit

Turkeys are very common in my neck of central NJ. I’ve seen them in VT, too.

[-]

Green_Evening@reddit

As God as my witness, I thought Turkey's could fly...

[-]

Genepoolperfect@reddit

I fckin hate turkeys. Wild turkeys, turkey vultures. Hate them both. Some lady at my old office would feed them & then they'd hang out at the buildings entrance & chase anyone who dared run to their car. Not talking about a single bird, fcking 5 of them. Couldn't distract & juke in another direction. The just came at you from all sides.

[-]

notacoolkid@reddit

I’m in Northern California and I’m terrified of wild turkeys. There’s big, mean one by my work that likes to stand on top of cars.

[-]

Nest1ng_Doll@reddit

Super common in Colorado. In fact, there are wild turkeys in a north Denver suburb.

[-]

Figgler@reddit

I hear them in my neighborhood every day. My elderly neighbor feeding them constantly probably has something to do with it though.

[-]

cptjeff@reddit

We had one occasionally attacking people on one of the main bike trails in DC for a while. Extremely funny headlines for a few months, some with video.

Never saw him myself, though.

[-]

JuryOk2662@reddit

They're fairly common in Montana, at least here in the western mountain portion dunno about the plains in the east of the state

[-]

washtucna@reddit

There are large flocks of them that live close to my downtown (Spokane, WA). Its fun seeing such large, strange creatures out near high-rises!

[-]

kartoffel_engr@reddit

The Spokompton turkeys run those streets haha

[-]

EasternPerformance24@reddit

And they can be real Dicks if you don't keep your distance. Tiny dinosaurs i tell you. A cross between a t-rex and a raptor. Had a group of em that would terrorize us all in my apartment parking lot.

[-]

kartoffel_engr@reddit

Went to college up there. They were aggressive. One year we had moose walk through campus. Cow and her calf just strolling through, thankfully it was late on a weekend. Was walking back from the bars through campus and came across them. Had to call the fuzz for that one.

[-]

EasternPerformance24@reddit

We used to have a moose visit my backyard when I was a kid. I always just watched it from the window or from the back porch

[-]

TheLastTime128@reddit

i wake up early morning to the sound of turkeys in Colorado. We didn’t have them when we lived in Texas, i was so amused by them at first, but not anymore. lol

[-]

RubGlum4395@reddit

Common in N. California

[-]

Hooligan8403@reddit

We had them in Northern California.

[-]

Curmudgy@reddit

I wouldn’t say daily but I have had one fly about 10 feet in front of me.

[-]

BedbugBandido@reddit

I used to see flocks of turkeys hang out at my university campus in north Jersey all the time. They’d also send out emails telling us when and where a bear was spotted on campus.

[-]

joeinsyracuse@reddit

I was looking all over for turkeys early last October. Finally found enough to feed 60 people at Walmart. 😝

[-]

n00bdragon@reddit

There used to be a very aggressive Tom that lived in the woods near my old workplace. Occasionally an alert would go out through interoffice mail that the front doors were closed and people should alternate entrances and exits because the turkey was out front menacing people. They're really aggressive!

[-]

kartoffel_engr@reddit

In every state except Alaska.

[-]

Mindless-Errors@reddit

THE POSSIBLY TRUE STORY OF THE BRIGHTON-BROOKLINE TURKEYS (Links to sources at the bottom)

As told by u/Ornery_Cauliflower77

Background:I managed a convenience store off the B line in Brighton for five years.

At some point during this job I was roped into working Sunday morning shifts. Every Sunday morning there was a tiny old lady who would come in and sit on a alcove by the front window and read every newspaper. She was sweet and fragile and never did anything even slightly untoward. Often times she would sit there quietly and wouldn’t do more than by coffee, but on the rare occasion she’d go off on a tangent and keep talking about something dreadfully boring, leaving me no escape for my hungover ears. One morning, however, a group of turkeys took a little morning stroll on the sidewalk outside of the store window, as is not uncommon as they can be a huge nuisance in Brookline/Brighton. Thus begins the old lady’s dialogue:

Her: “those dammed cocaine turkeys”

Me: -head perking up from a half slumber-: “excuse me? What was that?”

Her: “those dammed cocaine turkeys! Been here ever since the 80’s”

Me: “what do you mean?”

Her: “in the 80’s there was a large turkey farm in Brighton. It’s all new construction now, but back then it was a big business! One day the police raided the farm to find that the company had been using turkey carcasses to hide big bricks of cocaine inside and sell. The owners and all the workers were arrested and the farm was left to close down, the turkeys still free to roam. Eventually the turkeys started getting out and wandering the streets, eating anything they could find. That’s where all these turkeys come from!”

I still have no idea if this story is true, but I’ve avoided fact checking it because I like to believe this possibly senile lady, and the unusually interesting Sunday morning she gave me that day.

EDIT: Damn two golds and so many others! You guys are great…. I’ve been sick in bed all day and this post helped keep me sane with all the love and attention! Submit your cocaine turkey designs and I will make a t-shirt!

https://www.reddit.com/r/boston/comments/pyius4/the_cocaine_turkeys_of_brightonbrookline/

Boston Globe Article on Brookline Turkeys

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/11/22/brookline-wild-turkeys/

[-]

effie-sue@reddit

I’m in South Jersey (just out side of The Pine Barrens) and I see wild turkeys quite often. More now in the suburbs than I ever did in rural areas.

[-]

GuadDidUs@reddit

We have wild ones that walk around random neighborhoods in NJ.

[-]

Icy-Cardiologist-958@reddit

Turkeys were never common where I grew up in RI, then one year they just started showing up in the backyard in droves. Like 15 at a time. I’m assuming they were displaced from their former habitat from new developments being built.

[-]

Murderhornet212@reddit

I definitely saw more of them in SE MA than NW NJ.

[-]

bass679@reddit

Pretty common here in the metroit Detroit area as well

[-]

madfrog768@reddit

My jaw dropped when I saw wild turkeys near Boston (I'm from Oregon)

[-]

Mikedef2001@reddit

My mom lived in a town just north of Austin. I would see them all over her neighborhood.

[-]

Subbie1013@reddit

Pretty common, I think. We have them in IL and WI and I was just visiting TN and they were just starting their spring shenanigans there.

[-]

ScullyItsMee@reddit

I had never seen a wild turkey until I took a road trip and was driving through Nebraska!

[-]

MaxwellGrenn@reddit

Pretty common on the east coast, we got them in droves in Florida too.

[-]

roadjerseys@reddit

i see we're sharing the greater boston brain cell in this thread

[-]

Finzinnati@reddit

I live in Cincinnati, and we have small lizards that run around all over here. They are not native- apparently they can be traced back to Italy.

The story goes that a small boy had gone on vacation with his family to Italy back in the 1940s. Stuffed a few lizards into his backpack and released them in his yard when he got back home. Now we call them Lazarus Lizards- named after the family.

Native species that I think might be interesting to people in other parts of the world- (already mentioned) fireflies, skunks, opossums, raccoon, coyote, and much more elusive but if you’re lucky- bobcats.

[-]

Obahmah@reddit

Alligators, Tortises, SandHill Cranes, & lil lizards everywhere. Manatees are exciting for everyone!

Bison, Elk, Mountain Goats, Wolverines and Marmots.

[-]

Deletereous@reddit

Sadly, unique animals in my region are no more, like the giant otter who used to live in the local lake and was hunt to extinction.

[-]

fupafighter9000@reddit

CANADA GOOSE

[-]

KilroyFSU@reddit

I live in Florida and we see dolphins and alligators regularly. I think most visitors are pretty amazed by this.

[-]

Only_Presentation758@reddit

My friend’s kids visiting from California had an amazing time catching & releasing fireflies in my yard at dusk; was memory-making, like a movie. A girl visiting from Europe liked our gray squirrels (red/brown where she’s from) and we loved the black squirrels w/white stripe in coastal SC. And then I freaked the first time I saw a hedgehog in nature; it was in southern Sweden. Followed it across peoples’ front yards trying to film until it went into woods. Also in Sweden saw giant, I mean giant, snails on the side of the road. There were also flat completely clear jellyfish without tentacles that did not sting: kids were scooping them up.

[-]

shorty-1992@reddit

I am I Scotland and we have the wild haggis. Tourists love seeing them in the highlands🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[-]

AZOMI@reddit

Black squirrels here in MI. People from other areas of the country are always surprised to see them.

[-]

ReasonableTrifle2248@reddit

The lake is live in is home to a pair of nesting bald eagles, year on and out. We also have Osprey, Hawks and herons.

[-]

PhunkyPhazon@reddit

Seeing someone pulled off to the side of the road to take pictures of a deer is a sure sign of a tourist where I am.

[-]

ClockAggressive1224@reddit

In PA, almost everyone eventually hits a deer while driving. I'm hoping not to repeat.

[-]

fruitstripezebra@reddit

My township has such a bad deer problem that they have a program where they hire hunters to hunt them and then donate the meat to local food banks.

[-]

boomzgoesthedynamite@reddit

In NYC, we had an issue with over population in Staten Island, which is suburban and not at all rural. They were constantly getting hit or destroying property. But hunting is illegal in NYC. So the city had a program of spaying the does and eventually it calmed down. They figured out they were swimming across the kill van cull from NJ.

[-]

Foreign_Mobile_7399@reddit

Oh yeah they’re basically handing out deer tags like it’s candy here just to entice hunters to “thin the herd” as it were 😂😂

[-]

EloquentBacon@reddit

I’m in NJ and deer are all over the place here, too. We have white piebald deer here also.

[-]

Kscarpetta@reddit

Oh my god. People in Cades Cove in the Smokies. I know it's a popular spot for bears. Soooo many times I've seen people pulled over, I get excited thinking it's a bear(we have them here in KY, but you rarely see them) and it's just some fucking deer or turkeys. I get it, but at the same time, I do not.

These people would love to see my game camera. My coyotes, foxes, skunks, raccoons, possums(one is named Pete, he is my friend). Squirrels galore.

[-]

ClockAggressive1224@reddit

Australian friend was fascinated with Bluejays, which are nasty, aggressive, and quite common on NE U.S.

[-]

MilaVaneela@reddit

Manatees are a real draw in the area I live in. People come from all kinds of places to go on manatee tours. (To be fair, they’re neat animals. I’ve had them come right up to my kayak to check it and me out and they have the softest friendliest eyes.)

[-]

tawzerozero@reddit

Manatees are truly the best animal, but they still never felt normal to me in the way that Alligators feel like just part of the everyday scenery. No matter how many times I see manatees in the wild they just seem to be pure magic, and i say that as someone who could casually go see them in Tampa Bay as a kid.

[-]

KatrinaPez@reddit

As someone from a landlocked state I'm more surprised at something as dangerous as alligators being considered "everyday scenery"!

[-]

tawzerozero@reddit

I don't really think about alligators as dangerous - they mostly just sit there waiting for a fish or something. They dont want to waste the energy fighting something that looks big to them like a human.

They're really only going to go after a person in defense if said person fucks with them. The only exception is if you have one that was acclimated to people - like when a moron northwrner gets a baby one thinking it's just cute and tries to raise it like a pet, but that is exceedingly rare.

[-]

KatrinaPez@reddit

Interesting!

[-]

ShadynastyLove@reddit

I think, regardless of whether you live local to manatees or not, seeing one is probably like seeing a puppy. They're just cute. I've never seen one, but I can't imagine not saying "Awe," when one swims by.

[-]

Dr_Watson349@reddit

Was snorkeling at Three Sisters. They tell you it's illegal to touch the manatee. Sure, no problem. However they don't tell the fucking manatees that.

Mom with baby manatee shows up. Baby heads right force us, and just bounces into us. Rolls on his back as if to say, "Dont you wish you could rub this belly?". Hardest thing to say no to in my life.

He/she then swims off. Nobody tells you how fast them swim. The draft basically pulled me towards him for a few feet. Was wild.

10/10 would do again.

[-]

Knox_the_Boxer@reddit

We went on a tour in crystal river about 20 years ago. Our captain was an old salty dog that knew where the manatees are. He took us and introduced us to a mom and her baby. It was magical. We may not have refrained from touching them. 😬 They really do like belly rubs. 🤭

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

My husband would end up in jail. He thinks EVERYTHING is friend shaped.

[-]

Bwm89@reddit

In fairness, they are basically friend shaped and friendly, I think the reason you're not supposed to touch them is at least in part because the ones who get too friendly with humans tend to end up getting killed by boats, so it's really all for their protection

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

Awww so it's really for the best. I'll let him know and help him grieve

[-]

MilaVaneela@reddit

Yeah, I actually live not too far from Three Sisters (it is beautiful there!) I used to go out from Ozello when I’d go kayaking and they’d come up sticking their noses out like “OH HAI HOOMAN PLEASE PET ME” and it’s like guys, come on…. 😂

[-]

Lac4x9@reddit

JailBait

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

I've had that with a monk seal and a whale. Not that either one touched us, but they came way closer than they should have been. I've been chided so many times because monk seals are protected and endangered species and I'm like guys nobody told the monk seal it couldn't get close to me! Save your complaints for the monk seal! Your encounter sounds so insanely cool, congrats and I totally understand why you would do it again! I would do both the whale and the monk seal again. In fact I would have had a lot more sense the second time with the Monk seal. I'll be honest, I picked that beach that day because I knew it was known for Monk seals. It was not an easy Beach to get to, well it was actually very easy to get to but you're not supposed to take a rental car off road, but we did and we waited 5 hours at the beach, without ever seeing anything including any other people and many monk seals. My husband was even making monk seal calls LOL which isn't a real thing, he was goofing around pretending he was making the mating call of among seal, certainly wasn't disturbing anybody cuz nobody else was there. So we're packing up cuz we've been there for 5 hours and it's starting to get near dusk and suddenly I see the head of something in the water and it comes up on the beach and it's a monk seal, I was so excited that I started jumping up and down and saying oh my God it's a monk seal get the camera LOL and I guess it wasn't expecting me and I actually scared it off. I felt so bad! But my husband did manage to snap off a couple of photos. I forget how far it was supposed to stay away from us but it got fairly close. We've also had a baby humpback breach right out of the water right next to our boat practically within touching distance, both of these happen in Hawaii. Really amazing! No not as amazing as your manatee! They are the most beautiful creatures ever and I would be so tempted if one wanted a tummy rub.

[-]

deafballboy@reddit

Three Sisters is also the name of a trio of mountains in the Cascades... I was confused for a second about where you could snorkel with manatees up the mountains...

[-]

donner_dinner_party@reddit

Yes! My best friend lives in Bend and I was confused for a minute.

[-]

ca77ywumpus@reddit

My sister lives on a boat in FL and sends me videos of the manatees coming up to her boat to beg for fresh water. Feeding them is illegal, but they love when she's washing off the deck and sprays the hose into the water. It delights me that these gigantic potato-shaped critters are as commonplace for her as raccoons are in my neighborhood.

[-]

Classic_Climate_951@reddit

I too am a Florida woman. My dream is to see a manatee kayaking during the bioluminescence in Titusville. I've heard legend of it and it sounds so magical

[-]

Abu_Everett@reddit

The bioluminescence is really amazing there. I liked it better than the famous lagoon in Puerto Rico.

We didn’t see manatees, but we did see dolphins and mullet, which was really awesome. The mullet were crazy because there was nothing and then something would spook them and all of a sudden a huge patch of water lights up. Dolphins weren’t close enough to be too interesting with the bioluminescence.

[-]

Classic_Climate_951@reddit

When I went, the mullet reminded me of Moana! I didn't see Dolphins but that would be super cool. I did see a sting ray too

[-]

Icy-Cardiologist-958@reddit

A manatee kayaking would certainly be an impressive sight!😆 (just being funny).

[-]

Daddysheremyluv@reddit

I'm with you it's rare. Can they hold the paddle or do they scoop at the water.

[-]

Icy-Cardiologist-958@reddit

I would assume they just row with their fins or whatever. Arms I guess since they’re mammals? If you’ve ever seen a whale skeleton, they have fingers under their flippers, so I imagine manatees are the same.

[-]

MilaVaneela@reddit

Manatees do indeed have fingers in their flippers! Fingernails too.

[-]

earmares@reddit

A manatee kayaking during the bioluminescence no less 😆

[-]

complicationsRx@reddit

Thousand islands in cocoa beach is the best spot for bio tours! Dolphins darting through glowing water is the coolest thing ever.

Spooking a manatee sleeping during bioluminescence would be cool and terrifying. We hit one on a paddle board during daytime and I think the manatee and us were equally terrified.

[-]

Ill-Secretary8386@reddit

Manatees can kayak??

[-]

Help1Ted@reddit

A friend and his wife booked a kayak bioluminescence tour, but it was rained out and they never got to go. They ended up coming back to a friend’s and my friend had a lot to drink and walked out to the dock to pee off it. He freaked out and came running back in. Ended up seeing the bioluminescence from the dock and it was glowing when he was peeing in the water. Lol Florida man finds a way.

[-]

webbitor@reddit

Florida man goes outside to pee. Checks out.

[-]

Eskimodo_Dragon@reddit

I was in Key West for the first time and we were walking around the docks and I reminded myself, "oh! Keep your eyes peeled for manatees!" I swear not a minute later i saw one floating around in the marina! I was so stoked!

[-]

MastiffOnyx@reddit

All over in Key Largo.

Several tours you can see them. Not Manatee tours, just regular nature tours, they pop up all over.

Only thing I saw more of then Manatees were all the damn iguanas.

[-]

Alternative-Law4626@reddit

When I was a kid, I’d go to central FL all summer. There were no iguanas in FL then. In a span of less than 50 years, all these iguanas populated FL.

[-]

Relevant-Emu5782@reddit

There were so many iguanas at Pennekamp park, and they were huge!

[-]

doublebogey182@reddit

Had one swim right by me near Sarasota. Scared the shit out of me and then quickly realized how amazing of an experience that was.

[-]

Late-External3249@reddit

Had a Manatee come up to us in Stuart, FL. It was our last full day there and some of the group had left. We were hanging out in the water and all of a sudden, a manatee named Gary showed up. He hung out for a while, took a massive shit, and then left.

[-]

TexGardenGirl@reddit

How did you know his name?

[-]

Late-External3249@reddit

Kinda looked like a Gary.

[-]

Khaleesi_dany_t@reddit

Manatees are my favorite!!! We went on a river boat tour in Louisiana once and there were signs to watch out for manatees but I never saw any

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

There are places in Mid Florida where you can see them in the St Johns River. A friend of mine who lives in that area took me to an area that's made for manatee viewing. So cool! Never seen anything like it. There was so many of them.

[-]

Maybeitsmeraving@reddit

Manatees are more of an active draw. But people were always terrified/excited to see an Alligator in my experience.

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

That's kind of like rattlesnakes where I live. If you go to certain places, you are probably going to encounter one. But most people aren't usually very happy that they did! I take that back, I know one person who was very happy. We were visiting my parents home in Tucson Arizona and my sister was going to go hiking with her husband and she told me where she was going hiking and I told her it was the time of year so to watch out for rattlesnakes and I also told her what to do if she saw one and kind of how to watch out, cuz your eyes have to always be scanning, especially in tall grass or on Sand where they look similar colors. Well she's not only encountered one that day, but she managed to encounter 2! One was a really close call and honestly she said would have gotten her, have I not want her about what to look for. She got really lucky! The places she went hiking or Nature Preserve type areas and rattlesnakes love places like that. Especially if there's warm rocks.

[-]

SMELLSLIKESHITCOTDAM@reddit

Manatees were the first animal that popped into my mind after alligators. People from out of state also lose their minds when they see anoles running around for some reason.

[-]

bisquitsngravy@reddit

We saw one at an Aquarium in key west, it was in the wild and swam right up to the pier. The one person told us that they tend to die mostly because they like people and are curious and will tend to get to close to boat propellers and then get chopped up.

[-]

reelbgpunk@reddit

I see them a bunch during the summer in Pinellas and it never gets old even for me!

[-]

silkywhitemarble@reddit

Went to Walt Disney World and one of the highlights was getting to see manatees at the aquarium at EPCOT.

[-]

somePig_buckeye@reddit

Both the Columbus Zoo and Cincinnati Zoo are part of the rehab program for manatees. They are cool to watch.

[-]

Minimum-Interview800@reddit

Did a girls trip to Crystal River fall of 24 and swam with the manatees. We even saw a baby. Coolest experience ever. Can't wait to go back and take my kids. The town was so cute and friendly.

[-]

ApartmentIcy957@reddit

Yup! I went on a two mile bike ride around my neighborhood this evening and saw two alligators, a dolphin, and a manatee!

It’s rare to see all three in one outing but I typically see something.

[-]

Help1Ted@reddit

I’m in Brevard and get to see them all the time. It’s pretty awesome. My wife actually had one come up under her kayak. Freaked us and it out. It’s actually really fun watching outsiders coming to see them

[-]

geckosean@reddit

My wife and I unapologetically gawked and took waaay too many photos and videos when we were visiting Vizcaya in Miami when a Mama and her calf swam into the boat dock!

All the other patrons seemed very blasé about it lol.

[-]

Turdulator@reddit

Seals and sea lions

Mountain lions

Bobcats

Rattle snakes

Sharks

Parrots

[-]

airforceteacher@reddit

For me, growing up up north lizards were things you saw in books or zoos or pets. Never in the wild, at least not where I was. Moving to the south and seeing lizards just surveying across the sidewalk or sinning themselves on your porch has not stopped being cool in 20 years.

[-]

PrincebyChappelle@reddit

Well, here in SoCal mountain lions and bears are normal, but even though we are in the region the reality that they are now wandering through our residential neighborhoods and even using our hot tubs (bears) is its own form of exciting.

[-]

Bananapopcicle@reddit

I remember a family member was amazed at the size of our black carpenter ants here in the south. I told her wait until you find out what a palmetto bug is…)

[-]

nevertell72@reddit

The bats in Austin, Texas, are an entire industry.

[-]

IcyCompetition7477@reddit

We have Wallabies on Oahu.

[-]

No_Cobbler154@reddit

i don’t think we have anything unique in SC. we have a lot of deer 😅 maybe on the coast there are things but i’m in the upstate

[-]

overeducatedhick@reddit

Pronghorns. I grew up thinking they were as ubiquitous as squirrels, until I met someone from the east who stopped and asked how much further they needed to travel in order to see them.

[-]

hammer415263@reddit

I have javalina and deer that I see pretty regularly in my neighborhood.

[-]

Last-Radish-9684@reddit

I'm in northern Arizona presently Lizards (lots of horny toads) and snakes (lots of rattle-y ones but unrattle-y ones, too), coyote, elk, antelope, owls, and of course cows sheep, goats, horses, dogs, cats, skunk, jackrabbits (hares), mice, and bats. Jackalopes, sometimes, if you're lucky.

I, personally, used to love having moose in the yard in Alaska. One year, we had a cow and her twins spend a season on our property. I also loved the salmon run on the Yukon, with all the the fish wheels. We lived in a fly-in village of less than 400 pop. on the Yukon River in the late 80s and early 90s. It was magnificent and peaceful.

[-]

deemarie1223@reddit

From what I recently found out, Bears! There's no bears in the UK!

[-]

Throwawayproroe@reddit

Bald eagles, great blue herons, orcas, gray whales, sea lions, seals, elephant seals, and sea otters to name a few!

[-]

TDFPH@reddit

Bears and moose 🫎

[-]

strangeristalking@reddit

I saw an armadillo for the first time in Alabama. It was very exciting coming from the midwest! Also Florida has a shit ton of birds I’ve never seen elsewhere. My favorite was the Roseate Spoonbill and my least favorite was a Muscovy Duck.

[-]

QueenAlpaca@reddit

Some that you mentioned (moose, bear, bison) exist here in Colorado, with the addition of big horn sheep, cougars, and mountain goats. Area-dependent, but I’ve seen them all here with the exception of a cougar. Also caught a glance of a marten crossing the road once, that was unexpected and cool. Also quite a few foxes. I’m up in the mountains specifically so I’ve had close encounters with moose, bear, and bighorn sheep. Was getting on WB I-70 from the canyon road coming from Golden and came across three big male sheep just screwing around in the road. Was neat af.

I’ve never been down south, much less to Florida. I’d love to see the gators, native snakes, and invasive wildlife from down there. Probably would keep a lizard or two lmao.

[-]

La-Sauge@reddit

Deer

[-]

AineDez@reddit

Everything seemed novel when I moved from New England to Miami. Feral parrots, 7 kinds of lizards including iguanas as long as your arm, manatees and dolphins in the bay, white ibis eating bugs in the yard like Yankees had robins and starlings. If I never see a cane toad again I'll be ok though. Only reason my basset isn't dead from toad poison is because the beagle wouldn't let her eat it

[-]

SkilledAccident@reddit

Northern MN-I’ve had bears on our deck, deer standing up on their back legs to eat apples or just taking a nap out in the yard, coyotes howling at night and sometimes wolves too. A few years ago I had a Mountain Lion in the tree by my garage. My neighbor said it killed one of their goats. Also pine martens, foxes and lots of wild rabbits. The occasional moose sighting.

[-]

YNABDisciple@reddit

Half the population of wild horses in the U.S. are in NV. You don’t have to drive far from Vegas to get to them.

[-]

Brief_Amphibian_3965@reddit

Sea otters are pretty cool and most people outside of California don’t get to see them

[-]

Jasminefirefly@reddit

I once had a friend from Florida who, when she moved to Arkansas, was shocked to see skunks (often dead on the roadway). She told me, "I never knew skunks were real! I thought Pepe le Pew was just a cartoon animal!"

[-]

Recent-Influence-965@reddit

Bears

[-]

nugsybugsy@reddit

I used to see chipmunks at my college which was only 4 hours away from my hometown and I was thrilled every time. Just didn’t have them where I lived and thought they were adorable!

My hometown animal list is similar to yours - whitetail deer are overpopulated, raccoons, armadillos, opossum, ducks, geese, bluejays and cardinals, alligators near water.

When I lived in NM, although not indigenous, I would see an African oryx every now and then. Felt like seeing a unicorn. They were once placed there for exotic game but then very quickly became overpopulated due to lack of predators. Fun fact :)

[-]

Ol_Man_J@reddit

I live in Oregon: Elk are decently common in some parts of the state, I am always surprised at how damn big they area

[-]

HippieGrandma1962@reddit

I was shocked the first time I saw a moose. I had always thought they were about as big as horses but they are huge and absolutely beautiful.

[-]

DLS3141@reddit

They’re like amphibious bulldozers. I saw one blowing through this swampy area full of saplings. All I could see over the brush was antlers and the top of his head hauling ass.

[-]

cecil021@reddit

When I was in college, the state of TN released a small herd of elk close to my school. I was headed back to my apartment from a field project one day and decided to take back roads. I started approaching what I thought was a buck deer on the side of the road from afar (which would be boring since I saw them all the time). However, once I got close enough, I realized it was a bull elk. He was taller than my car! I stopped for a few seconds to take it in, lol. He just stood there looking at me while munching on some grass.

[-]

anankepandora@reddit

That’s how I felt when I was driving through Vermont and saw a moose that had been hit by a car - it was being mercifully dispatched by animal control or law enforcement and was really really sad. And also HORRIFYING bc that thing was bigger than my entire car

[-]

wolfysworld@reddit

I LOVE the sound of bugling in big herd of elk! We have them in NM and every evening a big herd crosses my friend’s property. I love when there are babies! Very cool animals and SO big!

[-]

RIP_prev_account@reddit

Haha, I saw elk for the first time in '23. I thought they would be similar size to a deer maybe. NOPE

[-]

paellapup@reddit

When they run on Cannon Beach that’s pretty epic

[-]

Just-Blacksmith3769@reddit

This was the first thing that came to mind when I read OP’s post.

[-]

earmares@reddit

I'm going to have to look that up. I love the Coast. I see elk pretty often, but in the mountains. That's got to be beautiful!

[-]

paellapup@reddit

There’s a couple viral videos of them. Worth a google search

[-]

catm0m4lyfe@reddit

My sibling sent me a video they caught of this recently. Unreal.

[-]

Nattie_Cake@reddit

We have elk in PA, too. They're like freaking HORSES with antlers. And not like those "therapy horses" that are small or scraggly. I'm talking bigger than a full size quarter horse. HUGE SHOULDERS!

[-]

borisdidnothingwrong@reddit

I've seen elk and moose in the Rocky Mountains.

The last moose I saw was grazing in a traffic circle in Park City, Utah with its calf, and tourists were walking up to within about 20 feet to get pictures and videos.

Meanwhile I'm 100 feet away in my car just itching for the looky-loos to stop blocking traffic because I don't want to be within a quarter mile of an animal that is bigger than a Clydesdale who may be aggressively protecting its offspring at any moment.

I've come across brown and black bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, scorpions, elk, and moose in the wild, and the ones that scared me the most were moose and elk.

All the other dangerous animals were a little skittish in a very "they're more scared of you than you are of them" kind of way. Moose and elk stand and exude a "I could fuck you UP" menacing aura, and its clear they are bad news if they want to be.

[-]

LeGrandePoobah@reddit

I’m in Utah and I’ve “ran into” elk on hiking and backpacking trips. When I was in college, one summer there was a mom and calf at a youth camp I worked at, in the mountains east of Cark city. I saw them daily. I never felt nervous around them except for once- when I walked out of the trees into a grassy area and I looked left and saw the mom, then looked right and saw the calf. I did a 180 and walked all the way around them a different way. She wasn’t aggressive towards me, I just didn’t want to give her a reason to do so. I think a lot of the animals that live in the wilderness urban interface like Park City get used to the people- but I still would never risk it. A moose can charge across 20’ about as quick as two blinks.

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

I live near the Rocky Mountains and we often get Wayward moose that make their way into the city. I shouldn't say often but it's happened a few times, certainly more than once or twice, usually adolescents, male adolescence or finding their own way in life, yeah they're baby moose but they're still huge, they're almost a thousand pounds. We had one that made its way into town and hung out for a good 2 weeks. Kind of the same area so everybody knew where it was and would just go watch it, I cannot tell you the number of idiots who literally went within 5 ft of this moose just trying to get pictures of it! Not too long ago in fact I don't remember if it was here or in another state a woman was trying to get a selfie with herself in the moose. Didn't end well for her although it could have been much worse than it was. I think people just don't realize how he gigantic they are! They can hurt you without even trying to hurt you. And yeah same with elk I've been around the million elk and sometimes it's hard to stay away from them because they walk through anywhere, they don't care that there's people there and you have to really make an effort to get out of their way because they might be just fine with you, until they're not and I've seen that happen a few times. They're fine with the million people who are just looking but if somebody tries to get close enough to interact with them, they don't like it and they get annoyed and I'm sorry but an annoyed elk is not usually a sign that something good is going to happen!

[-]

Pumasense-2025@reddit

When I was young (35?) My family and me were headed to the Grand Canyon and stopped in Parker AZ at a park to use the restrooms. I leaned up against a tree, waiting for my kids to finish in the bathroom. I was watching carefully the bathroom door. I heard something back over my my shoulder, looked, and it was a male Elk, in rutt, running straight at me!!!

My husband saw from the car, and drove right up to me on the lawn. By the time he got to me, I was circling the tree with Man Elk trying to get me!

My girls had come out of the bathroom just in time for me jump in the car, and us to drive up and get them!

Yes, they are HUGE!!

[-]

Nattie_Cake@reddit

Whoa! I wonder if it was mating season or something?! And YOU were the mate! (Depends on what you were wearing, though, according to most men...)

[-]

Quirky-Bar4236@reddit

People are always quite surprised by the tarantulas crossing our roads.

[-]

CahabaL@reddit

I was not expecting to see elk on the beach when I was in Cannon Beach in August. I was expecting sea stars, but not moose sized elk. Those Oregon elk are much bigger than Tennessee elk! Oregon is beautiful.

[-]

Altril2010@reddit

They are stupidly heavy when you are packing them out after hunting.

[-]

Psyko_sissy23@reddit

I live in Arizona. Every time I see an elk, I still stop and look at them for awhile. One time I was on my computer in the middle of the night playing video games. It felt like something was watching me. I turn to my window and there's a bull elk staring at me. I about had a heart attack. I did not expect that at 4am.

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

Good vibes

[-]

katsiebee@reddit

Up here in Washington, I always tell people if you want to see elk, just drive through Packwood. I see them there about 75% of the time I drive highway 12. And during the winter they feed them at Oak Creek. You can do tours with hundreds of wild elk, just hanging out.

[-]

payasopeludo@reddit

I saw an elk in the Smoky mountains one time. Took me a second to realize what I was looking at because it was twice the size of any white tail I had ever seen.

[-]

Pauzhaan@reddit

Moose, elk, black bears, mountain lions, coyotes excite the tourists.

I’d like to see orcas.

[-]

SecretDragonfly6343@reddit

Normal to see an armadillo every few weeks, exciting to go out west and see roadrunners and ravens

[-]

SmokedPumpkin@reddit

Roadrunners. Snakes. Scorpions. Tarantulas. Jackalopes.

[-]

milady_15@reddit

I'm from MN - my kids (and I) get excited to see animals in the ocean. They also get very excited to see lizards when we travel.

[-]

TraditionalSafety384@reddit

Elk, prairie dogs, coyotes, black bear and mountain lions are not uncommon but people get pretty excited about cardinals

[-]

Ok_Weekend_8457@reddit

Prairie Dogs are super common in Colorado, and it took me years after moving from the east coast to get used to seeing them everywhere. They’re so cute.

[-]

CCsince86@reddit

Are you an Idahomie? Cause I was about to post exactly this!

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

Idk if you've ever visited Florida but the lizards are not cute after a few days lol. They poop everywhere and I'm pretty sure there are more lizards than people down there lol not to mention the massive dumps iguanas leave on your car. MASSIVE. DUMPS.

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

We didn't used to have iguanas but people brought them in and they are kind of aggressive too. I like chameleons but not iguanas.

[-]

Am_I_a_Guinea_Pig@reddit

Man, I'm from Wisconsin where cardinals are native year-round and I still get excited about them. They're such pretty birds!

[-]

Interesting_Yak8052@reddit

My backyard in Florida is full of cardinals. Sometimes 6 or 7 at a time eating from my bird feeders. Both males and females.

[-]

Expert-Agent-1145@reddit

Roadrunners. They look like tiny ostrich velociraptors.

[-]

JungleBoyJeremy@reddit

Mongoose and sea turtles

[-]

Financial-Cry-9093@reddit

Denver, CO suburbs: prairie dogs, coyotes and today a wild turkey.

[-]

BlowFish-w-o-Hootie@reddit

Longhorn cattle.

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

Horny toads

[-]

United_Gift3028@reddit

Geckos, little lizards all over the yard.

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

I get tired of them always trying to sell me insurance

[-]

Mackheath1@reddit

I have a resident Ringtail Cat (think like a lemur) and the world's largest diamond back rattlesnake in the greenway immediately behind my townhouse.

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

Horned lizards and armadillos

[-]

Effective-Memory9457@reddit

Longhorn steer

[-]

kalelopaka@reddit

Bobcats, wolves, coyotes, peregrine falcons, marsh hawks. The ones you listed are pretty common in Kentucky, but we have those I listed as well.

[-]

Neenknits@reddit

Whales, sharks, jelly fish, and horseshoe crabs.

[-]

FlatlinedKilljoy@reddit

My cousin had some friends visiting from England and they lost their shit over alligators, bobcats, coyotes, and the several species of venomous snakes we have in Alabama.

[-]

erindreg@reddit

Alligators are fairly unique to my region.

[-]

RedLegGI@reddit

We have The American White Pelican that migrates through and stays a few weeks here on its way to breeding grounds. We have a man made lade near us that they use and and bring in the middle of. Where Ohio, people come from all over to see them. We also have Bald Eagles, but those are growing in population in the state.

[-]

Successful-Safety858@reddit

Here in MN the turkeys are feral and roam right up to you. That was a shock to me moving here and people love to take pictures of them.

[-]

datagirl60@reddit

Alligators

[-]

dirt_mcgirt4@reddit

I've read that some people out west think that fireflies are not real, like fairies. They are very real and very cool; unfortunately I don't see them as much as I used it.

[-]

Namemnamem@reddit

I’m from the west coast and saw fireflies in DC for the first time in my life a few summers ago and could not believe what I was seeing. I sat for an hour watching them. If you didn’t grow up with them it is insane that a bug can glow.

[-]

MadameLurksALot@reddit

This thread is my first realization people in the continental US don’t see these on the regular! I grew up with them and it’s still magical as an adult. I’m so sad now thinking people are missing this!

[-]

Mychihuahuaisevil@reddit

That was me!!! Until I moved to the Midwest and saw my first one. I might have cried...

[-]

Kscarpetta@reddit

I saw one night before last. In Kentucky. They're not usually out this early...

They aren't NEARLY as prevalent as they were :( Growing up, they were everywhere during the summer. Now they're sporadic.

[-]

Acrobatic_End6355@reddit (OP)

I used to love seeing them. When I was far away from them because I don’t like bugs.

[-]

northstarlinedrawing@reddit

We have some bigass rats around here that take visitors by surprise

[-]

socalfishman@reddit

Casual Coyotes here in Southern California.

Like they hang out in the parking lot of my work office and walk up and down our street without a care.

We even had someone in our town have their dog attacked while she was walking it (fairly common) but the crazy part is she saved the dog, took it the vet and when she got back the coyotes were just hanging on her lawn waiting for her to get back with the dog.

[-]

Smolmanth@reddit

Wild turkey. They get big.

[-]

Main_Insect_3144@reddit

Road runners, rattlesnakes, horned lizards, pronghorn antelope, elk, and mustangs.

[-]

DrBlowtorch@reddit

Turkeys, fireflies, alligator snapping turtles, Hellbenders, river otters, and the occasional bull shark. That last one is interesting because I’m from Missouri, a doubly landlocked state in the middle of the country.

[-]

ShinyAppleScoop@reddit

My husband is a bird watcher. He absolutely loves seeing new birds, recording them, taking pictures, logging dates and locations, etc. He's from india, and he was SO EXCITED the first time he saw a Canada goose. He's the only person I have ever seen be excited about those hissing and shitting rage turkeys.

[-]

Traditional_Trust418@reddit

Stop approaching the elk, moose, and bison. They aren't friendly and they will attack you if they feel threatened? I have first hand witnessed someone get their truck rammed into by a bison because they got way too close.

They may be exciting to you if you never see them, but please don't approach them! Bring binoculars on your national park trip!

[-]

Justin_inc@reddit

Apparently, cows.

I worked for a little camp place near Nashville that rented out kayaks, and I was one of the drivers who hauled people and boats up to the drop off point. The amount of people who had apparently never seen a cow in person was insane.

[-]

Able-Paramedic8908@reddit

I was at a western US national park, and a group of British women were discussing all the baby squirrels they were seeing. I mentioned that they were chipmunks, not baby squirrels, and they were so excited.

Conversely, when we were in Australia I was excited at seeing cockatoos flying around. The tour guide just sourly said “Rats with wings.”

[-]

billwoodcock@reddit

Bald eagles. Bison. Pronghorns. Jackalope.

[-]

RadiatingRipple@reddit

Still looking for my first drop bear in Oz.

[-]

voltairesalias@reddit

I'm in Alberta, Canada but I'll speak for MT and WY - Pronghorns.

[-]

MamaPajamaMama@reddit

We almost hit a pronghorn last week on the drive from Walden to Steamboat Springs in CO. I'd never seen one that close to the road before. Fortunately it ran in the other direction and not onto the road. They are very cool animals.

[-]

beaudujour@reddit

They have them in the southwestern US as well.

[-]

Fancy-Restaurant4136@reddit

I saw antelope in Utah and it made my trip. Pronghorn specifically? Idk.

[-]

voltairesalias@reddit

I'm pretty sure it's synonymous.

[-]

TexGardenGirl@reddit

Yeah pronghorns are not even technically antelopes but we have no true antelopes native to North America. But pronghorns are magnificent!

[-]

Fancy-Restaurant4136@reddit

Cool. thanks

[-]

markpemble@reddit

Came here to mention pronghorn. I'm sure if someone from the East saw one, they would stop and be amazed.

They are super stiff but very graceful at the same time.

[-]

sharpshooter999@reddit

Eastern Nebraska here. I get excited seeing them in the western half of my own state lol

[-]

nipplecancer@reddit

I used to see them almost every day on my drive to work (Colorado). Never got tired of it!

[-]

LippyLulu2@reddit

Bunny rabbits. My neighborhood has retained some rural characteristics despite being annexed and built around many years ago. Everyone who is not from here is so excited about the bunnies, whereas I am just traumatized by the time my cat brought me one as a "gift."

[-]

Syndromia@reddit

The first time I saw a manatee in the wild I was 7 and I was so excited I cried.

[-]

fook75@reddit

I've lived in Minnesota my entire life. I see wolves, bears, Moose, deer etc all the time.

I would die if I could go somewhere that I could see whales.

[-]

Runneymeade@reddit

Moved from East Coast to West Coast. The different birds are fascinating to me.

[-]

yensid7@reddit

We get raccoons, fox, coyotes, turkeys, and deer in my back yard all the time (and I live in a fairly metropolitan area), but I think what gets people most excited are the bald eagles. They live up here in Minnesota in the summer, and since I live on water, they're always around.

Fireflies are exciting for those who haven't seen them.

[-]

schmelk1000@reddit

My French boyfriend still gets excited when he sees a whitetail deer out in a field or along the road.

When I was in Poland, I was so shocked to see a wild jeż (hedgehog!) in a city park.

[-]

OhSassafrass@reddit

I bought a cabin in the Sierra Nevada mountains. At first I was thrilled to see a small bear on my camera. But then he kept coming back. He seemed to know when trash day was. And he got bigger and bigger. I’ve had to cancel my trash service because he claws at the door of the shed where it’s locked up.

Same thing with the mountain lion. I was in awe the first time I got it on camera, it was huge. Its paw prints are the size of my palms. A few weeks ago o heard something on my deck just after the sun went down, but I figured it was the turkeys hoping from deck to trees. I went out there 10 minutes later to feed hire out why one of my decks lights wasn’t on. I found it was completely missing, and there was fresh mountain lion tracks on my deck. Now I’m afraid to go outside after dark.

[-]

marc4128@reddit

I see foxes all the time. Maryland/Suburban Wash DC.

[-]

frame-gray@reddit

Southern California native and Baby Boomer here.

When I was a kid, before climate change, we still had ladybugs and dragonflies. I remember them flying around our backyard during a rare outdoor party.

I still miss them.

[-]

TeamTurnus@reddit

I grew up in Florida so ill answer for some of that as well as Georgia.

Common critters that aren't everywhere in usa Alligators, Armadillos, various crane and birds.

Otherwise we have the pretty wide range of common animals like raccoons, crows, all sorts of good birds, deer etc coyote etc.

[-]

haley84200@reddit

We have wild ponies here, on a barrier island. Tourists go nuts, forgetting the wild part. I like them, but keep a long respectful distance.

[-]

Tjtod@reddit

Tbf there are only 4 places in the US and 5 in North America that have barrier island ponies.

[-]

Working_Wasabi5189@reddit

Bruh you said everything that you can find in my state there ain’t nothing else. But I do live in a pretty boring state besides Chicago we’re like boring.

[-]

DznyMa@reddit

I'm a CA native and seen several and I have traveled a bit. I've seen several types of animals but I've never seen a cardinal in the wild or fireflies. They are both on my bucket list.

[-]

ForestFreakPNW@reddit

I dont travel. (who can afford it?) But where I live there are bears, cougars, foxes, elk, wolves, and deer as well as many birds of prey. Falcons, eagles, hawks, and osprey. Lots of frogs. Butterflies. All of which people seem to enjoy. As well as game fish, like several salmon species etc.

[-]

Maleficent-Hawk-318@reddit

Roadrunners are particularly notable because there are some adults who don't even know they're real. For some reason a lot of people assume they were made up for the cartoon. 😂

Porcupines get people really excited too.

Used to live somewhere with oryx, but to be fair they're introduced.

[-]

openthemic@reddit

There's a roadrunner that stops by the back of my office building, just to see what I'm having for lunch. We'll have a nice conversation, then he'll take for his next murder.

[-]

FrankClymber@reddit

I've got a pair who run thru my back yard a lot in NTX. I always put some peanuts out when I see them, and they've been letting me get a little closer.

[-]

Elenakalis@reddit

My husband grew up in Pennsylvania. He had never seen a road runner or armadillo before I brought him to Louisiana to meet my family.

[-]

razzberrytori@reddit

Nope. We don’t have those here.

[-]

OPsDearOldMother@reddit

I got within like 3 feet of a big roadrunner today. We were walking towards each other and I was sure it was going to take off the other direction but I had to stop and let it cross in front of me, it wasn't scared at all.

[-]

Sometimeswan@reddit

Did he say “meep meep”?

[-]

queercactus505@reddit

Had a pair of roadrunners living in my neighborhood. One day we had front door and back door open to get a cross-breeze and a roadrunner ran into our living room, stopped and looked at us, we stared back, and then it ran out the other door. Just a speedy little neighbor passing through 😄

[-]

Interesting_Yak8052@reddit

I would love to see a porcupine in the wild!

[-]

whatever_rita@reddit

They’re bigger than you think. And slow. They just kind of mosey along. And they sleep in trees and sometimes fall out. If you hear a crash in the woods at night, might just be a porcupine

[-]

Interesting_Yak8052@reddit

😆😆😆

[-]

catm0m4lyfe@reddit

Not going to lie, first time I saw a porcupine just chilling in a tree I about lost my shit. They're so cute!! Little stabby cats!

[-]

Brennan-C@reddit

We have bald eagles in Louisiana. A mated pair on one of my dad’s properties he allows LSU to come out and study. Maybe not unusual, but a rare beautiful sight to see!

[-]

Prinessbeca@reddit

They're everywhere in my corner of Iowa, but folks get very excited about them. And, too be fair, I grew up like an hour from here and never saw until I was in my 30s. Now I see them every day. The population is exploding and it's pretty cool.

[-]

InannasPocket@reddit

I see them just about every day (northern Minnesota), but I'm old enough to remember when they were really rare, so I still get excited!

[-]

Gloomy-Albatross-843@reddit

Can confirm in central MN. I see them almost every day now and still get excited. They're just so majestic. And fucking huge!

[-]

ExistentialWonder@reddit

My husband and I were driving and we popped over a small hill to see a bald eagle in the middle of the road nomming some roadkill. He slammed on the brakes so fast haha. We're in kansas and have been seeing them more and more lately so that was cool.

[-]

deafballboy@reddit

I was just watching Wild America and there's a scene where they lose their minds trying to get footage of a bald eagle. I see at least one any time I go lake fishing, and dozens anytime I'm fishing the river. I'm glad they've recovered so much over the last half century.

[-]

KatrinaPez@reddit

I'm glad they're coming back. The pair at our zoo makes me so sad because there isn't enough room in their cage for them to fly mych. 😥

[-]

Cool-Bunch6645@reddit

Same in NJ. I see them with some regularity these days. This has only become a thing in the past few years. I don think I saw a wild one before 2020 unless you did serious bird watching

[-]

NastyNate4@reddit

Rare but do see them in Florida. Walking the kids to school when i heard a loud plop sounds behind me. Turn to see a fish in a driveway. Look up to see a bald eagle being harassed by two other birds.

[-]

AdhesivenessWeary377@reddit

Came to say something similar. They are everywhere here in se MN. Also Canada gooses.

[-]

greenleaves3@reddit

There's a lot of bald eagles in my area too. The first time I saw one i thought i was so lucky to see this incredibly rare sight. And then the next day I drove by 6 of them just hanging out by the road. Now I see them all over town all the time, so i guess they are not that rare anymore. Still cool though.

[-]

toodleroo@reddit

We have a mated pair that has nested here in the heart of Dallas for the last few years, Nick and Nora. They've become a local sensation.

[-]

sermitthesog@reddit

It’s awesome seeing their numbers recovering.

[-]

firelock_ny@reddit

There's some of them who hunt along the Mohawk River where I work.

[-]

cptjeff@reddit

In DC we had a mated pair with a webcam set up when the male started bringing another female to the nest when his mate was out hunting.

[-]

SinisterSnoot@reddit

In WA it’s not uncommon to see aquatic mammals like otters, seals, and whales. Where I grew up these creatures were only routinely viewable at some horrible “park.” I have lived in WA for over 20 years and still get excited to see an otter

[-]

Gloomy-Albatross-843@reddit

That's because otters are the cutest!!!

[-]

highlyunlikely2@reddit

From the Eastern side of the state in Washington, we don't see sea creatures. We see bald eagles, osprey, turkeys, elk, deer, coyotes, raccoons, marmots, and occasionally a river otter.

[-]

StrawberryAqua@reddit

Yeah, I’m sure everyone would be surprised to see a whale in the Columbia River, not to mention in an orchard.

[-]

scrabblex@reddit

Otters are my favorite animal, I'm jealous you get to see them like that.

[-]

Darth_Lacey@reddit

My area has had a handful of beaver sightings we’ve been pretty excited about

[-]

kmrm2019@reddit

Grew up on puget sound and now live outside of maple valley. I went from eating breakfast watching seals, otters and eagles to now watching black bears, bobcats and elk out my breakfast window. Our state has amazing wildlife!

[-]

Wonderful-Truck-3301@reddit

All the jellies too!

[-]

jmstrats@reddit

We’ve seen a bear running alongside the road before it crossed in front of us and took off into the woods. I have run into elk on the trail at the Hoh. Came around a corner and saw 4 huge butts. We backed up fast.
We have cougars, mountain lions and coyotes.

[-]

Prestigious-Craft251@reddit

Fireflys, bald eagles, sometimes alligators

[-]

Bird_Watcher1234@reddit

I am Florida born and raised. My relatives from other states come here and they expect alligators and stuff because they have heard about them. The thing that surprises them and gets the biggest reactions are lizards. It’s hilarious! They really freak out when they see my house lizards, because they just come in when the door is open, love my plants, make babies and are wonderful housemates. I do not have issues with bugs :) But it’s funny watching the adults freak out and the kids wanting to catch them, but too scared to actually do it. The slow creep up and slow efforts are funny, I do tell them you have to be really quick. When I attach one to my earlobe it totally grosses them out, even the guys. My husband still won’t touch a lizard after being a Floridian for 29 years. Someday I’ll take them down to Miami or the Keys so they can see the iguanas and totally blow their minds.

My personal favorite to see, other than Florida panthers which I’ve only ever seen 2 in the wild, are fox squirrels. I only saw my first one last year because I never spent much time in the woods growing up. I did not know what they were. They are so cute and very fun to watch.

[-]

Jobrien7613@reddit

California Condors. They’re still pretty rare but a lot around where I live and people will travel to see them.

[-]

PinchedTazerZ0@reddit

People flipped out over armadillo when I lived there, got terrified when I was like "oh theres a bear somewhere around, thats bear shit" in the yoop, and people get fascinated by iguanas and alligators in florida

When I lived in Arizona roadrunners were entertaining to some people but everyone flipped out over tumbleweed hahaha "this shit is real?!"

[-]

Maxxonry_Prime@reddit

The funny part is tumble weeds aren't native to America, they're Russian.

[-]

StrawberryAqua@reddit

“They’re a Russian inwention.”

[-]

etchedchampion@reddit

I would be stoked to see a tumbleweed IRL.

[-]

Peachy-Queen-12358@reddit

They are a pokey nightmare

[-]

etchedchampion@reddit

Yeah I wouldn't want to touch one, just see it.

[-]

Fit_March_4279@reddit

Especially when you have to drive through a bunch of tumbleweeds in a sand storm!

[-]

sluttypidge@reddit

A girl I went to university literally caught a tumbleweed and made me take a picture so she could send it to her family. She was from Wisconsin and totally blown away.

[-]

PinchedTazerZ0@reddit

Hahaha I pretty much grew up in north texas but didn't see any in the state until I was heading west for a football game driving through West Texas I was like "oh neat! A tumbleweed!"

My roommates were like "you fucking idiot"

[-]

Heatmap_BP3@reddit

You're Marshallese who lived in Texas? Ran into a bunch of them in Cleburne. Yeah I'd say the armadillo.

[-]

PinchedTazerZ0@reddit

Yeah! Surprising population there. I heard Arkansas has a pretty big population too

They are kind of freaky looking, I had just never considered it from an outsider perspective. Almost dinosaur like lol

[-]

ryamanalinda@reddit

They are moving north. I see them frequently in the road in st. Louis area. Dead, of course.

[-]

whatiswrongwithme675@reddit

We have armadillos in South Carolina too now, and gators. My husband even saw a bald eagle six months ago.

[-]

kirbyderwood@reddit

I grew up in Arizona. Back then, there would be giant fields of tumbleweeds between the suburban developments. Nothing but tumbleweeds, 5-6 feet high. Us kids would hack little mazes through them and build forts.

Some kids had forests, we had dirt lots filled with dead brown weeds.

[-]

Chickens-In-Pants@reddit

Everything! Hundreds of species of beautiful tropical fish and birds, geckos inside your house, loud coqui frogs at night.

[-]

txlady100@reddit

Rattlesnakes are not weird in Texas though usually not in suburbia. It’s a big state.

[-]

gravitycheckfailed@reddit

We have nutria, gators, and huge mosquitos. If you've never seen one before, t's difficult to look at a nutria and not immediately wonder WTF you're looking at.

[-]

cookiemae22@reddit

Ohio. My bother in law saw them and asked what are those? The were lighting bugs.

[-]

Low_Ad_786@reddit

Bald eagles

[-]

Heykurat@reddit

Cardinals. I'm in California and we don't get to see brightly colored birds. OTOH, we do get to see red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, and other cool stuff.

[-]

law_dweeb@reddit

Arizona-New Mexico

Roadrunners
Javalina
Coatis

All are super common and people find them adorable.

[-]

EBDBspellsBed@reddit

Most think Javelina are ugly, but I think they’re adorable too, especially the babies. I get to see them when I visit family in AZ. Bobcats like to hang out in my parents’ backyard, along with the occasional rattlesnake (both of which we have in CA).

[-]

Dick-the-Peacock@reddit

And Gila monsters!

[-]

dead_Competition5196@reddit

And scorpions

[-]

asdfpickle@reddit

Where do you live that coatis are super common? I've never seen one so I should like to visit (kidding). I've only ever heard of them in southern AZ hanging around places like Madera or Sabino canyons.

[-]

law_dweeb@reddit

Used to see them as a kid growing up along the Rio Grande in Southern NM, and Ive lived in Tucson twice. In Tucson, theyre very common around the neighborhoods closest to mountains like the Catalinas or Rincons

[-]

pheen@reddit

Can confirm. I’m from Minnesota and was pumped to see a Javalina running through a neighborhood in Sedona.

[-]

Minimum-Interview800@reddit

How did I not know coatis were native to North America? I would be so excited to see that!

[-]

mesembryanthemum@reddit

They are expanding their territory; they didn't used to be found in Arizona.

[-]

durandall09@reddit

I saw a group of Coatis for the first time last year and they were really fucking cool! Still have yet to see a Javalina though. Quail are hilarious too. (Recent Arizona transplant)

[-]

unabashedlyabashed@reddit

The town where I grew up has black squirrels. They're just melanistic gray squirrels, but that's a dominant trait in that tiny corner of the state. Even people coming in from an hour away are amazed.

[-]

Riker_Omega_Three@reddit

trash pandas

[-]

no2rdifferent@reddit

Bison in New Mexico

[-]

Stray_Wing@reddit

I like to see eagles, elk, and moose. Don’t have those ‘round here.

[-]

rbarr228@reddit

I traveled to New Orleans recently and the city had a lot of crows, and all I am used to seeing is grackles in Texas. Corvids are awesome to see in person.

[-]

spookybatshoes@reddit

I live in the burbs and there's a sizable murder in my neighborhood.

[-]

1337b337@reddit

During COVID, I noticed my county had a massive uptick of grackles and starlings, they ended up displacing the native blue jays, crows and chickadees for a few years before subsiding.

I gotta say, a tree full of starlings is pretty damn annoying to hear right outside your window.

[-]

rbarr228@reddit

They are loud.

[-]

send2steph@reddit

Last year, in Rochester MN, I saw hundreds of crows. I've never seen so many!

[-]

Kels121212@reddit

Ha not necessarily a good excitement. Ever hear of a palmetto bug?

[-]

Poupoo42@reddit

You would have a hard time finding these but I really like these two.

Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel (Endangered) & Red Wolfs (Critically Endangered)

[-]

cats-n-cafe@reddit

California: elephant seals. It’s a whole thing and they take over whole beaches in Northern California

[-]

4MuddyPaws@reddit

We had a visitor from Australia who was thrilled to see squirrels.

I'm in the US, but the first time I saw bison in the wild was really exciting. Then the prairie dogs were as much so.

[-]

Astro_Birch_317@reddit

Alaskan here. I freaking LOVE prairie dogs. Chipmunks, too.

[-]

M_Ad@reddit

I’m Australian. When I went to New York City on holiday I couldn’t believe how squirrels were EVERYWHERE in Central Park (it was January so snow covering everything, hadn’t seen that IRL ever either) or how tame they were. One ran up my arm and sat on my head. Another tourist filmed me but afterwards we had a language barrier and I couldn’t convey to her to please message the video to me on my number. It haunted me for ages after there might be a video of me in Central Park, NYC, with a squirrel on my head out there on social media that I couldn’t locate, lol.

[-]

ZestycloseAd5918@reddit

There’s a bison paddock a few blocks from my house. We literally keep 6 or so of them in Golden Gate Park here in San Francisco

[-]

joekryptonite@reddit

Australians go nuts over squirrels! On a tour to BC, Canada, we had to stop the bus so they could take pictures. The North Americans on the bus just smiled, and admitted that if the tables were turned and we were in Australia, we would be asking to stop the bus for a kangaroo.

[-]

Material_Positive@reddit

PNW native. Walking around Minneapolis I was amazed at wild turkeys roaming the streets.

[-]

HitPointGamer@reddit

I visited a place where white squirrels are common; so cute! They’re a variant of grey squirrels, but are mostly white with a grey stripe on the head and maybe down their back.

Tanuki in Japan are pretty cool, but you’re asking about places in the US.

[-]

EatTheir_FacesOff@reddit

Was walking a job candidate from NY back to her car when she stopped dead in her tracks and was like “What is that??” I looked and it was a blue heron. Then, it darted its head forward, snatched up a lizard, and starting scarfing it down. The lady was so shocked and she whispered, “I can’t wait to tell my son.” I was like welcome to Florida lol.

[-]

Arretez1234@reddit

A hummingbird! Turns out they're only native to the Americas and my uncle was ecstatic when he was visiting, seeing a hummingbird on our flowers.

[-]

spookybatshoes@reddit

Alligators are pretty normal to see around here. I live in a drained swamp. People take tours to see alligators. I have raccoons in my yard and people are always excited to see them, no matter where they're from.

I get excited to see roadrunners when I'm in New Mexico, and I like bison FROM A DISTANCE in Yellowstone. I would probably be excited and terrified if I saw a moose. I got ridiculously excited to see a black squirrel in Toronto. (Canada, but still.) We only have the gray ones here. I get excited to see bats no matter where I am. We have them here too. I was very excited to see a fox when I was in London, England. We don't have suburban foxes where I live.

[-]

madmoore95@reddit

We just have bobcats that probably aren't as common outside of the PA/WV/MD area. Everything else is just, black bears, red foxes, racoons for days, all the white tail deer you could ever wanna see, bald eagles, squirrels, chipmunks, and other common Northern American animals

[-]

Kaka-doo-run-run@reddit

I had a buddy in college (an exchange student from Sydney, Australia), who went nuts on a hiking trip when he saw a squirrel. He immediately proceeded to use up an entire roll of 35mm film snapping photos of the fluffy tree-rat.

[-]

Astro_Birch_317@reddit

I was born and raised in Alaska, so bald eagles are as common as crows. I was hosting a relative from the East Coast and about a week into her stay, she saw an eagle and I though she might pass out from the excitement. Afterwards, she told me how lucky she felt that she had gotten to see that eagle ... I didn't have the heart to tell her that I had seen a dozen other eagles while we were touring around, but it hadn't occurred to me to point them out to her because I'm just so used to them.

Also. I often see humpback whales or orcas from the parking lot of the Safeway. Black bears use my stairs as a shortcut all summer long, so I have to check for them before I let my dog outside.

On the other hand, Alaska doesn't have opossum, raccoons, or snakes. I lose my mind any time I see those critters on my travels ... and I get heckled for it often.

[-]

Individual_Check_442@reddit

Roadrunners.

[-]

Safford1958@reddit

Tarantulas and road runners.

[-]

Arkhamina@reddit

When I studied abroad in Sweden as a young'n I was absolutely captivated by an 'igelkott' - hedgehog. I took photos and laid on the grass and watched it toddle around the yard. They thought that was hilarious.

Then later I found out that they had like, normal turtles, box ones there in a zoo, along with skunks. Two things that are absolutely just normal North American animals. Sweden has no native turtles at all. As a kid I learned how to move stonking big snapper turtles by waving a thick branch in front of them. They bite on and can be gently led by the mouth. (For their own safety, sometimes sunning yourself on a narrow road is a poor choice, buddy)

[-]

Maklava@reddit

Maybe armadillos? Also I learned in this thread that cardinals are interesting. There’s a lot of those around my yard.

[-]

MetroBS@reddit

The only thing I can think of that’s somewhat unique to this area is horseshoe crabs

[-]

lyralady@reddit

Hello fellow AZ -> DE transplant!

For de: horseshoe crabs, I agree!

For Arizona, I once had a friend from maryland not realize that Roadrunners are indeed real birds and not just the cartoon. Which was delightful to me. (Gila monsters for a good second option!)

[-]

missmarie9519@reddit

On a similar note my (AZ) boyfriend (MA) did not know what a tamale was before moving here. I forget the eastcoast is not as exposed to Latin American culture and food.

[-]

NoAward8304@reddit

The east coast may not have as much Latin American culture but we do have plenty of it and tamales are well known. This sounds like a your boyfriend issue rather than an east coast issue.

[-]

missmarie9519@reddit

Wow! You are so cultured.

[-]

NoAward8304@reddit

I’m not and that is my point. You do t have to be cultured to be from the east coast and know what tamales are. That is general knowledge just about everywhere.

[-]

MetroBS@reddit

Haha no way

Gila monsters definitely, and javelinas are always fun to explain to people

[-]

Unusual-Material9443@reddit

we have roadrunners all over south texas. dawn and dusk there are dozens of them.

[-]

RockStar5132@reddit

Imagine my surprise and horror on my trip to Phoenix when I saw a fucking tarantula

[-]

mesembryanthemum@reddit

They're harmless and kind of personable.

[-]

Desert_Quilter@reddit

Visitors and natives love to watch the javalinas. You need to stay back and out of their way but it's rather cool to see them rambling around. Except when they are destroying the vegetation in your yard!

[-]

catm0m4lyfe@reddit

I had a (very intelligent) boss who was not from here. The first time she saw one she was fascinated at how small they were, because she'd only ever seen the cartoon version. Hilarious to watch her realize.

[-]

hippiechick725@reddit

Meep meep!

[-]

Mlliii@reddit

They move so fun too. Very mission oriented.

[-]

ZestycloseAd5918@reddit

These creep me out so much. The fire time I ever saw one was in Cape Cod

[-]

1337b337@reddit

Beaches at the end of summer on the Cape are like, Dead Horseshoe Crab Central.

[-]

EaglesFanGirl@reddit

horse shoe crabs are common on the east coast

[-]

MetroBS@reddit

And the majority of them are born in Delaware, we are their largest breeding ground

[-]

EaglesFanGirl@reddit

Delaware Bay but most are in DE and NJ beaches

[-]

sanka@reddit

Freaked the fuck out when I saw one. A dozen, right there on the shore. They're like 500mil years old. Was so happy I saw one on a trip out east.

For one I don't care about? Bald Eagle. I've been ice fishing in Minneapolis city limits and tried to keep a nice fish a few times, but eagles have stolen them right off the ice two feet from me. Twice. Hurricane of wing noise and yoink!

Fuckers.

[-]

Mysterious_Peas@reddit

Your description. Hurricane of wing noise and yoink! 🤣💀

[-]

cptjeff@reddit

Eagles are cowards and scavengers and that's a big part of the reason Ben Franklin thought the Turkey should be the national bird. Distinctly American, won't back down and will fuck your shit up. Also a symbol of abundance and plenty.

[-]

sanka@reddit

Go to bed Benjy. You're drunk.

[-]

Former-Initial4718@reddit

I moved to LA from mpls a few years ago. There's some bald eagle couple in the mountain that had a baby and its like the greatest thing ever to these people 😆 As far as something unique around here? Maybe sea lion.

[-]

ucbiker@reddit

Sometimes there’s so many horseshoe crabs on the beach, they’re like uncountable.

[-]

spleenboggler@reddit

Considering the only place in the entire world they live is the Delaware River and Bay, then yes absolutely.

My favorite fun fact about them is they as a species are so old that they have copper in their blood to transport oxygen rather than iron, and so their blood is naturally blueish green.

[-]

Sensitive_Biscotti14@reddit

Lightning bugs! Had a coworker in California say a bucket list item for them was to see some. Thought it was odd at the time but apparently you can’t find them in the western half of the country.

[-]

DrinkingSocks@reddit

They're getting rarer everywhere due to all of the pesticides and people picking up all of their leaves.

I've managed to get a handful in my yard, but it's nowhere near the amount I remember when I was a kid.

[-]

spider_pork@reddit

We had a bumper crop in my yard last summer, it was really encouraging.

[-]

shelwood46@reddit

Yep, usually around the beginning of June here

[-]

Devtunes@reddit

There's some variation year to year but I also have reliably large numbers of lightning bugs in NH.

[-]

Delores_Herbig@reddit

I’m born and raised in California, and the first time I saw a lightning bug was in Japan. Beautiful! I came back and told my friend who was from Michigan, and he was like, “Wait, really, you’re 25 and you’ve never seen one before?!”

We don’t have them here. Or if we do, I’ve never seen one, and I’ve lived up and down the state.

[-]

freeski919@reddit

I wouldn't call them unique to Delaware, you can find them all along the Atlantic coast.

[-]

Bluecat72@reddit

They’re not unique to Delaware, but the Delaware Bay is their largest spawning ground. I grew up seeing them a little further south on Assateague Island in Maryland.

[-]

LateralusNYC@reddit

I have seen these all my life and lived in NY, NH, MA, FL.. Never been to the storied oceanfront of Delaware but these are a core memory for me growing up.

[-]

lightning_teacher_11@reddit

We have those in Florida! They're cool animals!

[-]

EaglesFanGirl@reddit

One of the oldest living species on the planet

[-]

RhinoGuy13@reddit

You guy's have horseshoe crabs in Arizona? I thought they were only found in salt/brackish water.

[-]

Wildcat_twister12@reddit

u/MetroBS actually is the one person with ocean front property in Arizona so that’s why he’s seen them

[-]

joeinsyracuse@reddit

Years ago on April Fool’s Day, NPR did a story about Canada buying Arizona to have better shipping ports.

[-]

MetroBS@reddit

Haha if I was counting Arizona the list of animals would be much longer

[-]

Oenonaut@reddit

In addition being the home of London Bridge, Arizona recently purchased the Chesapeake Bay

[-]

Mlliii@reddit

We have triops that randomly appear after monsoon storms in puddles, which are kind of like tiny horseshoe crabs

[-]

seifd@reddit

The arrow means that he lives in Delaware now.

[-]

lyralady@reddit

They've since moved to Delaware lol

[-]

psgrue@reddit

Grew up there. Many fond memories of Dino-Tanks, and even flipping them back over if they’re still wiggling .

[-]

WritPositWrit@reddit

When i was a little kid 50+ years ago, the NJ beaches had so many horseshoe crabs!!! Now, it’s SO rare. Im more likely to see pelicans and dolphins than horseshoe crabs.

Sand crabs (those decapods aka sand fleas, mole crabs, etc…) have dwindled too but at least i usually see a few.

[-]

FreeImpress4546@reddit

Seeing fireflies in the south was very enchanting

[-]

ManateeFlamingo@reddit

I was walking on the beach the other day and saw a tourist take a picture of a jellyfish that had washed ashore (it was actually kind of cute, how theh were fascinated by it enough to take a picture). So I would say Jellyfish/sealife. We have "seasons" of things the ocean washes up.

[-]

LulusMom@reddit

We have a lot of bald eagles in the Pacific NW. visitors get excited watching them hunt

[-]

BleatingHart@reddit

I have dozens and dozens of red-winged and tri-colored blackbirds just outside my door every morning. The tri-colored ones are so rare that the Audubon Siciety comes out to my property a few times a year to do a count. Meanwhile, I can’t talk on the phone outside because the things are so dang noisy!

I also regularly see bobcats, coyotes, deer, raccoons, grey foxes, skunks that I totally take for granted. I only realize how privileged I am when the Fed-Ex driver or someone tells me how stoked they were to see a coyote on their way in. Then I tell them about the mountain lions and bears in the hills here and they’re often shocked.

[-]

fluffyspy@reddit

Odd and very specific example: I grew up near LSU in Louisiana and was under the impression for awhile that tigers are kind of unremarkable. Like obviously the kind of animal you only ever see in captivity but, like, definitely not one of the popular species at the zoo. This is because the regular walk I did with my family went right by Mike the tiger's (the LSU mascot's) enclosure, so I saw him all the time. Definitely gave me a skewed view of how commonplace captive tigers are.

[-]

redmeansdistortion@reddit

Sandhill cranes. They sound they make sounds like something out of Jurassic Park.

[-]

Elendril333@reddit

When I was in India, I was fascinated by the wild parrots everywhere. My aunt told me she hated them for being too loud and destructive. To her they were flying rats. To me they were exotic birds people would pay lots of money to have.

Where I live, we've got black bears, coyotes, skunks, raccoons, squirrels, white-tail deer, chipmunks, hawks, falcons, crows and ravens, robins, cardinals, garter snakes and newts.

[-]

Busy-Negotiation1078@reddit

Not an animal, but Venus flytraps and pitcher plants. Amazing to see them growing wild in a state park.

[-]

DragonTigerBoss@reddit

My stepmom hosted a Spanish exchange student sometime in the early 2000s. The raccoons terrified him.

[-]

st_bart@reddit

I’m from KY and my brother lives in Tampa. The first morning I was there on my first visit, I stepped outside to chill with a cup of coffee and I saw a small lizard slithering past my foot. I screamed out of shock and when I mentioned it to my brother, he was just like “yup, they’re everywhere”.

[-]

wehavenamesdamnit@reddit

I'm from PA. When we went to the zoo in Washington DC I was happy when I saw black squirrels roaming around. I didn't know black squirrels existed before that.

[-]

WillieB52@reddit

Native here are Gators, Bald Eagles, Osprey, Sharks, Dolphins.

[-]

khal-elise-i@reddit

Moving from the mid Atlantic to cali I’ve never seen so many lizards before. We have them, but rare to see, here they are everywhere. My dog loves it

[-]

Independent_Copy_141@reddit

Skunks. I lived in Australia for several years and they have literally no concept of what a skunk smells like. Their only reference of skunks is Pepe Le Pew. Very hard to explain something that distinct to someone who has no idea.

[-]

tigerowltattoo@reddit

Northern Ohio has black squirrels and they’re not that common elsewhere.

[-]

Invisibleolderwoman@reddit

Manatees, dolphins, alligators, fire ants, palmetto bugs, black racer snakes, peacocks, Sandhills cranes, mocking birds, coyotes, great blue herons. Florida!

[-]

GlitterPapillon@reddit

When I lived on Maui it was the Humpback Whales. Which I feel is just super cool no matter where you’re from. But I have a lot of the same local wildlife you do and can’t recall anyone getting super excited over any of them. I get excited when I see a fox though because seeing them is pretty rare.

[-]

DontH8DaPlaya@reddit

We have monkeys, alligators, crocodiles, manatees, dolphins, pumas, bears, tigers, iguanas, pythons, parrots, peacocks, turkeys, all kinds of turtles, fuck man pick something we got it or have a farm of it.

[-]

Openly_Unknown7858@reddit

You also have dingos and feral emus. Florida is seriously the Australia of the United States

[-]

Help1Ted@reddit

Lol I thought you said Man pig. And honestly wouldn’t even be surprised if we did. But you are absolutely right. We’ve basically got it all. I remember pulling behind some restaurant because I noticed something strange looking. Sure enough, an emu farm with loads of them running around.

[-]

Mongomayhem@reddit

Don't forget flamingos and manatees.

[-]

DarwinGhoti@reddit

My wife is from Thailand, and she is OBSESSED with raccoons. She keeps slipping them food in my back yard to attract them, and I keep trying to explain that they're just fine and will fuck up my 9 year old dog. She loves them though. I'm 100% sure I'm going to come home one night and we'll have a pet trash panda.

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

Once you feed a raccoon they come back forever and bring their children lol. They're pretty docile towards humans usually but their poop is dangerous so be careful not to track it into your house.

[-]

SouthJerseyPride@reddit

Aside from it just being poop, what is it about raccoon poop that is dangerous compared to like a dog or cat?

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

Their poop contains roundworm eggs that are dangerous and sometimes fatal to humans if ingested and cannot be killed with standard disinfectant including bleach. And by ingested I mean like you walked inside with shoes on and your baby crawled on the floor then sucked their thumb. You don't have to eat a chunk of poop to be infected and symptoms are severe. If you survive you can potentially have permanent side effects. The best way to kill eggs is fire lol.

[-]

SouthJerseyPride@reddit

Oh damn. Thank you for this!!

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

Np. FWIW I grew up seeing raccoons everywhere in the yard and sometimes they'd come up to the deck looking for food and we didn't know about this stuff so nobody was any more cautious than they would be around a deer or something so we weren't treating them like a biohazard lol. I've never heard of anyone getting infected so I'm sure it's rare but still it's better to know than to be ignorant like I was. Sometimes you don't know about stuff until it happens to you and I'm glad it never did.

[-]

WilcoHistBuff@reddit

Also steam or boiling water is effective. They are completely inactivated when they reach a temp of 64° C (144° F) but they have to fully heat all the way through for that to happen so going with water near or at boiling point on a hard floor surface gives room for cooling in contact with floor materials.

If you are using a household steamer (like for clothing or floor cleaning) you want the nozzle temp at or above 100° C.

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

This is good advice thank you!

[-]

WilcoHistBuff@reddit

You’re welcome!

[-]

Able-Steak-2842@reddit

Those round worms can damage your brain, permanently.

[-]

Skimmington16@reddit

We had some French folks over that were also amazed by a raccoon. I guess they’re invasive over there now. I promise we didn’t hand one over

[-]

Tiber727@reddit

Fun fact: They're invasive to Japan because a movie portrayed them as cute. People tried to make pets out of them then let them loose when it predictably failed.

[-]

snark_the_herald@reddit

Show your wife the raccoon episodes of Bob's Burgers lol.

[-]

DarwinGhoti@reddit

Ohholyshit! YES! Genius lol

[-]

1337b337@reddit

🎶STREET LIFE!🎶

[-]

BroughtBagLunchSmart@reddit

that is like 30 episodes they need a whole weekend for that

[-]

bachennoir@reddit

After doing a few years testing pets and wildlife for rabies, raccoons are a big hell no for me. Those positive fluorescent slides were always so bright I didn't even have to get close to the microscope eyepiece.

[-]

BeholdBarrenFields@reddit

I stopped putting birdseed out on my deck because the raccoons were stealing it all. The little fuckers climbed onto my roof and tried to rip it up and come into my kitchen. Did over $2k in damage. I don’t think they’re a bit cute anymore. Ok maybe a bit.

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

They also took off a portion of my grandparents roof. I thought a human was breaking in, and I'm like who would break into our summer kitchen? Are they doing a pickle heist?

[-]

RupeThereItIs@reddit

I've watched the house next door, two owners now, deal w/this for over a decade.

They keep coming back for generations.

I think the current owner finally managed to win, but we'll see.

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

Shame shame shame, they're teaching the babies to be criminals too!

[-]

LieutenantStar2@reddit

Yes, 👏 they are

[-]

Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit

I wouldn't like raccoons hanging around my trash or my dog.

[-]

MissDisplaced@reddit

They are kinda adorable if they wouldn’t be such pests.

[-]

Luziadovalongo@reddit

A big no to raccoons. Their feces can kill a horse, they kill chickens and they are aggressive towards dogs. My cocker spaniel was corned by two who were both bigger than him. They get in trash cans which might sound fun until you are constantly cleaning up after them. Nope, nope, nope.

[-]

Unusual-Material9443@reddit

i had a pet racoon when i was a kid. not sure what happened to it, my parents were quite vague.

[-]

Amazing_Two9757@reddit

I totally get the obsession and I see raccoons just about every night.

[-]

Minimum-Interview800@reddit

I'm from Georgia and I'm obsessed with raccoons. Everyone tells me how dangerous they can be, but my toxic trait is that animals will sense my good vibes and want to be my friend. I did make friends with a possum once.

[-]

AnotherManOfEden@reddit

You’re like that missionary who went to visit the Senegal tribe.

[-]

Khpatton@reddit

I assume you’re talking about the North Sentinelese, who are famously not from Senegal?

[-]

AnotherManOfEden@reddit

Eh, Sentinel, Senegal, Steven Seagal, honest mistake

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

Baylisascaris.

[-]

butterflydraw@reddit

I do not mind the raccoons that live in the forests, mountains, etc. But I absolutely detest the urban ones. I have a wonderful family friend who FINALLY got his long-awaited permit to raise chickens. He is a master gardener who made half his garden into a chicken coop runway. The damn coons got in a decimated his flock. Did they eat the chickens? No, just killed all but maybe 2 and maimed them to the point only one survived. He reinforced the entire thing, so his new flock are "free range but no coon can get in

[-]

PuzzledKumquat@reddit

Good thing you don't live near me! There's a whole flock of them who live in the forest behind my house. They regularly come up to the house, peering in through windows like masked creepers (probably because we have six cats), and stealing birdseed out of the hanging feeders. I'll go outside to shoo them away and I swear they sigh and roll their eyes before they slowly amble off.

[-]

Almost_Amos@reddit

I saw a family wandering through my yard once. They were thankfully merciful to my cat and didn’t eat him, or even pay any attention to him

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

Baylisascaris. Look it up.

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

Get her some Charley Harper artwork for your next gift giving occasion.

[-]

Famous-Hunt-6461@reddit

The blind salamander. Found only in the San Marcos river in Texas.

[-]

Aaron696@reddit

I went camping in the mountains of southeastern Arizona and was fascinated by how many skunks there were. I’d never seen a live one up until that point because they’re pretty rare at home. Also chipmunks.. saw one of them for the first time in AZ, it was the cutest thing ever.

[-]

OkFaithlessness7430@reddit

Road runner

[-]

rrhunt28@reddit

When I was in college I saw a few Asian students watching ravens go through a trash can for food.

[-]

getoffmylawn100@reddit

Our wild turkeys are fun. And I have heard a couple of people rave about the red winged blackbirds. I honestly thought those were everywhere until then.

[-]

ca77ywumpus@reddit

As a Northerner, I am absolutely delighted to see armadillos when I visit Southern states. Southerners look at me like I'm insane. "They have leprosy." So what? That little tank puppy is just tippy-toeing along the roadside!

[-]

Openly_Unknown7858@reddit

Seeing the invasive monkeys in FL would be crazy. Or the crocs, which are only in FL. It's always cool going northeast and seeing the chipmunks

[-]

Efficient-Panic3506@reddit

grew up thinking squirrels, deer, and raccoons were basically background NPCs
then i traveled and realized ppl will literally stop and take pics of them like they’re zoo animals 😭

[-]

Longjumping-Eye-4257@reddit

When I moved to Maui, I was delighted to find mongooses there (big fan of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) and devastated to find it was against state law to keep one as a pet. When my husband, raised in Hawaii, first came to the mainland, he saw a squirrel (no squirrels in Hawaii) and shouted “Mongoose!” And thereafter, having learned there were actual squirrels living in our yard on the mainland, he has put up squirrel feeding troughs in our trees every year. 😂

[-]

ml31978@reddit

Armadillos - Texas

[-]

ABrightOrange@reddit

I just wanted to say that every person I’ve met from up north has been absolutely gobsmacked by our lizards here in Florida. I’m sorry there are no interesting lizards in the north.

[-]

Devtunes@reddit

We don't have any lizards at all where I live. Lots of snakes but no lizards for some reason.

[-]

EloquentBacon@reddit

Some parts of New England have lizards. Some of my family used to live in VT on the edge of the Green Mountain National Forest. There were bright orange newts everywhere. They were really cute.

[-]

Devtunes@reddit

Those guys are awesome, I'll see them by the thousands when it's wet in the spring, though they're amphibians not lizards.

[-]

1337b337@reddit

We got salamanders and newts though, so that's still cool.

[-]

Devtunes@reddit

I agree, the orange eft newts are super cool.

[-]

markpemble@reddit

Like Big lizards? There are lizards everywhere in the inland west. But none larger than \~6 inches.

[-]

Acrobatic_End6355@reddit (OP)

The only ones I can think of are the Lazarus lizards.

[-]

D3Bunyip@reddit

Alligators. Yes, I live in FL. I tell people it's not the alligators you need to worry about, it's the crocs. They're FAST and aggressive.

[-]

Prior-Recognition-52@reddit

We have Armadillos here in Texas. Unfortunately, they have very poor eyesight and judgement so are often seen as roadkill. ☹️

[-]

Mayor_of_BBQ@reddit

We have black bears thru our yard everyday…

we see so many that I can identify the different groups… We have a mom with three juveniles (who were adorable cubs last year), two young males (brothers), and a HUGE male who all come thru several times a week…

Besides those, there’s always some other random singles and groups rolling through sporadically.

It’s so funny when people visit the North Carolina mountains. They’re absolutely awed by the bears. To us, they are just part of daily life.

[-]

Ok-Philosophy5528@reddit

Alligators

[-]

OrigRayofSunshine@reddit

The Cincinnati lizards, who are able to survive winters.

They’re cute as hell, too.

[-]

WhiskyStandard@reddit

When I visit the Northeast and see chipmunks I feel transported to a fairy tale land.

[-]

i-touched-morrissey@reddit

I live in Kansas, so I've seen pretty much all the wild animals here: rabbits, deer, possums, skunks, armadillos, eagles, bison, antelope, never seen a porcupine but pulled a lot of quills out of dogs over the years.

But the first time I went snorkeling and saw REAL LIVE ocean fish was absolutely magical. And sea turtles, and a manta IN REAL LIFE IN THE OCEAN was probably the absolute most incredible thing I ever saw. And there were weird jellies, bait balls, urchins, all sorts of colorful fish, little squid, eels, OMG!! And on land, iguanas walk around in the parking lots, and hermit crabs are easy to find as well. It was like swimming in an aquarium!

[-]

lacaras21@reddit

We have a lot of neat birds around like bald eagles, cranes, and cardinals. Whitetail deer, turkeys, possums, and other big-ish land animals aren't super unique around here, but in the city I live in they are especially prevalent because of a greenbelt that cuts through the city. Even in dense areas they're not uncommon sights, there are many photos of turkeys on social media using crosswalks downtown... And chasing mailmen. There is also a river that cuts through the city, so we see a lot of aquatic birds like ducks, geese, and pelicans too.

[-]

CH11DW@reddit

As an uber driver I picked up a couple of Australian women. They asked me if we had squirrels in our city. I’m like “yeah, they are everywhere.” Apparently they don’t have them there, except for the zoos. They were apparently at our state capitol the other day and saw one. Said everybody there was taking pictures of the building, while they were taking pictures of the squirrel. I was sure to point out every squirrel I saw to them on the drive. Somehow their animals got into conversation. They mention kangaroos, and how much it sucks to hit one with your car (usually totals it), I pointed out it was the opposite here, no kangaroos except for the zoo.

[-]

Duck_Diddler@reddit

GATORS. People love seeing em. We’re no Florida but we’ve got some big boys too.

[-]

Diligent_Gear_8179@reddit

Birds, evidently? Some years ago I an article about "things you won't see anywhere else!" or something like that, and one of the items was "huge flock of birds." Like, a HUGE flock that takes upwards of 10 minutes for every individual in it to fly past a given point. I saw that shit on my way to school every morning. Evidently they're extremely rare elsewhere?

[-]

AssociationDue3077@reddit

Well my family have seen foxes quite a couple times outside our house and foxes would probably be whimsical to outsiders

[-]

Annjenette@reddit

I went to Phoenix and saw wild quail. 😳 I was at a Botanical Garden and the locals were laughing at me because to them it’s like their pigeon equivalent and it wasn’t even part of the exhibit.

[-]

SeoT9X@reddit

Have quail in KS, but only in fields that you don’t go to unless you’re hunting lol. I LOVE seeing quail just running around in AZ

[-]

send2steph@reddit

Saw my first wild quail last week.

[-]

AZJHawk@reddit

Oh yeah - we have them come into our yard all the time. The babies come in and can’t get out without help so we had to make sure the dogs are inside and put up a ramp so they can get back in the desert.

[-]

runlalarun@reddit

I’ve been back in Phoenix for a decade, and I still love to see a little family cross the road.

[-]

trustme1maDR@reddit

They are so adorable. I stayed at an airbnb once and were bunnies and quails everywhere on the property. I was squee-ing.

[-]

sfdsquid@reddit

I live in New England.

I would love to see an armadillo. Preferably not dead in the road, which is where I heard most can be seen.

A jackalope would be pretty awesome too. And chupacabra.

[-]

Character-Tennis-241@reddit

We have lightning bugs in Oklahoma along with Bobcats, mountain lions, black bears, bison (on preserves mostly), elk, pronghorn, white- tailed deer, Coyotes, raccoons, squirrels, opposes, Southern flying squirrels, Eastern gray squirrels, armadillo, Eastern cottontail rabbits and black-tailed prairie dogs.

It really depends on where you are in the State.

[-]

Quix66@reddit

Armadillos

Snapping turtles

Water moccasins/cotton mouth snakes

[-]

Oddly_Random5520@reddit

I live on Eastern Washington now (came from Western Washington) and moose are really common in yards and neighborhoods here. We also see quite a few eagles and porcupines.

[-]

BernieTheDachshund@reddit

I loved seeing a chipmunk in Idaho. I'm from central Texas and we don't have them. So tiny and cute!

[-]

KatrinaPez@reddit

Cute, but they're mean. We have birdseed on our patio and various critters come to munch. A chipmunk once jump attacked a bunny to scare it away from the seed!

[-]

RupeThereItIs@reddit

They are LOUD, and my cat loves to torture them slowly if she manages to sneak out. She's brought more then one back inside, alive, not fun.

[-]

RhinoGuy13@reddit

I'm surprised you guys don't have them in Texas. We have a ton in Alabama.

[-]

KazulsPrincess@reddit

Might depend on what part of Texas. I've seen them in parks. They're not as common as squirrels, but they are here.

[-]

markpemble@reddit

Idahoan here; Chipmunks have very defined ranges. I live within sight of a mountain that has chipmunks but I have never seen a chipmunk around my house.

[-]

BernieTheDachshund@reddit

I was in Post Falls. We were somewhere by a dam or river and saw a little critter. It took awhile for us to figure out what it was lol.

[-]

texanbychoice106@reddit

We have Mexican squirrels in west Texas. Look similar to a chipmunk to me. They burrow and not tree climb. They have a whole colony near our library.

[-]

Interesting_Yak8052@reddit

I love chipmunks! I don’t see them anywhere near me in Florida but loved seeing them when visiting Virginia.

[-]

Unhappy-Fox1017@reddit

Maybe prairie dogs? I live in west Texas, and when I moved here from east Texas 20 years ago I couldn’t believe all the prairie dogs here. One of our local parks has a huge field that has a concrete barrier around it and it’s just a whole slew of prairie dogs living their best lives. People go to just throw them food and watch them. Sometimes I’ll see them running across a sidewalk randomly in town and remember them. Didn’t grow up with anything like that. The only thing weird that I can think about as a child is moles in people’s yards messing up the grass with their dirt mounds.

[-]

Perfect-Jicama-626@reddit

Black squirrels in NYC area freak my PA family out every time they see one.

[-]

pottymouthgrl@reddit

I live in Kent Ohio and black squirrels are very common here. It’s pretty much the symbol of the city. A researcher at the university in the 70s was studying them and when he finished, he just turned them loose.

[-]

thusnewmexico@reddit

Roadrunner, horned lizards 🦎, bison, elk, millipedes, vinagaroons, and for some people, rattlesnakes, mountain blue 🐦 birds, stellar jays.

[-]

anankepandora@reddit

Barn owls. They look like specters in the dark and sound like I imagine banshees or angry ghosts would.

raccoons are common where I live and i still think they are bizarre and fascinating. I saw one gallumphing across a yard and hauling its rotund self deftly up a tree and nothing about a really fluffy/round galloping dog-bear-opossum-fox seems like it should have been able to move like that!

Great question - I appreciate that you asked this one!

Banana slugs and roadrunners are so strange to me, coming from the east coast.

Conversely, back on the east coast I’ve known many folks really taken aback at how prehistoric-looking and enormous alligator snapping turtles are - really common in my area. The one turtle I will NOT pick up to move to the other side of the road. Poke it with a VERY long stick, maybe, not that that really works. But seeing it bite a stick will really drive home what a bad idea it would be to try to pick one up if you really need to make the point to someone!

[-]

TectonicMongoose@reddit

I live in southern Cali and there are a bunch of animals that would be really cool to see. Off the top of my head Crocodiles, alligators, manatees, Jaguar(they occasionally wander into southern Arizona from Mexico), wolves, any type of bear, bison, muscox, any of the introduced animals in the Everglades like Burmese pythons, different monkey species, flying squirrel would be sick, bobcat, Puma/Mountain Lion, Cougar and moose. As far as ones that are not.al but people from elsewhere get excited about maybe coyotes and hummingbirds.

[-]

cheresa98@reddit

In my urban neighborhood, interesting animals include roadrunners, coyotes, javelinas, and plenty of snakes (including rattlers) and coyotes.

When I visit other places squirrels and chipmunks are novel. I’ve seen wild turkeys in New England.

[-]

Distinct_Chair3047@reddit

Porcupines, Wild Horses, and Moose.

[-]

BurlinghamBob@reddit

I have owls and hawks,other than the usual. My neighbor has a rather large ram that he lets wander. It is usually followed by a flock of ducks and chickens.

[-]

MattieShoes@reddit

When I lived in Arizona, lots. Mountain lions, bobcats, gila monsters, tarantulas, centipedes, rattlesnakes... Though you're very unlikely to run into mountain lions.

Living in Coloardo, we got lots of deer, elk, bears, bison, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mountain lions, moose, bald eagles...

As for going elsewhere, fireflies are neat.

[-]

MeowMeowCollyer@reddit

Normal few here I live:

Orca

Bald eagles

Banana slugs

Hummingbirds

Makes me excited to see when I travel:

Rooks

Daws

Kookaburras

Kangaroos

[-]

nowhereman136@reddit

Im from NJ and got weirdly excited to see a roadrunner for the first time in Texas

[-]

Collins4816@reddit

Arizona is like Australia with the amount of weird things that can severely harm you and will definitely get into your house. My parents have Roy, The Bug Man and he comes every month to spray for extermination. My apartment complex sprays monthly. You do not want a black widow, brown recluse or scorpions in your house.

[-]

Suitable_Dependent68@reddit

Alligators. Lots of alligators.

[-]

NirvanaFan01234@reddit

We have white deer here. They aren't piebald and they aren't albino. People stop to take pictures if they see them. Google "Seneca white deer" to find more info.

I'm not sure if everyone has peepers (a type of chorus frog), but they are awesome. Lots of people that live in urban areas don't hear them. I've had friends wonder what the noise was.

[-]

lowhangingtanks@reddit

We have black squirrels in MI that always seem to surprise people.

[-]

chileheadd@reddit

Wild horses, roadrunners, javelinas

[-]

SkiMonkey98@reddit

Where I lived in Alaska sea otters were incredibly common, bordering on a nuisance. They're still cute as hell but I don't really get excited over them anymore. Bison on the other hand are crazy. Just huge, and it's so crazy to think most of the continent was full of them pre-colonization

[-]

Ossmo02@reddit

Black Squirrels & dark brown/redish Squirrels. We don't have Grey Squirrels. We do have a law on the books, making it illegal to harass or harm the black squirrels.

Deer, raccoons, turkeys, and opossum are all very common here. We get bald eagles in their migration, along with cobra chickens (Canadian gooses).

[-]

CountBacula322079@reddit

People are always blown away by roadrunners in NM and AZ. A lot of people think the cartoon was a made-up bird.

[-]

Temporary-Moments@reddit

I was surprised by how many armadillos were in Georgia. Now in Tn if you go the lake it’s not unusual to see a bald eagle (we have a nesting couple out here) or a brown bear. In Tx alligator gar freaked me out.

[-]

sean8877@reddit

A lot of copperheads here in north Georgia. See a couple a month in the summer when hiking. When I visited Wyoming there were plenty of animals i wasn't used to seeing, but for some reason I remember the magpies most which were everywhere .

[-]

mdw2379@reddit

Rattlesnakes. and wild Horses. People are weirdly obsessed with the idea of the "Wild West" when they visit Texas and these animals seem to fit that theme.

[-]

PM_meyourGradyWhite@reddit

We get whales passing through very close to our boat occasionally when fishing. Pretty cool for us, but visitors just about pee their pants.

Eagles overhead in my back yard. They’re nesting a block over. I live in a residential area too. Tiny lots. Just good habitat for them otherwise.

[-]

thatlukeguy@reddit

Gators

[-]

squintintarantino__@reddit

I live in Kentucky and we have really neat wildlife, but we also have LOTS and lots of horses. Significantly more horses than any other state I’ve ever been to. I think people from out of town enjoy seeing them, not because they’ve never seen a horse or because it’s an uncommon animal, but the quantity of them and the prevalence is what’s exciting.

[-]

simprat@reddit

Black bears.

[-]

Missus_Aitch_99@reddit

Rats

[-]

bugg_928@reddit

People are usually surprised by the black squirrels here

[-]

HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit

Where I'm From: [Louisiana]
I mean so so much .... Alligators, box turtles maybe? Snapping turtle, Alligator gar, nutria, black bear and the cutest of the available options that is mostly in captivity only these days .... Catahoula Leopard Dog.

Where I moved to: [Tennessee]
I've only been here a few years and most of the wildlife here seems to be stuff that I could have seen in South Louisiana too but what I will say is there seem to be way more coyotes in residential areas here than we ever had at home. OH. Turkeys! I never used to see Turkeys in Louisiana ever. Its really neat to just see them wild.

[-]

Southern_Conflict_11@reddit

I once watched a guy who had never left Hawaii flip out over a squirrel in Missouri

[-]

DruncleMuncle@reddit

Moose

[-]

Reaganson@reddit

Opossum’s here in Virginia. In Washington D.C. it’s black squirrels.

[-]

otcconan@reddit

Armadillos

[-]

Aggravating-Kick-967@reddit

Bald eagles. They have made an amazing comeback and now seem very normal to have around.

[-]

Patient-Ad-7939@reddit

Not much to get excited about where I live other than fireflies I guess, but I don’t even notice them that often anymore, I feel like their population has gone down. I don’t know how common turkeys are, I see them a handful of times a year. Maybe people would get excited about that? I went to college in Hawaii though, seeing mongoose instead of squirrels was a trip at first, then when moving back to the mainland, seeing squirrels was weird.

[-]

Up2nogud13@reddit

Gators and nutria are probably the main ones. Been checking on a momma gator and about a dozen babies about 50 yds behind my office for the past couple weeks. I see dead nutria (roadkill) more often then live ones, but still at least every week or so.

[-]

legomote@reddit

Where are there gators and nutria? I'm from the Midwest and had no idea what a nutria was until I moved to the pnw (what a horrifying surprise!), but of course, we're no where near gator territory.

[-]

Up2nogud13@reddit

Louisiana. We're kinda famous for both, but they're in all the Gulf Coast states.
TIL that the pnw has a nutria problem (also the mid- Atlantic states). Apparently, someone thought it was a good idea to import them from South America for the fur trade about a century ago.

[-]

Outside_Holiday_9997@reddit

We went and stayed at an eco resort a few years ago that had a ton of animals wandering.

My kid found a cat. She didnt care about anything but the cat the rest of our trip. Brought it food (it was clearly well fed already lol) petted it..tried to coax it into our room.. so my answer is a cat.

We have 3 cats. Lol.

Truthfully, my region doesnt have much animal wise that is unusual for visitors. We do get seals at certain times of the year which is always an unexpected happy occasion.

[-]

vengefulgrapes@reddit

When I visited the West from the Midwest, I was delightfully surprised at the black-tailed deer and how they just walk around everywhere in the towns and aren't too scared of the humans. The white-tailed deer where I live will stay very far away from humans.

[-]

KayDeeFL@reddit

Our friends from the UK find the armadillo fascinating!

I liked seeing the black squirrels in Niagara Falls, and the Fox squirrels in Fort Myers.

Actually, nearly any indigenous animal is interesting to me with the exception of snakes. I don't care to see them ANYWHERE!

[-]

Donald_J_Duck65@reddit

Black squirrels.

[-]

No-Contact6664@reddit

Roadrunner, Ringtailed Cat, Armadillo, Tarantula, Tarantula Hawk, Giant Texas Red Centipede, and Red Fox are daily visitors and residents of my yard.

A Fox saunters by my window at least twice a day.

[-]

asdfpickle@reddit

I would love to see a ringtail. They live in the mountains here and so aren't nearly as common as what I've heard about some areas of TX. Also get roadrunners and tarantula hawks (though I rarely see tarantulas, themselves).

[-]

No-Contact6664@reddit

I'm in west Austin and have Ringtails climbing up the tree right outside my living room. Only see them at night and it's wild. Like you live in Australia or something.

The Tarantulas are all over. Usually just chilling on the side of the house but they always fall off and die too.

Then during Tarantula Hawk season it's like a horror movie seeing them being dragged around my yard as zombies.

[-]

Glass_Strain@reddit

Birds vary widely across the US. The more colorful ones are generally found in the eastern half.

[-]

dobbydisneyfan@reddit

Westerners historically have been shocked that our squirrels are grey.

[-]

interstatesntents@reddit

This is WAYY niche but Cincinnati OH has a substantial lizard population. They're called Lazarus Lizards. As the story goes, a kid smuggled them across the Atlantic on a return trip from Europe (Italy?) in the 1950s. And they've been thriving in Cincinnati ever since.

When I first moved here, I was shocked to see soooo many lizards.

[-]

Stormy3456@reddit

I’m originally from VA. In grad school I was driving from TX to ID with a friend, where she was from. In WY I think it was we saw a huge herd of pronghorn antelope. I got so excited. I started yelling “Look! Look! Prong horn antelope!” And she just looked at me and was like “have you seriously never seen an antelope before?” And I said “yeah, in a zoo.” But it was cool to see them in the wild. Or, on the side of the road.

[-]

PenguinProfessor@reddit

The first time I went out west I was absolutely enthralled seeing chipmunks for the first time, as I had only seen squirrels before.

[-]

iamthevampire1991@reddit

My husband thought it was a small striped squirrel when he first saw one

[-]

detective_brobro@reddit

Moved from CA to WI. Deer and turkey are so normal here, it’s crazy. But the main difference I see is bugs. In CA, black widows are ultra common. They don’t seem to exist in WI. Also, cicadas are NUTS. For the first month I lived in WI I thought the town had an electricity problem that everyone was accustomed to ignoring.

[-]

Remote_Database7688@reddit

An Irish guy visited my state one time and loved getting to see cardinals. Animal I love to see are foxes.

[-]

wannabejoanie@reddit

Migrating tarantulas.

[-]

Sometimeswan@reddit

That sounds terrifying.

[-]

wannabejoanie@reddit

No, they're cute. Only the males migrate, they're looking for a mate. They're not aggressive at all

[-]

cactusjackalope@reddit

definitely tarantulas in California. They're scary as fuck at first, but after a while you realize they're a) slow b) non-agressive and c) actually pretty intelligent, you stop freaking out. Of course if one walked on me I'd be screaming like a little girl, but seeing one out and about is no longer an event.

[-]

another-sad-gay-bich@reddit

We see coyotes and mountain lion pretty often. I think coyotes are a good one because they look different depending on the region so even if someone from a different region has their own coyotes it’s not the same. We also have a pack of wild donkeys nearby that’s pretty cool.

I never see raccoons and I adore them. I know they’re here but I’ve never seen one. I would love to see a bear one day, they’re my favorite animal. Wolves, bison, manatee, oh an armadillo would be super cool.

[-]

moderately_neato@reddit

Javelina, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, scorpions, bobcats and roadrunners

[-]

Ok_Piglet_1844@reddit

Alligators are so boring to me because they are literally everywhere you look where I live. They even get into the house or swimming pool sometimes. People from other states and countries are just fascinated by them. They don’t understand that we see them as just another nuisance, kind of like a mosquito….except they are going to be great for supper!

[-]

vrctsl@reddit

Alligators

[-]

KerseyGrrl@reddit

I used to live where there were mongooses (mongeese?) When we moved to New Yorknstate my kid went nuts over gray squirrels. We got a lot of side eye from that.

[-]

Seanb354@reddit

I didn’t really know that there were brown squirrels. I only ever see grey and black squirrels here in Upstate NY. Can confirm the mongoose thing. My wife and I went to visit my cousin in Hawaii. First full day in HI a mongoose ran across our path in a park and it nearly broke brains. Stopped us dead in our tracks. Wild!

[-]

359dawson@reddit

SE Pennsylvania here. I’m in a suburb that is on the border of a city with many large wooded parks. We have lots of deer, squirrels, raccoons etc. We have a backyard lightning bug nursery-we don’t use pesticides and keep areas untouched. But recently I’ve been super excited to see my first coyote and bald eagle in my backyard. And I’ve seen an otter and a beaver in a park which is rare. The most fascinating animals I’ve seen elsewhere are in Florida-Key West deer, a crocodile and manatees.

[-]

Grreatdog@reddit

Alligators. Almost as common as dogs to us. But fascinating to tourists.

[-]

Connect_Office8072@reddit

We are in western North Carolina and we have Black bears, bobcats, coyotes, deer, snapping turtles, unusual moths, humming birds, beautiful bejeweled lizards and ugh! lots of different snakes. Some of these are not so unusual in other parts of the U.S., and some of these have become very common in areas where they were uncommon before, like coyotes. What is unusual where we are is that there are whole big packs of coyotes. I have heard that further up in the mountains there is the occasional wolf but I haven’t seen one. We see a lot of bears around here though, and the mama bears and baby bears like to eat the blueberries off of our bushes so they come right next to the house. In eastern North Carolina they have a lot of alligators - something I don’t care to deal with.

[-]

1in5million@reddit

My sister wants to leave with the ornate box turtles in my back yard every time she visits. I always have to remind her that they are native here, not pet store pets. Its already hard enough to resist giving them strawberry on a hot summer day.

[-]

snappa870@reddit

Bald eagles. They are everywhere around me

[-]

adevilnguyen@reddit

Alligators

Sea Lions

[-]

carmineragu@reddit

We have little chameleons all over the deck here in NC and visitors are always excited to see them.

[-]

SpunkyBlah@reddit

A lot of out-of-towners really get a kick out of roadrunners. Especially when they vocalize and learn it is nothing like the cartoons.

I get excited about pretty much any animal I am not used to. Even a lot of ones I am used to as well. But wild reptiles not from the desert where I live are often the most intriguing. Especially alligators.

[-]

skullsandpumpkins@reddit

Manatees and gators. Usually, I see tourists or new residents complaining about gators and want them removed.

[-]

superwholockian62@reddit

Deer, armadillo, and believe it or not, turkey. The amount of people I have seen pulled over to take pics of herds (or whatever its called) of the turkeys is insane

[-]

wwhsd@reddit

Coyotes and road runners.

[-]

razzberrytori@reddit

I’ve only seen a coyote once, maybe twice. Last year in SE PA. Delaware was the 49th state they were seen in. Still uncommon, especially south of the canal.

[-]

gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit

I was shocked when I saw how small roadrunners are

I expected something the size of an emu, more coyote sized

[-]

Sometimeswan@reddit

I had the exact same reaction when I first saw one. Looney Tunes messed up a whole generation of kids!

[-]

OodalollyOodalolly@reddit

For people wondering, they are more the size of a skinny little chicken.

[-]

Snawer_brillant@reddit

I didn’t know road runners were in California.

[-]

SenorBlackChin@reddit

Had a software rep from upstate ny that would come to my office in nm every year. Part of his trip was always an afternoon out to lunch and driving around looking for roadrunners.

[-]

EaglesFanGirl@reddit

We have yotes now here. Used to freak me out. Now we play Yote or Fox? From PA

[-]

darthmarththe1@reddit

Central Valley in California has many coyotes running around in the outskirts.

[-]

Wildcat_twister12@reddit

I only find the coyotes carrying large amount of ACME produced TNT unusual

[-]

Rogue_Cheeks98@reddit

coyotes are pretty much everywhere

[-]

Livid_Accountant1241@reddit

Coyotes are all over where I live I Illinois. I see them in Mt neighborhood all the time.

[-]

HawaiianGold@reddit

Chickens and turtles. Wolves and Bears

[-]

Sharpthingy@reddit

Moose.

[-]

AnonUser3216@reddit

My British friend went nuts when I posted a photos of turkey vultures. Exciting for me are penguins and pandas.

[-]

AnonUser3216@reddit

My British friend went nuts when I posted a photos of turkey vultures. They are tall and live outside of zoos. Exciting for me are penguins and pandas.

[-]

fruitcup729again@reddit

No squirrels in Hawaii. We go nuts for them (pun intended) when we see them on the mainland.

[-]

Takemetothelevey@reddit

Elk in our neighborhood

[-]

chrlttwrd@reddit

Apparently we have a lot of bugs in Georgia. People from up North seem to be unfamiliar with love bugs, sand gnats, and palmetto bugs (huge flying cockroaches).

[-]

ZestycloseAd5918@reddit

I saw a stoat in Maine (I’m from California) and was like, “Whoa, a stoat!” I had learned about them on Alone.

[-]

elsongs@reddit

I once went to Australia and was talking with a local and was telling her my goal was to see a kangaroo and a koala in the wild. She told me she wants to see a live squirrel or raccoon when she visits the US.

[-]

out_ofher_head@reddit

I e lived in NE, mid Atlantic, FL, PNW, and AZ.

I've seen a lot of animals, and get excited for most of them regardless! People have already mentioned pronghorns and so many other awesome creatures.

But I do love a red squirrel, which I'd never seen until I lived in VT.

I'd love to see mountain goats and big horn sheep again.

[-]

jimdandy58@reddit

Roadrunners - vicious little dinosaurs.

[-]

soon2Brevealed@reddit

bears

[-]

EonJaw@reddit

Do you all have turkeys wandering around?

[-]

lilsmudge@reddit

Bald Eagles are very common around here and can be a bit of a pest because they like to nest in stadium lights.

I remember going back east with my mom who’s an ornithologist and her excitedly asking a park ranger if they had cardinals and he kinda shrugged it off and then excitedly told us they had some bald eagles and we had just be like “yeah, that’s not a big deal for us.”

[-]

GarmieTurtel@reddit

We have prairie dogs galore here and when my southern born and bred son in law first visited, he spent hours just watching them in an open field.

[-]

PMcOuntry@reddit

When I moved to WA I geeked out over Marmots the first time I saw one.

[-]

BikeInternational412@reddit

Scorpions? I visited my friend in Arizona, and every morning she had to scoop dead little drowned scorpions out of the pool. It was kind of neat to see them, but I guess I can’t say I was excited about them having been alive and circling the pool at some point the previous evening.

[-]

FormerAd952@reddit

Bobcat, coyote

[-]

notmywheelhouse@reddit

Rattle snakes, javelina, gila monsters

[-]

AnonymousEuonymus@reddit

Iguanas in Puerto Rico. They’re giant an everywhere. Not something you see everyday in the rest of the US

[-]

CombativeMouse@reddit

The Northern Cardinal is abundant hwee, I don’t pay them much attention. But birders from the West Coast get super excited to see them. Which always remind me how beautiful a bird they are, and renews my appreciation for them. Just like I get super excited to see a Gambel’s Quail when I go to the West Coast.

[-]

Quirky-Invite7664@reddit

West Coast has prettier Blue Jays, too

[-]

1337b337@reddit

Oh god, Eastern Blue Jays are SO DAMN ANNOYING!

They can sing nice songs, but instead they choose to shriek 90% of the time.

[-]

Big_Kokomo_5@reddit

Californian visiting ATL and I was this many years old when I saw my first Cardinal in real life !! So much more vibrant than on a baseball hat or football helmet

[-]

asdfpickle@reddit

lucky enough to have both those birds in AZ

[-]

Devtunes@reddit

Cardinals are very beautiful but I also take them for granted. Scarlet Tanagers though are probably the coolest birds in my area. Pictures don't really do it justice, the color is very striking.

[-]

Chickadee12345@reddit

My partner and I did a lot of birding. We lived in the southern part of NJ. We were in the parking lot at a local hot spot for birding. We noticed a group of 3 men avidly looking into the trees surrounding the lot. So we go over and ask, hey guys, you spot something exciting? Turns out they were from the UK and were looking at the American Robins. Which they had never seen before. And are one of the most common birds in our area.

[-]

CountChoculasGhost@reddit

People are shocked to learn that I see coyotes in a dense urban area pretty frequently.

The most excited I’ve been seeing an animal while traveling was both learning of the existence of and seeing for the first time coatis in Arizona.

I had never even heard of them let alone knew they lived in the US.

[-]

1337b337@reddit

When I was a wee lad, we had some fucker putting snares in OUR back yard, and a poor coyote got caught in it.

My Mom said it genuinely sounded like it was crying.

Animal control wouldn't do jack shit, even to investigate the snare, so my Mom heroically went out with a thick canvas tarp, threw it on the coyote, and snipped the snare.

[-]

Brewcastle_@reddit

I see them in Metro Deteoit all the time.

[-]

mypen-ismadeofcheese@reddit

I live in the PNW and one time we had a group of Australians visiting. They flipped out over the chipmunks. It was awesome!

[-]

PotatoGirl_19@reddit

Deer! I thought deer roaming your yard every day was quite normal, but I’ve had company freak out seeing the deer. I guess particularly if they are from city areas, they may not see deer.

[-]

EnyaNorrow@reddit

I live in the west so I get very excited about cardinals but I think elk are normal. We have moose and bison and bears but they’re still exciting. Magpies are also normal here and some visitors find them exciting. I get excited about any hawks we don’t have in my region.

[-]

r2d3x9@reddit

We have black bears and hawks and eagles and flocks of wild turkeys. Bobcats, foxes, coyotes. All recently returned to the area during the last couple decades. Canada geese are an unfortunate addition. Also two kinds of turtles. Big toads and little tree frogs, this time of year we call them peepers and they are loud! Salamanders. There are moose in the area but I’ve never seen them. It’s too hot, they like it here because they can go into water in the summer. Deer have gone from rare to common. Barred Owls! They are a hoot. The black cap chickadee is the state bird and they are really common anywhere there are trees or forest. Juncos winter here and summer in the arctic! Eastern Bluebird disappeared from the suburbs in the 1930s, probably displaced by the English sparrow or loss of farmland. They also don’t like forest. Skunks and raccoons prefer the suburbs, chipmunks and somewhat rare red squirrels prefer the woods.

[-]

1337b337@reddit

I guess to anyone in the MST range, Opossums could be.

They're cute little doofuses, only really try to bite when they feel cornered, and (obviously you shouldn't) they're an animal that tames surprisingly easily.

[-]

purrgirl@reddit

California Sea Lions! They are normal in coastal ca but still awesome to see every time.

[-]

roskybosky@reddit

I see millions in the Catskills-not many in Texas. Love to watch them.

[-]

Prof-Rock@reddit

Deer. I see deer every day. I always forget that not everyone does when a visitor starts exclaiming about a deer. I always think, "Yeah. I saw it. It isn't near the road. I won't hit it." Then it clicks that they are just excited to see a deer, not trying to warn me. One person actually said seeing a deer would make their year. Okay. Can do (probably).

I got pretty excited about catdinals when visiting New York. I had to work really hard at not pointing them out to the locals constantly.

[-]

greenleaves3@reddit

Last year a random wild turkey just wandered into our driveway. I hadn't seen one outside captivity before I moved here.

[-]

TPBlvr420@reddit

We have moose, mountain lions, elk, pika, and marmots in the mountains near me. I frequently get to see black bears, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, foxes and prairie dogs near my house.

[-]

Thaimontana@reddit

I lived for 8 years in Alaska. People got excited by a few of our local animals.

[-]

Pretend-Okra-4031@reddit

Javalina, ring tailed cat, scorpions, tarantula hawk all live where i am in Arizona

[-]

gnorrn@reddit

Before I moved to California, I thought hummingbirds were found only in tropical rainforests. Now I see them in my garden every day.

[-]

sagiterrarium@reddit

As someone who grew up on the east side of the country, I was stoked to see a Stellar’s Jay in California for the first time. Oh and whenever I go to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, I’m shocked when I see their black squirrels

[-]

Relevant-Emu5782@reddit

I live in northeast ohio, and see coyotes all the time. Sometimes just walking down the street. That is surprising when you're not used to it! Another shock is coming across a herd of wild turkeys. They can be a bit aggressive.

[-]

LongjumpingMap6481@reddit

Buffalo/bison, mountain goats, elk, bighorn sheep are exciting to visitors. I admit I get pretty excited when I see an elk too!

[-]

cfo6@reddit

Javelina, lol.

We have them all over, but visitors are fascinated.

[-]

East2west87@reddit

I grew up in rural Maine (which is most everywhere in Maine), and bald eagles are fairly common. I knew they weren’t in other places, but moving to SoCal makes me realize how special it is seeing them regularly, and sometimes half a dozen at a time (like when someone throws a fish that’s dead that they don’t want to keep from ice fishing out on the ice for the animals to have). Maine has a lot of cool wildlife that I haven’t seen as often in other states. Moose walking through our yard sometimes, lots of bobcats, a family of deer playing in our backyard, waking up to a tree full of 10-20 turkeys, cardinals and blue jays.

Now that I’m in SoCal, dolphins, sometimes whales, and bioluminescence a handful of times is pretty unique compared to where I grew up, and people travel here to see them

[-]

Weird-Highway-3958@reddit

Some blokes in on a cruise from the UK were amazed by Blue Jays on the east coast. I almost laughed thinking, "you don't know how annoying these guys are!"

[-]

dameon8888@reddit

I used to work at Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park in Orlando, Florida.

It used to floor me that about 6 inches away from guests, on the other side of a window, you would see a tiger rolling on its back and laying in the sun.

Meanwhile, kids are losing their minds over seeing tiny lizards and squirrels in the trees.

Families spend hundreds of dollars on park tickets for their kids to marvel at something they could’ve seen for free in any community around Central Florida.

[-]

AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit

I'm pretty happy to not have interesting animals where I live although we do have cicadas. And they 17 year cicada thing happened last year and so the trees were just screaming. Freaked some people out. But I'm honestly happy just to see bunnies. I always talk to them like hi bunbun. I do like to see interesting birds near the marshes and water areas. I saw a crane once. I've also seen a random fox and a couple of coyotes. But that's pretty much the most dangerous animals we have.

[-]

ohthatsbrian@reddit

Roadrunners

Gila monsters

scorpions (although not exciting in a good way)

[-]

Even-Breakfast-8715@reddit

Hummingbirds are common here in the Sierra foothills. Wild turkeys, cougars, deer, bald eagles

[-]

Sea_Cow_6075@reddit

Michigan has only three species of lizards and they never leave the woods so I get really excited whenever I go somewhere where there’s lizards just casually chilling on rocks and fences. Lizards are awesome I wish I could see more lizards

[-]

Conscious-Mulberry17@reddit

Here? Gila monsters, roadrunners, coyotes, javelina, bobcats, coatimundi, ringtail cats, panthers, western diamondbacks, tarantulas, scorpions, etc.

I once saw a groundhog when I was in northern Virginia. We just kind of stared at each other for a minute. We were both not sure what to think. That was cool.

[-]

ByWillAlone@reddit

Bald Eagles. Everywhere. We see them in the sky daily, circling and looking for prey.

[-]

Elmo-Mcphearson@reddit

I live in Minnesota, so seeing a little lizard scamper up the wall in the house my parents rented in Florida was a triiiiiiiip.

[-]

AshDenver@reddit

I miss the black squirrels of the Detroit area.

[-]

Initial_Natural2650@reddit

Was driving in Texas with a couple people from out of state. They were very excited to see cows in a field.

[-]

Honest-Government967@reddit

Moose.

[-]

Horangi1987@reddit

St. Petersburg, FL

Dolphins, horseshoe crabs, manta rays, manatees, small sharks, jellyfish, alligators, tarpon fish and geckos are all reasonably common.

Less common, but occasionally spotted have been whales, flamingos, great white sharks, and recently chameleons.

[-]

Porcupine-in-a-tree@reddit

Tourists always seem to be really excited when they see porcupine. Yes, they love to hang out in trees.

[-]

Apprehensive-Big8900@reddit

I live in Alabama. People get excited if they see an alligator. Intelligent Americans know to stay away until animal control takes it back to it's habitat. Then there are the idiots who think they can wrestle with it, out run it. Idiots.

[-]

auntiedawn@reddit

I see dolphins/porpoises on the regular, but I still get excited about it.

[-]

biggwermm@reddit

Gators and crocs in FL

[-]

blumieplume@reddit

I like all the red foxes I see in the UK

[-]

Revolutionary-Copy71@reddit

I live in the Austin TX metro area. A lot of people get surprised/excited to see monk parakeets flying around. They are not native but there is now a pretty large wild population of them here.

[-]

rattlehead44@reddit

I worked briefly with a contractor from the northeast somewhere a couple years ago and he was genuinely shocked and excited when I pointed out several black widows in our work area. He had never seen one before (which I was very surprised by).

[-]

Ali_Lorraine_1159@reddit

Texas... Armadillos.

[-]

AdSilent5727@reddit

To the latter, fucking bears

[-]

TheReadyRedditor@reddit

Black and gray squirrels.

[-]

Troutmandoo@reddit

My nephews are full on NYC. When they came to visit us in the PNW, at ages around 10 and 12, we took a drive and they lost their minds when they saw cows. Like, a bunch of fucking cows in a field. “OMG COWS! LOOK AT THE COWS!” I was dumbfounded. Yes, you have correctly identified one of the most prevalent species of livestock in America. How have you never seen a cow? They’re all over the place! Well, not in NYC, I guess. Wait until you see a chicken!

[-]

Latter_Upstairs6567@reddit

Coywolves, diamondback terrapins, turkeys, horseshoe crabs

[-]

thekrawdiddy@reddit

Where I live, black bears and wild turkeys are all over the place, but when I travel I get excited about alligators in the south and moose in the north.

[-]

twineandtwig@reddit

Moose, Elk, Deer, Antelope, Mountain Lions, Bears, Wolves, Coyote, Fox, Turkey, Eagles, Great Grey Owls.

[-]

Eldritch-banana-3102@reddit

Chipmunks. So cute!

[-]

Intelligent_Fish3728@reddit

Don’t know how unusual it is, but I live in a large suburban city near a large park with normal size city lots. We get bobcats, armadillos, and coyotes in our front yard/street frequently. There’s a den of coyotes that lives in the green space across the street. We also get MASSIVE rat snakes, lots of copperheads, and the occasional rattler. If we go into the park, there are TONS of snakes

[-]

Mysterious_Peas@reddit

Javalina. They run in squadrons and eat everything. They look like small wild boar, but are actually peccaries.

Europeans in particular are amazed by them. They are a purely “new world” animal.

[-]

ging3rtabby@reddit

My cousin visited this past weekend from Wyoming. She was so stoked to see her first groundhog. Granted, she's a field biologist who specializes in mammals, but still.

[-]

yyythoo@reddit

Iguanas. Down in Florida. Not that people come down here to see them but played golf with a few northerners who were blown away by them. They’re a pest down here

[-]

phord@reddit

My wife went nuts when she saw a cardinal. "LOOK AT THAT AMAZING BIRD! IS THAT REAL?" Where? I don't see it. Is it near the cardinal?

[-]

OpalOnyxObsidian@reddit

I love seeing any creature outside of home. Even if it's roadkill. Once we start heading further south, we start to see armadillos. I imagine that gets old for the residents but I get such a thrill.

[-]

LeGrandePoobah@reddit

Moose, bison, elk, mountain lions (if your lucky enough to see one when they are not stalking you) condors (southern part of my state), vultures, owls, and bald eagles are probably the most sought after animals that people, including myself, like to see where I live. Mule deer, red tail hawks, quail, pheasant, grouse, and rattlesnakes (western diamond back) are common enough, that some might think are cool. We don’t have a lot of small animals outside of raccoons, squirrels, gophers/marmots, limited amount of beavers, chipmunks in certain regions, mice/rats/voles, etc. Magpie, robins, sage jays, finches, seagulls and crows/ravens are by far the most popular birds- but there are a lot more I don’t know. I did hear the first woodpecker in my state, a couple of weeks ago. The things I love to see when visiting other parts of the country are all the animals not here as well as any other wild animals. Some of the most interesting to me are armadillos, possums, cardinals and blue jays, large fowl of all kinds, and the smaller wild cats. w We have more some of those here, just never seen any in the wild.

[-]

Msktb@reddit

I have relatives that live in South Texas and they're so excited to see squirrels when they visit here. They have lizards though.

[-]

OK_Stop_Already@reddit

Alligators, i reckon. They're all over where I work.

[-]

Iwentforalongwalk@reddit

Our European visitors were entranced by the wild turkeys everywhere in my city. We call them the gobble gobble gangs.

[-]

NoMoreMustaches@reddit

I used to have a call center job in an office that was on one of the causeways between Miami and Miami Beach.

My team’s office had a window facing directly into the bay, and there were times when I would get distracted because I was literally seeing dolphins swim about 15 feet in front of me through the window.

They were a pretty common sight.

Also, my wife (not from the region) was endlessly fascinated seeing the huge pelicans and the other water birds flying around.

[-]

Ok-Associate-3781@reddit

We have onyx and ibex in new Mexico .

[-]

OodalollyOodalolly@reddit

Roadrunners are very exciting to people not from the South West United States.

In fact it’s not unheard of for people to not know they are a real animal!

[-]

remix951@reddit

Armadillo in Austin

[-]

cactusjackalope@reddit

Definitely tarantulas in California. They're scary as fuck at first, but after a while you realize they're a) slow b) non-agressive and c) actually pretty intelligent, you stop freaking out. Of course if one walked on me I'd be screaming like a little girl, but seeing one out and about is no longer an event.

[-]

thatsaSagittarius@reddit

Great whites and seals apparently. At least according to every tourist during summer that stupidly risks their life to see them. Seals will kill you people. Greats can swim in 3 feet if water. If you see a sign don't go in.

[-]

pattiwhack5678@reddit

Black bear, elk, beaver

[-]

electrizai@reddit

I grew up in San Diego, tourists loved to come see the sea lions hanging out in the harbor. To me they were just big mean sausages that yelled at you if you came too close to their side of the dock.

[-]

Lusiric9983@reddit

We have a lot; bear, moose, wolverines, bald eagles, ospreys, bison, elk, deer, many species of ducks, golden eagles, beavers, wolves, wolverines, badgers, coyotes, and pronghorn, just to mention a few.

And cougars. Both kinds.

[-]

Ms-Metal@reddit

About a million of them, elk, antelope, mule deer, coyotes, red fox, even bears. Oh and moose and a million other smaller animals, pika and marmots. I've also seen rattlesnakes many times although most people aren't excited about seeing those, most people would rather not, I've seen everything above plus bison but the bison are always on bison farms, you just don't necessarily know it because they have a lot of space they wander. The only two local animals I haven't seen are a mountain lion and a bobcat. I didn't see the bear until a few years ago, that was my first and last bear encounters ever and one of the coolest days of my life. Oh and wolves, we do have wolves again but this only like 20 or 30 of them in the entire state and they are in pretty remote areas so your odds have ever seen one are virtually nil.

[-]

FurryNinjaCat@reddit

Grey Squirrels with Huge. Bushy. Tails. It's totally normal for me to see them running around at the park or in the trees at my apartment complex, or now that I own a house they are running along the top of my fence.

Foreign exchange students thought they were amazing to watch, which really surprised me. I was thinking they'd be more interested in much more exotic animals or something unique or rare.

[-]

mostlygray@reddit

Where I live now it's a world of deer, coyote, turkey, fox, and all kinds of small creatures. Coopers hawks are way more common than they should be.

Up north, where I grew up, you can add wolves, bears, moose, brushwolves, lynx, and bobcat. Fishers are also about, lots and lots of beaver, tons of herons, and possibly bigfoot. Bigfoot might just be Rudy Jackopich but who can say. Either way, it's a giant hairy ape-like creature.

[-]

ShoddyCobbler@reddit

Black squirrels. They are native to Canada and the northern US but there is a sizeable population in DC and its suburbs. They are just a variation on the common eastern gray squirrel. When I was young they were somewhat rare (to my perception) but at this point they are quite common

However, where my mom lives in SC, they have an entirely different kind of squirrel that I didn't even know existed for the first 30-some years of my life. They are reddish squirrels wearing little face masks.

[-]

Mueryk@reddit

Horses, cows, armadillo, skunk, coyote, mountain lions, buffalo, camels, raccoons, squirrels, white tailed deer, turkeys, and wild pigs.

North Texas.

I included the horses and cows as I have taken European coworkers to visit them. Buffalo and camels are raised on other Ranches nearby.

[-]

SimpleVeggie@reddit

I know an American who moved here who thought it was very strange that foxes are considered urban pests here, since they’re all over London, especially wandering around at night. Not sure how common that view is, but I have heard it.

[-]

EloquentBacon@reddit

We have a lot of fox in eastern, central NJ in the woods and along some beaches. Most people here think that they’re pretty cute. At 2 nearby beaches in Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, NJ, a red fox family comes to den during the spring. The NYC news stations often report on it when they’re first sighted each year if anyone wants to see them, too.

[-]

Greedy_Bandicoot493@reddit

We have foxes all over our neighborhood in west Texas. They’re so pretty and don’t really mess with pets and trash.

[-]

gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit

I live in Baltimore and we have a fair few of them, cute but I don't care for their screaming

[-]

Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit

but I don't care for their screaming

It can really be unnerving.

[-]

gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit

I'd never lived near them before so the first time I heard it, I thought one of the neighborhood children was being murdered

I'm glad my wife knew what it was

[-]

New_York_or_nowhere@reddit

I'm from NYC and got so excited when I saw my first fox in London. I posted on fb (this was a long time ago) and a friend from London basically told me this was the equivalent of when Europeans get excited about squirrels in New York

[-]

ChunkyWombat7@reddit

I travel to London a few times a year and I still get excited when I see foxes.

But I get excited when I see foxes in the Midwest too.

I just get excited about foxes.

[-]

queercactus505@reddit

I've seen them in Massachusetts and North Carolina, so they are around but not usually as bold as other animals here, so it's still kind of special to me to see them.

[-]

Curmudgy@reddit

I’ve had some pass through on my trail camera but wish I knew how to get them to stay. There are surely enough rabbits around for them to eat, and even a groundhog or two.

[-]

TNTmom4@reddit

Sharks, Seals ,whales, dolphins , sand rays , sea slugs , rattle snakes , mountain lions, bears , monarch butterflies

[-]

Silver_Catman@reddit

Javelinas and coyotes are real coming out where I live in arizona, but they aren't normal super up north. Tree Squirrels, every time I see a tree squirrel get so excited lol they're pretty rare in the valley

[-]

TraumaTeamTwo2@reddit

Moose, elk, mountain lions, those rams that butt heads

[-]

crownjules99@reddit

I lived in Texas hill country for a few years and we had wild pigs that would roam through our neighborhood. My family visiting from out of state were always fascinated by the pigs. The pigs were cute at first but you quickly realize that they’re absolutely destructive bastards. They would root in the yard and destroy landscaping.

[-]

tasukiko@reddit

We have a decent amount of whale watching tours in certain seasons. People seem quite into them. I wish I could see a big herd of elephants just out and about doing their thing.

[-]

KerryUSA@reddit

Saw a golden eagle once…..Knew it was too big to be a hawk but not a buzzard based off the head and color. Didn’t know they existed till i looked it up.

[-]

bobjones63@reddit

Turkeys or something

[-]

DamnGrackles@reddit

Somebody already said manatees so I'm going to say sandhill cranes. It's always funny to see people react to how big and curious they are.

I personally am dying to see a moose and a bison. Not really close since I'm not an idiot, but nearby would be nice.

[-]

Vegetable-Star-5833@reddit

Roadrunners are super common in SoCal. My aunt from Pennsylvania came to live with us and when she saw one she called her step mom and asked if she knew they were real

[-]

lordcorndog15@reddit

The most rare animal we have is the Lahontan cutthroat trout. They can grow up to 30+# the record is 41#. 5-20 is typical and 7-33”

We also have The Sage Grouse, Prong horned Antelope (aka speed goats) elk, bears and oh yeah and wild Horses.

We also have many of the species called Methican Americans.

[-]

QuokkaMom@reddit

Orcas and sea lions

[-]

QuokkaMom@reddit

Orcas and sea lions

[-]

The_Drunk_Unicorn@reddit

Bison are always a big deal in my area but I’ve grown up with them my whole life. There’s a place not too far where you can camp and see deer and long horns and bison and elk sometimes they’ll wander right up to your tent.

[-]

hamknuckle@reddit

Moose, brown bears and caribou

[-]

midzo@reddit

In the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, my out of town guests would be thrilled to see bears, mountain lions, raccoons, coyotes and perhaps possums and deer.

After I moved to Thailand, my foreign guests would be happy to see elephants, gibbons and other primates, tigers, pythons and Tokay geckos. Maybe less happy to see giant centipedes and scorpions.

After 15 years, I myself am still surprised by some of the amazing birds here.

[-]

NinaFoundry@reddit

Cincinnati has lizards. The “Lazarus Lizards” have an origin story that involves a a precious child from a local wealthy family who stuffed some Italian lizards in a bag while on a family vacation. He brought the lizards home and let them go, and now many neighborhoods adjacent to Downtown Cincinnati have these cute little creatures.

[-]

Neracca@reddit

I know someone from Australia who was excited to see Squirrels and Deer since those aren't really a thing there, or at least in the part she was from.

[-]

Queasy-Flan2229@reddit

Bears snakes alligators PALMETTO BUGS 😱
I like seeing deer and chipmunks

[-]

oneislandgirl@reddit

Wild chickens are a thing where I live. I'm always amazed at how mesmerized the tourists are with seeing them.

[-]

momofdragons3@reddit

An African friend initially thought mountain lions were the size of a large dog. He was stunned that we are "OK" with actual L.I.O.N.S! just roaming around our locality.

Nope, not happy at all.

We have brown bears too, but apparently those are fine by him

[-]

StupidNewAccount2@reddit

I was lying on a blanket in a big field reading while visiting Cherokee NC. I look up and am suddenly surrounded by elk. Seriously the most afraid I was going to die in my life. They were HUGE from my supine position on the ground. I just put my book on my face and prayed that no one was afraid of the human lump and attacked me. Thirty minutes later they vanished. Still the coolest and scariest moment of my life.

[-]

dustyrags@reddit

Californian here- my German cousin lost her mind when a hummingbird came along

[-]

ButterflyStock1791@reddit

Everybody comes here wanting to see a moose. Ironically, the closest I ever came to a moose was when I was vacationing on the other side of the country. 🤣

[-]

send2steph@reddit

Possums are way cuter than I thought.

[-]

bela_okmyx@reddit

Great white sharks off Cape Cod - since seal hunting has been banned and the seal population is increasing, they've been attracting great whites to the area.

[-]

HelpfulHelpmeet@reddit

Dolphins, alligators, otters, green anoles. All pretty different from where I'm from but are a normal site where we live now. I'm excited to see armadillos. I don't know what else I would think "exotic" moose maybe.

[-]

xSwampxPopex@reddit

Idk about a draw necessarily but we have mountain lions where I’m from. Rare to see but cool.

I’d probably shit myself if I ever saw a moose or a bison in real life.

[-]

spleenboggler@reddit

I have more than a few melanistic grey squirrels -- black squirrels, basically -- near where I live, and my gosh, are people delighted to see them.

[-]

Acrobatic_End6355@reddit (OP)

Northern Ohio? Just guessing because that’s where my grandparents live and they have them.

[-]

spleenboggler@reddit

Philly's western suburbs

[-]

Loomertingo@reddit

Elk are the main one. This is the only town I know of where "sorry, there's a herd of thirty wild elk blocking my car" is an acceptable and common reason for being late to work. We also have wild turkeys, mountain lions and bears.

[-]

Karamist623@reddit

I’m in NJ and we have it all. Bears, eagles etc…..

[-]

toodleroo@reddit

Tarantulas. I got em in my front yard.

[-]

getdownheavy@reddit

Grizzly Bears, Moose, Wolves

The BMWs

[-]

nojustnoperightonout@reddit

pronghorns, aka antelopes, are just the AHs causing traffic to back up in Cheyenne, but people get excited when they've never been stuck in rush hour with them.

[-]

greenmtnfiddler@reddit

Here: skunks!

Elsewhere: lizards, geckos, anoles, chameleons.

[-]

pastrymom@reddit

I have a sweet friend from London who lost her mind when she saw a beaver.

We found an armadillo in the yard last summer. I had no idea we had those here.

[-]

pixel-beast@reddit

Living in a tourist heavy yet still very rural area in NY, it was fairly common to see tourists pulled over trying to take selfies with cows which I always thought was kind of silly

[-]

Genepoolperfect@reddit

Oh yeah, those are the folks up from NYC. Went to a local SUNY college in the Hudson Valley & all the LI kids were like, "what's that?" to every sound.

[-]

TheFlannC@reddit

Wild turkeys seem to be multiplying like crazy

[-]

worm_livers@reddit

Roadrunners. Was on a campus tour with my kid and there were several prospective students from some northeastern states. Unfazed roadrunner trotted right by the group. Stopped and made some clicks and displayed his crest. Parents and kids were losing their minds at our mini dinosaur.

[-]

Sugah-mama21@reddit

Bobcats, black bears, coyotes, groundhogs where I live

[-]

pinaple_cheese_girl@reddit

Nine banded Armadillo

[-]

Dry-Chicken-1062@reddit

Lizards are really common in my southwest region, but seem to excite visitors from farther east.

[-]

WilcoHistBuff@reddit

California here:

We have wide array of marine mammals that you can see on or near shore at different times of the year: Guadalupe Fur Seals, Northern Fur Seals, California Sea Lions, Northern Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Northern Elephant Seals, and Sea Otters plus a wide host of Whales and Dolphin species.

Also very cool as far a marine life go are sea anemones in tidal ponds.

As far as bugs go I am very fond of Jerusalem Crickets/Potato bugs.

The Banana Slug is a local favorite on hiking paths as are our wide variety of lizards, geckos and salamanders.

We also have bunch of cool indigenous snakes but I find them hard to love—even the harmless ones.

Wild boars are an invasive plague on the land.

I do love bobcats.

Our state bird, the California Quail, and Scrub-Jays, Wrentits, Gnatcatchers, Acorn and Nutall woodpeckers and Golden Eagles are all cool. Anna’s Hummingbird has these glowing pink red head feathers that are very cool.

I’m really tired of local skunks and so is our dog.

[-]

richbiatches@reddit

Well… there was that bunch of annoying party animals down the street

[-]

foozballhead@reddit

Elk, hawks, squirrels, raccoons, bears, opposum, bats, owls, cranes, sea lions, orcas, tiny jellyfish, starfish, woodpeckers, blue jays, bald eagles.

[-]

wifematerial138@reddit

I’ve got chipmunks, hummingbirds in the summer, lightning bugs in the mid to late summer. Rabbits, deer, Fox and I’ve seen a few bears. Groundhogs, frogs, toads and small garter snakes. Cardinals, blue jays, dragonflies.

[-]

Ok-Exit4787@reddit

Longhorn cattle. It’s not the most common type of cow here but I’d say they are common.

[-]

luthien310@reddit

There's an actual longhorn ranch near me. Did you know they're all registered??

But when the ranch has them out in the pasture by the busy main road (big state road)people driving through actually pull over on the side of the road and get out to take pics. I always want to tell them it's pretty dangerous to pull over on the shoulder when traffic is doing 75 beside you.

[-]

shelwood46@reddit

Bears. I live where the random bears that get captured in NJ get dropped off. Our dumpster is bear-proof, we never grill at dusk, sometimes there is one who hibernates about 200 feet away from my front door. We also had a Great Blue Heron living on our pond when I first moved here, but it has since died (I think a fox ate it). As for other place: probably elk and moose on the land, and manatees in the water. (We have a reptile zoo down the road with gators and crocs, I will pass.)

[-]

Mountain-View-4950@reddit

Just an anecdote: we had an Italian au pair who got excited every time she saw a squirrel for the first 4 months or so.

[-]

Insightseekertoo@reddit

Orcas, grey whales, and sea lions are around. They aren't on your commute or anything, but they are seen on the regular.

Brown and black bears are normal as well. You should bring bear spray on any hikes or while camping.

Salmon, I guess, are somewhat unusual to people.

More common is the 50°F no-shirt, pasty dude sitting on the bench at Greenlake. We mostly give them a wide berth.

[-]

No_Piccolo6337@reddit

We have one of the highest concentrations of mountain lions (cougars) in the country. We also have porcupines, black bears, elk, and skunks.

[-]

Khaleesi_dany_t@reddit

I learned recently that we have chipmunks in my part of Arkansas? I knew we had squirrels, but in my 31 years I have only once seen a chipmunk. I always imagined them living in central park inNY

[-]

tonic65@reddit

In the 3 years I've lived on my 4 acre "country" estate just on the edge of the Atlanta suburbs I've seen: Possums, Armadillos, deer, coyote, racoon, fox, turkeys, fox squirrels, rat snakes, copperheads, little brown snakes, red tailed hawks, box turtles, skunks, buzzards.

[-]

Savings_Pipe_8029@reddit

Hellbender

[-]

Aggravating_Anybody@reddit

Bald Eagles and Sandhill Cranes have both become very common where I live over the past 5 years.

[-]

BullsOnParadeFloats@reddit

Herons, pheasants, turkey vultures, wild turkeys, peregrine falcons, red tailed hawks, sandhill cranes, cicada killer hornets, coyotes, bald eagles...

All around just metro Detroit, and most of them actually within the city

[-]

SavagePengwyn@reddit

We have roadrunner here and javalina. People get very excited to see them. Roadrunners are just like the cartoon except less blue. It's awesome. I've lived here almost 10 years and still get super excited (although, I am out of the ordinary here. Most people don't notice anymore).

[-]

sermitthesog@reddit

I saw a beaver in a zoo somewhere overseas in a “North America” exhibit. Made me chuckle since they live behind my house, and some people consider them a nuisance.

[-]

runlalarun@reddit

I am in the American southwest. I was at a comedy show and javelinas came up. The comedian was like “You have different animas here?? wtf is that??”

It’s a wild boar. They eat the jackolanterns off your porch. 🤷‍♀️

[-]

AZJHawk@reddit

Javelina, roadrunners and scorpions are pretty common here. I like seeing seals when I go to coastal areas.

[-]

backlikeclap@reddit

I'm in Seattle where on any given day I see more rabbits than squirrels. Completely blew me away my first time here.

[-]

redvinebitty@reddit

Elk, moose, mule deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, raccoons, porcupines, wolverines, badgers, otters, beavers, skunks, pronghorn, bobcats, black n grizzly bears, cougars, wolves, coyotes, bald eagles, red tail hawks, barn owls, horned owls, woodpeckers, quail, blue herons, harlequin ducks, sea lions, orca, gray n humpback whales, geoducks, Dungeness crab, razor clams, oysters, huge octopus, halibut, salmon, steelhead, sturgeon.

Flip side is jaguar, panther, bison, polar bears, musk ox, caribou, manatee, armadillo, Gila monster, road runners, crocodiles, alligators, scorpions, white tail deer, coati, lynx, lobster with claws, huge catfish, turtles, all kinds of rattlers

[-]

WhompTrucker@reddit

In my neighborhood we sometimes have fox and bobcats. Deer and owls are common but it's fun to see deer. More scary to see the fox.

[-]

Zephyr_Dragon49@reddit

When I go up to Michigan, I love seeing them bright orange Baltimore Orioles birds 🥰 They remind me a lot of my local Arkansas favorite, the Eastern Towhee. A red snowy owl was seen in Michigan and I want to go on a birding trip to see it irl. There hasn't been any news on it since last year so it might have just been dyed by dirt or something and rinsed off by now. No one knows but seeing a snow owl irl too whould be cool enough

If I ever go out west long enough, I want to see some elk or whales on the coast. Or if I go north enough, moose. I want to see all the big boys we don't get down here :3 Alligators scare me with that bite force, drowning, and spinning so I don't like seeing them. And they're low to the ground and don't really register as big to me like a giant hog whould

[-]

show_me_your_secrets@reddit

I live in Utah. We have moose, mountain lions, bears, bison, all kinds of things to go bump in the night. I kinda love it.

[-]

Butimthedudeman@reddit

Its always funny, but not funny.... watching people from elsewhere trying to get close to alligators... 🤦‍♀️

[-]

Berezis@reddit

Hillbillies

[-]

ccroy2001@reddit

We have Road Runners here in Southern California and the Southwest in general. The bird I like to see but don’t see around here is the Cardinal. I’m always happy when I see one

[-]

Unusual-Material9443@reddit

i have cardinals in all my trees here in central texas.

[-]

trustme1maDR@reddit

There are a couple of cardinals in my neighborhood and I'm happy every time I see one or hear them sing

[-]

HaplessReader1988@reddit

An Australian co-worker visited our branch, and I was charmed by her reaction to squirrels and chipmunks.

[-]

MargieBigFoot@reddit

Fireflies. I didn’t know why my California-raised husband was so excited to see them.

[-]

X_shadowbeast_X@reddit

Where i live its normal to see Deer, Elk, Moose, Bison/ Buffalo, Bears and Mountain lions. I guess I think it would be cool to live near the ocean and be able to see Dolphins, Whales or even sharks.

[-]

zzzz88@reddit

Banana slugs

[-]

pxystx89@reddit

Technically Florida has a few different wild non-native monkey populations. Some escaped from research facilities, some were released by a tourism company to drum up business and then it got out of control. At least a few of the populations carry illnesses and they’re all kinda aggressive.

We also have massive invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades decimating the mammal populations. So if you’re super into 20ft snakes, that might be something to look into.

I personally love the Key Deer. They’re the smallest species of white tail deer standing only about 2-3 ft tall at full size. They’re basically mini deer and they’re so cute and they can swim really well and go between the islands. There’s about 1000 of them, recovered through protections and conservation from only around 50 individuals left in the 1950s.

[-]

musicsoccer@reddit

Michigan here.

After coming back from living in Japan for 10 years, I was shocked at how many god damn geese there were. Geese mafia everywhere.

[-]

YoungestSon62@reddit

There are wild horses, or ponies, living on an island near where I live and people come from hundreds of miles away to see them. Many of the locals refer to them (the horses, not the tourists) as aquatic water donkeys.

[-]

One-Sale4366@reddit

I grew up in SC and there are a number of alligators in the state (around 100,000). In my hometown in the Midlands the alligators would appear on people’s lawns to sunbath. Our neighbor would have to shoo them away when his grandchildren came over for a visit.

[-]

Vikingkrautm@reddit

We see foxes, near, moose and Bobcats.

[-]

roadjerseys@reddit

weird animals here: turkeys :)

weird animals i like seeing elsewhere: anything cold-blooded lol. what do you mean in arizona lizards just run around your parking lots. that's so fucking cute

[-]

GreenLeafy11@reddit

Come down here to Florida, and you can see the little ones climbing up the inside walls.

[-]

markpemble@reddit

Turkeys are taking over North America. Kinda a problem in some cities.

[-]

catm0m4lyfe@reddit

I live significantly outside of town in a house that's lovely but very poorly built. I have about 1 lizard per week get in during the spring/summer. And the occasional snake....the cats take care of them right away though. I'd feel bad for them, but if they just stayed outside they'd be fine...

[-]

Acrobatic_End6355@reddit (OP)

We don’t have the same lizards they do in Arizona, but we do have Lazarus lizards that are interesting.

[-]

TravelinTrojan@reddit

I live by the beach in SoCal. We have Seagulls, pelicans, ibis, herons - sea lions and seals swim by sometimes. And during droughts, coyotes come into the urban areas - scary but also cool, even for locals!

[-]

Unusual-Material9443@reddit

Im in Texas. we have Armadillos. rarely see live ones though, mostly dead on the side of the road.

[-]

OneNerdyLesbian@reddit

I can't think of any animals that are common in Indiana that are particularly novel. Most of the animals we have here are common at least across the eastern US, if not the whole US.

Seeing black bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park was pretty cool for me.

[-]

bare_thoughts@reddit

Deer - Midwest are way bigger than Southern deer. Th8nk horse VS mini-horse type of comparison.

[-]

OneNerdyLesbian@reddit

That’s interesting. I looked into it, and it looks like Indiana’s deer are mostly medium-sized, not as small as deer in the South but not as big as they get farther north. I had no idea their size varied like that.

[-]

bare_thoughts@reddit

It really surprised me when I realized it.... and I am surprised you have medium deer. I think part of it may be that you are also eastern since there are larger deer not very far north of Indiana that are full sized.

[-]

HighCdownLow@reddit

I grew up in California and was thrilled to see armadillos when I moved to Texas!! Now I live on the east coast and I was surprised to learn that a lot of places don’t have hummingbirds year round. I was used to seeing hummingbirds every day!

[-]

carryon4threedays@reddit

My area has one of the most diverse sea bird communities in the country. We even have whooping cranes. To attracts people from all over, but locals don’t appreciate it.

[-]

Tiger_in_a_Jeep@reddit

Alligators

[-]

biancanevenc@reddit

There's a herd of wild horses in my area, and apparently many people have never seen a horse before because they pay big bucks to go on a wild horse tour. 🤷

Also, dolphins are fairly common and visitors love seeing them in the ocean. So do I.

[-]

thetonytaylor@reddit

We’ve got black bears, red foxes, and beavers roaming through the yard by me. There’s always vultures and pheasants in the area. I saw an eagle the other day. Also, there were some coyotes spotted walking over the frozen lake this winter.

[-]

Inkspotten@reddit

We’re surrounded by farms with dairy and beef cattle, chickens, pigs, goats, ducks, and horses in Bucks County PA. Staying on Manatee bay in Florida was wild seeing all the sea creatures

[-]

Express_Leading_4840@reddit

Bison, antelope, deer, big horn sheep

[-]

ThePickleConnoisseur@reddit

Been in AZ for a bit so Javelinas. Nothing prepared me for getting face to face with a boar

[-]

__The_Kraken__@reddit

I used to teach English in Japan, and when I showed my students a postcard of an armadillo, they freaked out. They asked if it was a real thing. They’re still a fun spot in Texas, we don’t see them too often as they’re nocturnal.

[-]

reelbgpunk@reddit

I see dolphins literally every time I go on the boat, which is at least a couple times a month, but there are tons of tours for them for tourists. I still love them, to be clear, but it's not rare at all here.

[-]

TieDye_Raptor@reddit

Hmm... we've got both black and grizzly bears (black bears can end up in some interesting places, lol), elk, the occasional moose, pronghorn, bison, mountain lions. I've seen mountain goats and bighorn sheep, too. We've got not only bald eagles, but we've got golden eagles, too.

I actually grew up in Florida, and I love seeing manatees, alligators, and dolphins when I visit family there.

I'm also a birder, so I'm excited to see some of the birds in other places that we don't have where I live. We have some cool birds but from back east, I miss the cardinals, blue jays, and mockingbirds. It's always nice to see them. So for birds, I'm happy to see all of them, really. I love birds.

[-]

Greedy_Bandicoot493@reddit

Horny toads and prairie dogs maybe. We used to chase the horny toads as kids in open field and rub their belly to “put them to sleep”. The prairie dogs are everywhere. We even have prairie dog towns in some other towns around us.

[-]

DukesAngel@reddit

Where I live, ky, we have Bobcats, white tail deer, elk, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, opossum, black bears, chipmunks, muskrat, Beavers, and more. I didn't even get to reptiles or amphibians.

We also have scorpions and jellyfish!

[-]

Nemoudeis@reddit

Bald Eagles can be found throughout the country, but they are STUPID easy to spot here in Minnesota.

You can see them riding thermals all the time in the river valleys, or anywhere near a lake (which in Minnesota means 'everywhere'), and any sufficiently tree-lined lakeshore will feature one or two of their huge-assed nests.

We also have timberwolves, mostly in the north, but with a range that reaches the northern Twin Cities suburbs. Coyotes roam the cities, and nasty coywolves pop up occasionally (and unfortunately) too.

We also have moose, and both species (northern and southern) of flying squirrels, although it's unlikely that you'd ever actually see one in action, considering how purely nocturnal they are. Mostly, you just hear them chattering way up in the trees all night long.

We even used to be the only state (I think) in the Lower 48 with reindeer, but they were largely wiped out a century ago, and I believe the last one in Minnesota was spotted about 50 years ago.

[-]

princessoftrash54@reddit

We have Javalina here in the Sonoran Desert, they are like small boars but cuter. They are a bit dangerous from what I've heard but I've not got close enough to find out. I see rotund ones crossing the street at dusk sometimes. We have a lot of cool birds too.

[-]

apocalypticdachshund@reddit

the turkeys in the boston metro area have been something i really needed to get used to! especially when they block traffic. i was unreasonably excited to see robins and chickadees for the first time a few years ago!

i never saw an alligator out of water when i lived in louisiana, but they're still impressive. i do not miss the mockingbirds that used to chirp every morning i wanted to sleep in. but i miss the little green lizards for sure!

[-]

flyamber@reddit

I see many deer and Cardinals every day. Not too unusual, but maybe to some. Also, Herons, but not daily. =)

[-]

Thathathatha@reddit

Coati, Gila Monsters, Tarantulas, Javalinas, Rattlesnakes.

One hike, this dude was freaking out that a rattlesnake was on the trail, while the rest of us where like, "Oh yea, just go around it." He was somewhere on the east coast and thought he was going to get bit.

[-]

ImCrossingYouInStyle@reddit

Folks like to see black bears, especially cubs; elk; red fox (difficult to spot); deer; salamanders; fireflies. Exciting to me when I travel: dall sheep; moose; wolves; whales; orcas; bald eagles. Looking forward to: gorillas; African elephants; wildebeests; zebras; rhinos; giraffes; etc. Nature is awesome!

[-]

elucify@reddit

Everyone in the US deserves cash reparations.

EEEEVVVVVRRRYYYOOOONNNNE!

[-]

Maxpowr9@reddit

Wild turkeys are common in MA, especially in suburban neighborhoods and even in Boston proper. You can see wild turkeys in the Fens.

[-]

elucify@reddit

I know a Japanese girl who got so excited when we smelled a skunk. She had heard about them but had never experienced that particular perfume

[-]

Hot-Maintenance-1795@reddit

Coyotes. We have a crap-ton of them in Chicago. They live in the cemeteries and eat rats and rabbits.

[-]

SallyAmazeballs@reddit

Whooping cranes! People travel here to visit the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo. It is actually is pretty interesting to visit, and I recommend it if you're in the area and you like nature. The efforts to reestablish the populations are really impressive.

[-]

sillykitty100@reddit

The Aldo Leopold Foundation is another great one in Baraboo for nature lovers! They do some cool tours, including crane-watching in fall for the migration.

[-]

Adorable_Dust3799@reddit

We have mountain lions, but the only one I've seen had been hit bt a car. We have mule deer, but i rarely see them. And I've seen turkeys a few times. The whale watch boats see loads of dolphins, humpback and grey whales, I've also seen HUGE hammerheads and blue whales.

[-]

mightknowbackback@reddit

I’m in New Orleans, so people make a big deal about alligators. They’re around, even in the city if you’re near water, but they don’t really affect life at all. Theoretically they’re dangerous, but I’ve never actually heard of anyone getting attacked.

As for what I’ve seen elsewhere, in Sydney, Australia I was in a park right in the middle of the city, and the trees were full of giant bats. I thought it was wild, but they may as well have been pigeons as far as the Aussies cared

[-]

Holden1104@reddit

Snipes are normal here. They’re elusive and it takes skill to hunt them down.

[-]

donner_dinner_party@reddit

We have horseshoe crab season at our local beach. If you go at the right time you will see dozens, sometimes hundreds of them mating in the shallow waters. They are cool and harmless.

[-]

PegFam@reddit

In Cincinnati we have Lazarus lizards. They’re fun. We have some that live under our deck

[-]

pumpkinmoonbeam@reddit

Armadillos and roadrunners

[-]

Quirky_Commission_56@reddit

White tailed deer,raccoons, coyotes, skunks, armadillos, grackles, cardinals, copperhead snakes, bobcats, hawks, owls, cougars.

[-]

TracyVegas@reddit

Roadrunners and coyotes. I live in Las Vegas.

[-]

Smhassassin@reddit

I grew up in an area where elk are really rare. Like, common enough you can hunt them, but its really hard to get a license. They do a lottery system where if you get an elk license, you can never sign up again whether you get one or not. End result is there's professional elk trackers who help people find an elk to shoot when they get a license so they don't waste their one chance to get one.

You can imagine my surprise when I moved 1000 miles away and they're just everywhere. Like almost stray cat common. Its kinda wild.

[-]

gorobotkillkill@reddit

We have Pika. Mostly exciting to Japanese tourists, but some people seem to be surprised we have them.

[-]

sillykitty100@reddit

Pika are always exciting to me - they're SO cute, cheeping and carrying around their little flowers.

[-]

fireflypoet@reddit

Central NY state: we have great blue heron, osprey, turkey vultures, many other raptors, Canada geese, and snow geese (which started coming a number of years back due to warming trends: the geese thought they were in VA.) We also have wild turkeys and fishers.

In other regions, I have loved seeing mule deer, sea lions, ground squirrels, seals, manatees, pelicans, eagles, whales and dolphins, all kinds of shore birds, land birds, and sea birds.

I have also been on photo safari in Tanzania and saw every animal and bird from there you can list, some of them very close up.

Another trip was to the Galapagos Islands and we saw all they have to offer, again since very close up. The giant tortoises are almost beyond belief.

[-]

growlithe49@reddit

I worked in a park in CA and there was a couple from (I believe) New Zealand who was OBSESSED with squirrels. It was so cute!

[-]

The_Ref17@reddit

Coyotes

[-]

Slow_Concern_672@reddit

We have bears, fox, bobcats, eagles, blue heron/sandhill cranes, elk nearby, and some places wolves and mountain lions but i haven't seen those. I just visited a place in NC known for having white squirrels but I didn't see one. I guess I get excited mostly about birds but many of them I see at home still. Or I mean I get excited every time I see an animal even dogs I guess. Except maybe poisonous snakes or any snake if it's too close to me.

[-]

Deinocheirus4@reddit

When my French friends visited they though the squirrels in Central Park were “just like in the movies”

[-]

cptjeff@reddit

Send them to DC. Ours are entitled little assholes with zero fear of humans. They will walk right up to you if you're eating on a bench to steal your food.

I also had one that stood up in front of me, made eye contact, and rubbed its belly. And was visibly offended when I refused to give him anything.

A couple of our parks have the highest squirrels population densities ever recorded on earth. Bur really, just rats with better PR.

[-]

Foxy_locksy1704@reddit

Elk, moose and bison. People come to Colorado and see them and go wild.

[-]

Huntscunt@reddit

Roadrunner, quail, rattle snakes.

[-]

PuzzledKumquat@reddit

I don't live in Key West, but when I visited there, I was absolutely in love with all the wild roosters roaming around. Where I'm from, they're only found on farms. I was also agog at seeing the iguanas sunning themselves. We certainly don't have those here in the Midwest!

[-]

Otherwise-OhWell@reddit

I think Illinois' most exciting is probably the bobcat? I was going to say "good luck ever seeing them except on a lucky trail cam video," but apparently there is a hunting/trapping season for bobcats in Illinois and 627 tags were claimed in the 2026 season (source below) and now I want to kill some motherfuckers.

https://www.illinois.gov/news/release.html?releaseid=32295

Anyway, I'm fascinated by lotsa animals from other areas. If you ask me today, I'd most like to see a moose; from inside an armored vehicle, ten miles away, through binoculars. But ask me tomorrow and it might be a different animal.

[-]

RachaelReadsaLot@reddit

We have just about any animal you can imagine in Tennessee except the big aquatic creatures, moose, and elk. We do have some alligators though. We have bears, mountain lions, coyotes, deer all frickin over, raccoons, possums, armadillos, squirrels, any kind of bird you can imagine. I regularly see deer and coyotes at my house in a very suburban area.

[-]

AardvarkFantastic360@reddit

Mountain lions in parks of orange county ca

[-]

Polvora_Expresiva@reddit

A friend got really excited and immediately to a picture when I happened to mention the presence of a roadrunner. He kept asking if I was joking with him. I had never seen someone so excited to see a roadrunner

[-]

ShoddyJuggernaut975@reddit

Loons

[-]

taxwench@reddit

I see bison near daily as there is a herd in Commerce City CO, and it’s super fun to wow visitors when they are close enough to the fence to see them. Otherwise we drive through the refuge as it’s free!

[-]

SabresBills69@reddit

naturally ocean areas will have sea life you can’t see inland. northern state and Rockies have moose. bison are in the western mountains and parts of the Great Plains

things like deer and squirrels are all over and don’t move the needle.

[-]

ekirby713@reddit

So I’m from Northern NY (think southern Canada) and there’s deer and wildlife everywhere- it can be super rural and redneck so imagine my surprise when friends who live on Long Island took us to this little zoo and were so excited to show us the deer

[-]

alcurtis727@reddit

Armadillos have been making their way north in the US, like almost to Virginia. Around here in NC I always assumed they were a desert animal. Boy was I (and everyone else in the county) shook when some posted an armadillo sighting on the road in one of our towns. They've apparently been up this way for a while though.

[-]

julesk@reddit

I saw some foreign tourists go crazy over a chipmunk at Rocky Mountain National Park, in Colorado. Many pictures were taken while the chipmunk 🐿️ patiently waited for snack.

[-]

xansha3@reddit

Grew up in South jersey along the bay. Once a year we'd go get ice cream and go see thousands of horseshoe crabs on the beach. Thought they did it everywhere but apparently the Delaware Bay is their special mating place!

[-]

JimBones31@reddit

Moose

[-]

IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit

Sea lions. People act like fools. I remember when one grabbed a little girl and dragged her into the water after her parents posed her with it. (She was fine.) The best comment was “well, they’re not called sea bunnies!”

[-]

MangaMaven@reddit

I've seen foreigners bug out because they dystopia realize roadrunners are real.

[-]

Almost_Amos@reddit

Sea life mostly? Grey Whales, bottlenose dolphins, sea lions. In the air we have condors and red tailed hawks. West coast land animals (in the city) aren’t that unique

[-]

Snapper__@reddit

Loons.

[-]

PrimusDCE@reddit

My ex-wife is Chilean and she was excited about squirrels and raccoons.

[-]

markpemble@reddit

This is wild. Was the Black Widow inside? Because once you see a full grown widow inside your house, you will never be excited again.

[-]

PrimusDCE@reddit

I have only seen a sparse few outside my house in VA, closest one was on my front door.

When I was visiting my friend in Oregon his stoop was absolutely infested with them. It was insane. I would not be able to live comfortably like that.

[-]

lantana98@reddit

Coyotes, bobcats and javelinas casually trot down the sidewalks, through the yards and knock over our garbage cans in our subdivision in the Phoenix area of Arizona.

[-]

pheen@reddit

I see bald eagles almost every day. I saw three eating a dead deer on the side of the road on my way to work this morning. Next to Alaska, I think we (Minnesota) have the largest population in the country.

[-]

Defiant_Coffee1812@reddit

Possum, deer, and raccoons are in my yard every night.

[-]

mixxastr@reddit

Ground hogs are common in my region. There are many colonies near the airport and visitors love them. Bad news, they can transmit the plague, yes, as in the Black Death. Cute from a distance, deadly under the right circumstances.

[-]

imnottheoneipromise@reddit

The dolphins are a pretty big excitement drawer. Hell I’ve lived here my whole life and I still get excited when I see them. I get really really really excited on the rare occasion I see a sea turtle!

[-]

Solid_Thinker7333@reddit

Black bears and coyote all over NJ/NY area really amaze visitors. They don't realize the wildlife in that area is so diverse.

[-]

ilovjedi@reddit

Wild Turkey. There are moose in Maine but I’ve never seen one here

[-]

os2mac@reddit

Musk Ox , Kodiak Brown Bears, Moose, Caribou, Polar Bears, Wood Bison, Narwhals, Beluga Whales, Dall Sheep, Salmon, Grayling, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, King Crab, snow crab, Halibut, Orcas....

[-]

asdfpickle@reddit

Here, I'd say the most alluring are rattlesnakes, roadrunners, and many varieties of cacti like saguaros, prickly pears, and jumping chollas. Still love them and exploring the desert, but I could definitely do without worrying about snakebites, even if they usually give you a warning just before.

I'd love to see a raccoon or opossum. Apparently both do exist in AZ in small numbers, per iNaturalist, but I've never seen them so I'd hardly count them as normal. Both are mostly restricted to higher elevations.

[-]

earmares@reddit

Deer, rabbits, turkeys, Canadian geese, elk, antelope, occasional moose, rarely mountain lions, rarely bears (black), are the most common.

I love to see any ocean animals.

[-]

Quicherbichen1@reddit

Roadrunners, lizards, porcupines, bobcats, snakes, scorpions, coyotes, and Osprey. Oh, I almost forgot the ROAD RUNNERS! All of these can be found within the Albuquerque metro area.

[-]

Gloomy-Difference-51@reddit

I live in Minnesota and whenever I travel to California or Arizona it's the lizards everywhere for me

[-]

BitterestLily@reddit

I've heard other people from other not warm parts of the country (e.g., Washington state) say the same. It surprises me because theyre such a commonplace here that we don't realize not everyone is used to seeing them.

[-]

EducationalSet3738@reddit

I live in Northern California within driving distance of the coast. Ten minutes away from my family's house, there is a nature preserve while I used to hike all the time, and it's common to hear reports about coyotes, black bears, rattlesnakes, California condors, and mountain lions. I've had close encounters with coyotes and rattlesnakes myself. I haven't encountered mountain lions, thankfully, though they have been spotted within people's backyards around here.

Whenever we have guests from out of state, we take them whale watching within San Francisco Bay. Oftentimes entire pods of bottlenose dolphins follow the tour boats.

[-]

Radar1980@reddit

I have a friend from the Midwest who thinks it’s incredible that I can just see manatees. The novelty wore off quick to me.

[-]

Pretty_boi_Tjaden@reddit

The 757 is absolutely littered with flocks of endangered Canadian Geese

[-]

Curmudgy@reddit

endangered Canadian [sic] Geese

Endangered? You can have as many of ours as you want.

[-]

jlily18@reddit

Same here! We have way too many, Ohio would gladly send some to anyone who wants them!

[-]

Kyauphie@reddit

*Canada Geese

[-]

SphericalCrawfish@reddit

As I understand it hummingbirds don't exist anywhere outside of the Americas.

I can only imagine not understanding what a hummingbird is and seeing it for the fresh time.

[-]

TheyMadeMeLogin@reddit

I once had a lady excitedly point out a prairie dog to me. She was clearly not from around here, because they're extremely common.

[-]

Scrappy_The_Crow@reddit

Lived in North Dakota, can attest how common those "dak rats" are. Even in base housing at Minot AFB. I'd have to watch where I was stepping when mowing the yard so I wouldn't twist my ankle.

[-]

DistantRaine@reddit

20 years ago, my Colorado-raised boyfriend was visiting me in Ohio, and we went to the zoo. He was shocked at the Prairie Dog exhibit, but after some thought concluded they probably have prairie dogs in some of the exhibits at the Denver zoo as well.

[-]

Wind_Responsible@reddit

Birds. It’s not the animals themselves. It’s the amount of them. Birds. I live inside of a freshwater wetland. A very large one that lots of Americans live in and just don’t know. My portion is called the Lake Erie WaterShed. SO MANY BIRDS HAPPILY EXIST IN NORTHEAST OHIO! Millions upon millions of birds. All over the Great Lakes. Swarms of birds. ENORMOUS SWARMS OF BIRDS! Insect swarms are insane here. I used to hate the bugs. Now I welcome them because that’s the bird and fish feast!!!!!!

[-]

Wind_Responsible@reddit

So many birds that Bald Eagles and other giant birds happily fly over major cities around the Great Lakes every day

[-]

vadutchgirl@reddit

Opossum in Virginia.

[-]

sewedthroughmyfinger@reddit

Our German exchange student really liked the prairie dogs here and said they have a big exhibit at the zoo there. Alaska was the only plane I've ever been that has more and more varied wildlife. Still the US but there was a lot there.

[-]

Artimesia@reddit

We have an Australian friend who visits every few years. He is fascinated by squirrels.

[-]

missgiddy@reddit

People get pretty excited about moose. Also, bison! Friends from Europe were always so exited to see bison.

[-]

Justadropinthesea@reddit

Bald eagles, orcas and mountain lions.

[-]

birdconureKM@reddit

When I went to Hawaii I was so excited to see wild chickens everywhere. Chickens are allowed in my area (no roosters) but I don’t think anyone around me has any.

I went to Florida once when I was a kid and there were iguanas everywhere :) (I know now that they are invasive to Florida but as a kid it was so cool).

Hummingbirds are normal where I live (California west coast) and I keep reminding myself how special that is so that I don’t take it for granted. Love the little flying jewels.

[-]

lilabell5@reddit

I'm a Tennesseean and years ago some German friends were studying abroad here. We walked outside my house, only to encounter an opossum playing dead. They are native to North America, none in Europe. My Germans were astonished. ☺️

[-]

Admirable-Cactus@reddit

Bears. Big fucking bears.

[-]

DontRunReds@reddit

A lot of tourists get excited by bald eagles. They're pretty normal to me and nowhere close to my favorite bird.

I however get excited by city racoons. There are no raccoons where I live, although we do also have pests that get into our trash as well.

[-]

MakeStupidHurtAgain@reddit

Not indigenous, but ridiculously commonplace; parrots. When a flock of them sets up on a telephone wire at sundown and starts screaming, you literally can’t hear anything else for hundreds of feet in any direction.

Indigenous and easily spotted: dolphins, bobcats, coyotes, roadrunners, sea lions, turkey vultures, rattlesnakes, pelicans.

Indigenous and hard (or dangerous) to spot: mountain lions, black bears, condors, sea otters.

[-]

DefinitelyNotMaranda@reddit

Hm. The only thing I can think of is cerulean warblers and Kentucky Cave shrimp. Both of which are mostly found in eastern Kentucky and the Appalachian area. I live in Lexington so I’ve never seen either. Lol.

As far as something I’d like to see… I guess seeing an alligator would be pretty rad. I’ve only been to Florida once. I got to see the ocean but no gators lol.

[-]

New_Hovercraft9508@reddit

When I was in Costa Rica our tour guide was telling us all about how she got to see a white tail deer once and how amazing it was, whereas in Missouri, USA they’re more seen as a pest animal that is so plentiful they’re a nuisance to drivers and regularly run out in front of and get hit by cars. Deer are still beautiful in their own right but it was strange to be so far from home with literal wild monkeys in the trees and still have some familiar animals about and even spoken of in a mythological sense.

[-]

doublebogey182@reddit

Had one swim right by me near sarasota. Scared the shit out of me and quickly realized how amazing it was.

[-]

SWNMAZporvida@reddit

Javelina- desert pecary

[-]

Aware-Goose896@reddit

I moved from California to Maryland and got really excited the first time I saw a groundhog. It was walking down the street in a suburban neighborhood, and at first glance, I wondered why that cat looked so funny.

[-]

jxd132407@reddit

Fireflies in the Northeast. A friend from Ireland grabbed me because he thought he was having a stroke and seeing lights. Dude, those are lightning bugs!

[-]

NewOrleansLA@reddit

Alligators

[-]

canoe4you@reddit

I’ve seen wild swine rummaging in my backyard and there are several areas close by where it’s easy to spot coypu or beavers.

[-]

Many_Inevitable_6803@reddit

I was just visiting Tucson, they had wild horses just roaming around, like we have deer! (PA)

[-]

Dick-the-Peacock@reddit

…they have them up near Phoenix on the Salt River, and some bands up in the White Mountains, but we don’t have wild horses in Tucson.

[-]

Many_Inevitable_6803@reddit

I have pics

[-]

Sans_Seriphim@reddit

Absolutely nothing! There's nothing near Denver you won't see somewhere else.

[-]

StrikingDeparture432@reddit

Mongoose in Hawaii are weird to tourists.

Of course tourists are weird not the mongooses too.

[-]

2Asparagus1Chicken@reddit

A bison trophy looks sweet

[-]

The_Highland_Sword@reddit

I've lived in Maryland my whole life and only seen a fully grown great horned owl. Fucker scared me because it was 3am in the middle of nowhere and I was smoking a joint and saw the outline of an entity on my shed. I've never seen one in person and didn't realize how huge they are.

[-]

Synaps4@reddit

Lynx live around here, but I have never seen one in my entire life.

[-]

markpemble@reddit

My grandfather was in the woods of western Montana almost his entire life and only saw one lynx.

[-]

ABrightOrange@reddit

That would be amazing to see! I live in Florida and I’ve never seen a panther in the wild, but I have seen plenty of bears.

[-]

FunkMastaUno@reddit

Sea lions in SF

[-]

No_Foundation7308@reddit

Big horn sheep

[-]

KJHagen@reddit

Mule deer, white tail deer, bison, elk, moose, and black bears are relatively common. Coyotes, wolves, mountain lions, mountain goats, and grizzlies are less commonly seen.

Alligators are fun to look at when we travel to places that have them.

[-]

HippieGrandma1962@reddit

I've driven cross country taking three different routes- I40, I70, and I80. I've always been a squirrel lover and was delighted and surprised to see how different squirrels look in different parts of the country. The kaibab squirrel was one of my favorites with a dark gray body and light gray tail and adorable ear tufts.

[-]

Nest1ng_Doll@reddit

I live in Colorado (plains, not mountains), and our “normal” animal is a prairie dog. They are so cute and make the cutest little noises! But they also carry bubonic plague. So… visitors, stay away if you see one.

[-]

Nomadchun23@reddit

Deer? Bear on rare occasion...

[-]

Willing_Calendar_373@reddit

One or more species of deer is found in virtually place in America, although most of the Aleutian Islands are deer free. Doesn't make them less cool, and different species and subspecies make up that wide spread.

[-]

Stielgranate@reddit

Rattle snakes will always get you excited!

[-]

BlueSkyMourning@reddit

Armadillos. I saw my 1st one in 3rd grade, a lifetime ago, and was pretty sure it was an alien creature.

[-]

Nearly-Retired_20@reddit

Rats

[-]

jim2527@reddit

Alligators

[-]

sshevie@reddit

I was working in Mackinaw City for a few summers and could not believe the people that had never seen fireflies.

[-]

balance-dinsight@reddit

Squirrels. People in Australia or NZ always freak out when they visit

[-]

Strong_Landscape_333@reddit

Idk fox, coyotes, hawks, bald eagles, huge deer, gators, bears, snakes, large spiders that are like 5 different colors

Area has expanded so much that's it sounds made.up that some animals live here if someone just moved here

[-]

wormbreath@reddit

People get really excited about antelope.

Elk and moose too. But the antelope….. they love the antelope.

[-]

SnowblindAlbino@reddit

I've been to all 50 states and pretty much seen all the things anyone would list in the wild with two exceptions: lynx and armadillo. (I've seen dead armadillos, but never a live one.) But all the rest? Wolves, black bear, brown bear, moose, bison, all manner of snakes, all the raptors, etc etc. at some point or another. In my experience there is interesting wildlife everywhere in the US except in cities (and even there you'll find cool stuff...I once watched a redtail hawk eat a squirrel on top of a power transformer in an office courtyard in DC, with lots of commuters looking on).

[-]

theElephantHas2heads@reddit

Bears, Fishers, moose, bobcats on land, North Atlantic lobster at sea.

[-]

lyndseymariee@reddit

Whales and seals.

[-]

Willing_Calendar_373@reddit

Orcas

[-]

rosycross93@reddit

Deer, elk, moose, antelope, wild horses, badgers, mink, muskrat, skunks, raccoons, bald and golden eagles are all in this area. I’m not sure “excited “ is the right word, but it would be pretty impressive to see javelinas, Gila monsters, exotic snakes, chupacabras. I wouldn’t go to the southeast unless under duress so no gators, etc for me.

[-]

NotACrazyCatLadyx2@reddit

Rattle snakes. Javalina (a kind of wild boar that doesn’t taste good). Snow birds but they migrate home when the temp gets to 100

[-]

B_Williams_4010@reddit

I'm from the Kansas City area, and I remember driving through Pennsyvania and seeing bear crossing/warning signs for the first time. I never saw any bears, but you can bet I was looking over my shoulder at every rest stop that night.

[-]

Wide_Breadfruit_2217@reddit

Killer Whales. Not common but they're here

[-]

JulieThinx@reddit

I had a friend from India and he was obsessed about skunks.

[-]

AcadiaRemarkable6992@reddit

A friend from Rhode Island visited me in NY and she saw her first live firefly. I had no idea they didn’t have them in RI

[-]

FelineHerdsCats@reddit

Alligators are very common for me to see. I saw a groundhog when traveling last year and was super excited about it. Big mammals like moose would be awesome to see it really is up to geography what has novelty for you.

[-]

MorgessaMonstrum@reddit

Scorpions out in Las Vegas, though there are plenty of locals who are wigged out by those. Same with longhorn beetles, and for some people cicadas. Oh, and when we get grasshopper swarms. And the bats that eat them.

But fireflies are goddamn magic to me, and I have a sense of wonder over seeing a deer.

[-]

JetScreamerBaby@reddit

I grew up in suburban Chicago. When I was a kid (10 yo?), a neighbor’s cousin (a kid from California) came to visit for a summer.

He had never seen a gray squirrel before. In my town, there was probably a squirrel nest in every other tree. Squirrels were running around everywhere, every day.

This kid was chasing them around saying “THERE’S ANOTHER ONE!” He never caught one. We’d just watch this kid and think ‘WTF is he doing?’

For those of you not familiar with squirrels, they’re impossible to catch by running after them. Also, they are rodents, so even if you DID catch one, it’s not a cute lil fuzzy bunny. It’s a tree rat, possibly with rabies, definitely with clawed feet and sharp teeth.

[-]

kamakazi339@reddit

Deer. Well, our sized deer.

I live in Ohio and our white tails are MASSIVE.

Go down to Florida and they're basically poodles

[-]

PeridotRai@reddit

Alligators. I’m a native Floridian, so I’ve seen a lot of gators, but for visitors, it’s a big deal. One time, I went to Cape Canaveral, and they drive you out on a bus to go see the space ships. On the way back, there was a big gator in the ditch, and the bus had to pull over because people were so excited and wanted to take pictures.

Also, raccoons. I had a friend from Australia visit me in the Bay Area, and she really wanted to see a raccoon. I warned her that we didnt often see them where I lived, but we lucked out and saw a whole family of them in a parking lot. She loved it.

[-]

axolotllegs@reddit

Pronghorn. More of them in Wyoming than people.

[-]

Accomplished_War_805@reddit

People really enjoy the roadrunners in our area.

[-]

Patient_Character730@reddit

Pronghorn hang out here on the golf course and at the high school. They are really cool animals, the fastest north American land mammal in fact. They are fairly smart too, don't see them squashed on the road very often. We also have mule deer here. Not as common, but they have their part of town that they hang at. Another common one is bunnies, but like in mass amounts. They are just everywhere in this town. I live in SE Wyoming.

[-]

gleaming-the-cubicle@reddit

Down in Cancún, they have iguanas the way we have squirrels in Maryland

I was not expecting so many

[-]

Shot-Artist5013@reddit

Tourists in Boston/Cambridge go crazy over the squirrels on the Boston Common and in Harvard Yard.

[-]

whatiswrongwithme675@reddit

I was really excited about the random chickens and the tiny deer in Hawaii. The wild boar were terrifying in theory, but we only saw one and were in the car at the time.

[-]

Curmudgy@reddit

Bobcats are normal but hard to find here.

I love the feral chickens in Hawaii.

[-]

zoppaTheDim@reddit

Bald eagles and buzzards

Nothing like watching one take a bunny off a suburban lawn.

[-]

Silocin20@reddit

Here in the southwest we have all the creepy critters rattlesnakes, spiders (black widow and Brown Recluse), javalina, coyotes. Here where I live in Tucson we have a world famous Desert Museum.

When I've gone to California the sea life has always fascinates me.

[-]

Reasonable-Company71@reddit

Green sea turtles, humpback whales, manta rays are probably the biggest animal draws here

[-]

brisk_warmth@reddit

Turkeys in Oregon, coyotes and dolphins in San Diego, brown bears and magpie birds in Colorado, pronghorn antelope in Utah

[-]

travelinmatt76@reddit

My cousins from Virginia were excited to see a squirrel run across a telephone line in my neighborhood. They have squirrels, but had never seen one on a line.

I was pretty excited to see a jack rabbit and a tumbleweed in New Mexico. I've always wanted to see a bear but I've never seen one despite taking many family trips to Virginia

[-]

owlesque5@reddit

I grew up in the Midwest US, spent 4 years living in New Mexico, then moved to Maine last fall. Common wildlife sightings for me in Indiana were white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawks, red foxes, various squirrels, and hearing Eastern screech owls. When I got to NM, I was especially delighted by seeing lizards everywhere! Also roadrunners. Roadrunners weren’t too common where I lived but I saw them occasionally and it was so cool every time. I also hadn’t ever seen ravens before, and those were really common in my area. I also saw a lot more coyotes, including one delightful sighting of a young coyote trotting across the library lawn early in the morning. 😍 In Maine, I see gulls ALL the time, it’s not too unusual to see a bald eagle from time to time, and I’m enjoying seeing some of the common Eastern North American birds that I missed when I was out west (blue jays, cardinals, barred owls, etc). The other day I heard that people were seeing a seal in a nearby river! I’ve never seen one before! Later this summer I have an outing planned to go see puffins! I live close-ish to an ocean now, with all kinds of weird marine life! That’s crazy to me! I know I’m going to continue to miss some of my western wildlife faves, but I’m still excited about what I’m able to see here and glad that I’ve been able to live in three very different types of environments.

[-]

j05mh@reddit

I was out in Wyoming last summer and a guys was talking about whistle pigs. I think it’s a ground hog or gopher but it took a while before I could figure out what he was talking about

[-]

kerryinthenameof@reddit

Where I’m from in Texas (though this applies to most of the gulf coast): alligators, alligator gar, armadillos

Where I live now (WA): elk, orcas, wild salmon

[-]

andmewithoutmytowel@reddit

I knew some exchange students in college that LOVED watching squirrels.

[-]

ThirdSunRising@reddit

Probably the loveliest one is the Great Blue Heron. What a majestic-yet-nerdy bird that is. I could watch those things all day.

I also have a family of bald eagles living in a tree across the road

[-]

Existentially_Jack@reddit

Brookline MA. Turkeys are often out and about.

I like seeing spoonbills and pelicans in Florida

[-]

jessipowers@reddit

Black squirrels

[-]

Beaulderdash2000@reddit

In California it's mostly marine life. The mating season for elephant seals draws big crowds near half moon bay and the central coast. Probably the biggest wildlife spectacle in the state other than maybe the monarch butterfly migration.

[-]

AbilityAdventurous22@reddit

Javalina, roadrunners, Gila monsters

[-]

JuneRhythm1985@reddit

Orcas. I live in Washington State along the Puget Sound and the whales (gray, humpback, orcas) are a big draw for tourists. We have a couple of Orca pods that are extensively tracked. We have a lot of other marine life too. I can hear harbor seals barking from my house a lot during the spring and summer and I love it.

When I lived in southern Oregon, it was Bald Eagles. They were everywhere. They aren’t as common in other areas on the West Coast and people always get really excited when they see one.

[-]

Radiant_Macaroon_992@reddit

Can I come visit??

[-]

Gonna_do_this_again@reddit

Coati and roadrunners and Gila Monster

[-]

New_Cover_1954@reddit

I am always thrilled to see monkeys

[-]

cat_prophecy@reddit

Unless you live in the north or a coastal state, Loons are pretty exotic.

[-]

Sad_Internal_1562@reddit

Turkeys

[-]

frisbi75@reddit

A herd of white deer (leucistic white-tailed) at a former army depot.

Bison haven't roamed in the wild here in hundreds of years. But there are a few bison farms in the area.

[-]

No_Macaron8974@reddit

In college in New York, there was a student from Hawaii, he was so excited to see his first woodchuck. He got so excited the whole class spent the field trip trying to find one for him. It was an oddly exciting day!

[-]

queercactus505@reddit

Where I grew up (New Mexico), visitors were excited to see roadrunners, quail, porcupines, prairie dogs, pronghorn, and feral mustangs. In northern New England where I am now, I frequently see bald eagles and occasionally moose and stoats, and I love the spring peepers (frogs). Cool creatures I've seen on my travels to other parts of the US include humpback whales, monk seals, dolphins, and armadillos (not all in the same spot obviously) and despite being to Florida too many times, I have not seen a gator or a manatee in the wild but I would like to.

[-]

frieswelldone@reddit

People are always excited to see dolphins. People are less excited to see rattlesnakes.

[-]

ProfessorUrandom@reddit

Tourists always question about the gold dust geckos and mongooses when they come here to Hawaii. I absolutely go nuts when I’m visiting friends in Barrow on the slope and see a polar bear.

[-]

boilface@reddit

I live in Cincinnati, Ohio and we have a large population of European Wall Lizards here. They are known as Lazarus lizards here because the son of the family that owned the Lazarus department store brought them back from Italy in the 50s and released them in his backyard

[-]

fl0pi3@reddit

Apparently humming birds. Little darts are all over the place where im at.

[-]

int3gr4te@reddit

My brother-in-law lives in South Africa and goes on safari seemingly at least once a month. He's also a hobby wildlife photographer and takes these incredible photos of lions and zebras and giraffes all the time. He came to visit us in California and was so charmed by the herd of deer that regularly hang out in the yard. "I can't believe you have wild antelope just walking around here like it's a national park!"

I was actually in South Africa last month and went to an exotic bird sanctuary, and amongst the rainbow of parrots and flamingoes, there were also some Canada geese.

[-]

Original_Ant7013@reddit

Alligators/crocodiles and lizards.

Had someone I know come down from up north and they freaked out when they saw a little lizard.

[-]

Wrong_Motor5371@reddit

We’re bicoastal so:

west coast: scorpions

East coast: horseshoe crabs

[-]

MyFace_UrAss_LetsGo@reddit

Alligators

[-]

fowmart@reddit

Alligators definitely and pelicans maybe

[-]

LateNightPhilosopher@reddit

Armadillos aren't as common as they used to be but they're still a semi regular sight. They're mostly nocturnal though so when one wanders into a lit area where we can see them, even the locals are sometimes excited.

We also have GreenJays, which are a relative of Blue Jays but yellow and green with a dark head. Most people don't bat an eye at them but I've been told bird watchers go crazy for them and go out of their way to see them. They are very pretty and they mostly live along the coasts in Mexico. The only part of the US where they exist is the southern bit of Texas, South of San Antonio.

We also used to have lots of Horned Toads. Those are pretty iconic. I haven't seen one in over a decade though. I hope they come back.

[-]

Asleep-Chocolate-@reddit

We have alligators where I live (Houston, TX area.) They are actually located all up and down the coast of Texas up into Louisiana. There are many in my neighborhood. Sometimes, they will just be chilling on the side of the road. I love them from a distance.

[-]

moose098@reddit

Mountain lions and bears maybe? People don’t really come to see them though. We do have giant black sea hares which are pretty unique.

[-]

gofindyour@reddit

Gators and wild boars here in TX after growing up in Wisconsin

[-]

my_clever-name@reddit

Black Squirrels in parts of Indiana, and Michigan.

[-]

Virgil_Rey@reddit

Montana: I get annoyed when people stop to look at elk, but they really are cool animals.

I stop to look at bighorn sheep, bears, wolves, moose, and sometimes antelope.

[-]

BearFLSTS@reddit

Crocodiles! Florida has the only population of US crocs! (Except for those abominations people wear on their feet!)

[-]

kit0000033@reddit

We have albino squirrels in my city. theyre bred into the population so we continue to get them and it's fairly normal, but new people to the city are amazed.

[-]

Orcaboros@reddit

The zoo in Prague has a Canadian goose exhibit. We were like "haha these assholes invade exhibits all over, huh!" and then the sign said 'Canada Goose'. They were supposed to be there, I couldn't believe it

[-]

pumainpurple@reddit

We have mink living by the river

[-]

spencer_hood@reddit

The state park near my house has helped revitalize the bald eagle population in the southeastern US. At least 4 times a week I have someone in my driveway trying to get pics of bald eagles in my field or the sandhill cranes in my pond.

[-]

ForceOfNature525@reddit

Growing up in eastern Pennsylvania, I saw in my own backyard, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, mice, carpenter bees, a woodpecker, cardinals, bluejays, robins, and blackbirds. A friend of mine once saw a black bear in his yard. I also had treefrogs, but that was a different house near a lake.

[-]

kati8303@reddit

Alligators

[-]

BasicJuggernaut4413@reddit

Washington state. If you live in the right areas there are bald eagles, deer, elk, cougar, and black bear.

[-]

idowhatiwant999@reddit

Where I'm from in Michigan there are black squirrels. Like fully black and that flips out even other people from MI lol

[-]

dellajordan@reddit

I was friends with an exchange student from New Zealand in high school and she was amazed by squirrels. I have to admit that I have been around them all my life and still find them fascinating.

[-]

intentsman@reddit

Eagles, Hawks, Mule Deer, Elk, Grizzly Bears. Gawkers cause traffic jams stopping to look at bears. One county to the west, Bison often attract traffic jams too.

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

[-]

joeinsyracuse@reddit

I live in central New York. Years ago we drove across country and my daughter really wanted to see buffalo (not Buffalo!) We saw a field of them in the distance and stopped the car and walked over to the edge of the cliff to see them better. When we turned around to go back to the car, there was a buffalo standing between us and the car! We managed to get back to the car safely!

About a year ago, I read that the local Native Americans have a buffalo reserve that is less than five miles from my house! It’s been there for 30+ years.

[-]

LongOrganization7838@reddit

Bears, elk, deer, mountain lions, we still have a handful of wild horse herds, and a handful of places with bison, lots of large birds of prey,

[-]

AnybodySeeMyKeys@reddit

A Russian guy, Alexei, came to work at my BIL's software company. He was new to America and was a really good guy. So my BIL took him under his wing and brought him around a lot to our house.

It was early summer and we were sitting on our deck drinking some beer when a hummingbird zipped past his ear. He just about freaked out. At first he thought it was the world's biggest bee. But then I pointed out several hummingbirds flitting around in my wife's flowers.

He had never seen them before. He sat the rest of the afternoon just staring at them in rapt fascination.

Funny how you can be totally used to something while someone else finds it magical.

[-]

Enchant23@reddit

People like to travel to the cove to see the seals and sea lions here. Also one of the largest gatherings of leopard sharks happens here so snorkelers love to travel here for that.

[-]

Maxxonry_Prime@reddit

Armadillos. Rare and exotic in other parts of the US, but a not-uncommon annoyance in Texas.

[-]

GrowlingAtTheWorld@reddit

Bald eagles, Spoonbills, Woodstorks, pileated woodpeckers, Sandhills cranes, gators, dolphins, sea turtles, snapping turtles, gopher tortoises,

[-]

ramblinjd@reddit

Gator and armadillo

[-]

angrysquirrel777@reddit

In Colorado we have moose, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, bison, bear, and prairie dogs that people like to see.

Then mountain lion and wolves but good luck finding one.

[-]

tmorg5@reddit

Loon would be common. Wolves, lynx, moose would be/are thrilling, black bears are cool

[-]

Total_Ask_2046@reddit

Unless you live IN Yellowstone, I don't think bison are common anywhere. May they repopulate the plains!

[-]

yellowdogs-2@reddit

I’m in a suburb of Denver but we have a large flock of wild turkeys and see bobcats regularly.

[-]

CaptainGreyBeard72@reddit

Whales,

I saw them on an Alaskan cruise, but they are incredible creatures

[-]

dem4life71@reddit

I’m in NJ and over the past 5 or so years deer have become as common and semi-domesticated as squirrels. I was walking my dogs just yesterday in my suburban neighborhood and we came across a family of three deer just chilling on sure neighbors front lawn. They didn’t react to my dogs barking or my presence.

I’d like to add that having grown up in NJ and being in my 50s, this is a brand new situation. I never saw multiple deer just walking around the town during daylight hours.

[-]

am123_20@reddit

Where I'm at in Wisconsin has a lot of marsh/water birds. Loons, sandhill cranes, whooping cranes, blue herons, kingfishers, the occasional swan. I still get so happy to see them (or hear them, in the case of loons) but sometimes I'm reminded that there are people that don't have these animals practically living in their backyards. They're all such cool birds!

[-]

bare_thoughts@reddit

The deer issue: we have bog ones and other areas have miniature ones. It is hilarious the first time sees one of our deer that are not used to them and I am sure it was hilarious to those with the tiny deer when we first saw them.

[-]

Aggravating-Buy613@reddit

Cute story- My brother's middle school did a two week "exchange student" program where he went to Tokyo for two weeks with his class and stayed with a student over there. Then it flipped. It was a great program.

My folks lived in a Midwest state during this time and they lived on an acre lot with a lot of trees so we got a lot of wildlife. When the Japanese kid came for his 2 week exchange time he saw a deer in the yard and was mesmerized. He knew what a deer was. He was just so amazed we OWNED one. When I explained we didn't, he couldn't fathom it. It blew his mind that no one made sure they at least had food. When I explained they took care of themselves, he wanted to see how.

I don't think my family has walked/hiked more than in that two weeks he was at our house., That kid was obsessed with seeing animals randomly in the wild. Rabbits, deer, even cats. It was hilarious. Its been probably 25+ years and I still get a kick out of it.

[-]

angrysquirrel777@reddit

We have turkey all over Colorado

[-]

Eff-Bee-Exx@reddit

Moose, caribou, bears, eagles.

[-]

EstablishmentSea7661@reddit

Urban coyotes. Hell, they even ride the trains.

[-]

anneofgraygardens@reddit

I guess sea lions are the ones you can see the most easily? There are a bunch of them that hang out at Pier 39 in San Francisco all the time, so they're super easy to find and observe. I've also seen sea lions "dolphining" in the bay while taking the ferry on several occasions.

More special is whales, which you can sometimes see from the shore, or you can take a dedicated whale tour. They also do come into the bay sometime so it's not impossible that you can see one on the ferry, but it's not an every day occurance. I once saw a whale spout while I was on the ferry, which was pretty cool. Didn't see the whale, though.

We also have tule elk, I've seen them at Point Reyes. They're super cool.

The most exciting animals I've seen in another part of the US was definitely buffalo and moose at Yellowstone, but fireflies are also super cool. I had never seen them until I visited the Midwest for the first time, and they are a delight.

[-]

Worst_Choice@reddit

Blue jays are common in the North America but not anywhere else. Cardinals are Central/North American based.

Wheel bugs (assassin bugs) are pretty much distinct to North America and mainly seen in the south versus northern states.

Puffins for Maine coastline.

Badgers are pretty isolated to the midwest.

Roadrunners in the southwest.

I saw this in a documentary once explaining that there are two distinct species of moles that the rockies splits and the Eastern Mole is east of the rockies and doesn’t exist to the west while the Townsend Mole does.

[-]

q0vneob@reddit

Black bear in PA. My folks had a summer house up in the Poconos and it was totally normal to see bears everywhere: walking through yards, crossing the street, just chilling outside a house. Their neighbors would even put out food scraps to attract them. Looking back on it now it seems absurd, cause they could absolutely kill you, but usually they'd run off if you made any real noise so people up that way got really bold with it.

[-]

PlatinumPOS@reddit

I'm in Colorado. We have elk everywhere (at least where I'm at), and tourists are endlessly fascinated by them. They are very cool, but since I've grown up around them they feel pretty normal at this point. When I visit a place like Yellowstone, it's funny to see people pulling over, causing traffic jams, and fawning over a single elk eating a bush - I roll my eyes as I try to get past. I do still get excited for Bison, and while Moose are also very neat, I'm much more (healthily) scared of them than the average tourist.

When I go abroad, I am fascinated by monkeys. They are a nuisance nearly everywhere I've been. In Thailand I heard stories of them taking people's windshield wipers off of their cars and running off into the forest to beat each other with them (monkey wiper sword fights??). In India, we received a warning before entering a temple to take off our glasses and hats - sure enough, inside the temple there were \~20 large monkeys up in the rafters, at least 2 of which were holding or wearing sunglasses. Monkeys also dip into restaurant patios everywhere I've been to steal people's food, drinks, and alcoholic beverages. I think they're hilarious, but I'm also glad I don't have to deal with them at home.

[-]

Vandal_A@reddit

Where I grew up black squirrels were normal but people where I live now are obsessed with them when they see them. Conversely though, we didnt really see foxes growing up but they're extremely common here

[-]

dr-tectonic@reddit

Prairie dogs!

They're cute little buggers, but not at all exotic in Colorado. I can literally walk across the parking lot at work and see a great big field full of them. Kinda weird that they're zoo animals in other parts of the world.

[-]

Tisalaina@reddit

Pronghorn (antelope) in eastern Montana. Growing up they were everywhere, but much more rare now.

Never saw an otter until we went Kayaking in the San Juan islands.

[-]

mmmhotcoffee@reddit

Deer

[-]

ArizonaKim@reddit

Javelina. High likelihood of seeing them in Southern Arizona. Coatimundi and Gila Monsters are super cool to see but more elusive than the javelina.

[-]

Repulsive_Fact_4558@reddit

Here in Texas and some other southwest states we have ringtail cats. They are rarely seen but common and widespread. They are close relatives of racoons.

[-]

WeakEntertainment392@reddit

Turkey's made a huge comeback in the last forty years

[-]

Kristylane@reddit

I know deer are common, but this morning I had a herd (12) of deer in my front yard. It’s common for me, but when people visit they’re fascinated by them. And flocks of turkeys.

And we have prairie rattlesnakes. Those freak people out.

[-]

steveofthejungle@reddit

When I moved to Utah, I knew the moose, mountain lions (though I’ve never seen one), goats, sheep, etc wild be here. I don’t see those often, but the animal I do see often that I love that isn’t out east are magpies. Yes, they’re in trash most of the time but I love them so much

[-]

daciavu@reddit

Id say bears and mountain lions. Weve had a few mountain lions wander into the city before because the city is surrounded by hills and mountains. I dont think any bears have wondered down but if you go up into the mountains youll likely see black bears. They are very docile as long as you arent getting too close and acting suspicious.

[-]

Groundbreaking_War52@reddit

River mammals - beavers, mink, muskrats,...etc.

[-]

No-Consequence-2740@reddit

I’m from the Pacific NW, and when I visited the south a few years ago, I was like a kid chasing fireflies at night. What a treat to see them.

[-]

cephalophile32@reddit

I don’t know of any animals but Venus flytraps are native to the Carolinas and the Carolinas alone.

[-]

Zealousideal_Draw_94@reddit

Alligators?

Dolphins?

[-]

SnooChipmunks2079@reddit

We have all the common stuff you listed, although we don’t usually see deer in the residential neighborhood.

Coyotes are normal but all the old people on Nextdoor act like they’re not.

I’ve only ever seen a fox once and thought that was pretty cool.

We have a hawk stop by our back porch now and then but I still think it’s cool when it does.

We occasionally get bald eagles flying around.

I’ve seen black bear in the Smoky Mountains and completely different looking ducks in Florida than we have at home in Illinois. And of course gators in Florida.

[-]

Wankhoffmrs@reddit

Midwest- Cicadas. Last September I had 10 friends visiting from San Francisco. Sitting on the patio when the dusk songs started. They lost their minds. Nature is loud. We climbed some trees to bring the shells to them.

[-]

Timely-Youth-9074@reddit

Idk about other parts of the US but hummingbirds fascinate people who’ve never seen them before.

[-]

ummm_somethingwitty@reddit

Lizards. As a kid I always thought it was hilarious when we would go to a zoo and all the local kids were staring at the monkeys or the tigers , while a Canadian or British family were freaking out about all the lizards running around the walkways. I don't even notice them

[-]

enigmanaught@reddit

I’m in Florida and besides manatees everyone wants to see alligators. They’re much more common than manatees, and most Floridians don’t get too excited about them, or at a least as much as they do manatees.

Dolphins are one thing people don’t necessarily come to see but out of state people lose their minds when they see a dolphin at the beach. To be fair, no matter how many I’ve seen they’re still pretty cool.

[-]

Cinisajoy2@reddit

Prairie dogs or they used to be. Armadillos. Rattlesnakes.

[-]

Ok_Still_3571@reddit

Regularly seen in my area:.squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, turkeys, swans, geese, doves, owls, crows, songbirds, finches, foxes, coyotes, hawks, eagles, and in the more forested parts just outside of town, deer.

What would be exciting to see? Dolphins, wolves, turtles, moose.

[-]

tesseractjane@reddit

Elk and bighorn sheep are a regular nuisance where I am. They cause traffic jams in the high country.

[-]

CoolStatus7377@reddit

We are near a forest preserve and occasionally see foxes, deer and coyotes just walking down the subdivision street.

[-]

GiGi_loves_a_mystery@reddit

People are talking about coatis, lizards and road-runners....but javelinas are the weirdest animal that I think Arizona can boast! I've visited my daughter there 3 times and so far I've only seen a dead javelina on the side of the road. They look like a made up creature. They look like a wild boar that someone tried to put in a panini press!!!!! OMG they're so bizarre.

[-]

einzeln@reddit

Thanks to some conservation efforts, Bald Eagles are now a pretty common thing to see in my neighborhood

[-]

Impossible-Run-8073@reddit

I was excited when I saw my first squirrel lol. People tend to not realize that roadrunners are real when they come to Arizona, but also that they look nothing like the cartoon version.

[-]

DennisTheBald@reddit

Egret

[-]

Zealousideal_Gift844@reddit

Loons in upstate NY. Specifically the two different calls near dawn and dusk. Haunting stuff. Maybe fishers as well although they are pretty rare to see.

[-]

ayebrade69@reddit

People tend to be surprised that Kentucky has some pretty sizable elk populations

[-]

DrinkingSocks@reddit

The tiny deer were what got me. I'm used to the big white tails further south, and the Kentucky deer I saw looked slightly larger than Key Deer.

[-]

paralea01@reddit

Near home people seem intrested to see gators, beavers, cranes, otters, coyotes, black bears, cotton mouths, bobcats and trash pandas.

When traveling I'm most excited to see water mammals like seals, dolphins, and whales

[-]

FindYourselfACity@reddit

We got a lot of pigeons, rats and squirrels, which I’m almost positive every state has. I can’t really think of any animal we have that is unusual.

[-]

finnbee2@reddit

We have fishers around here. They are common but elusive.

[-]

North_Artichoke_6721@reddit

Our house backs up to a small area of woods and we have deer, raccoons, coyotes, opossums, and lots of bunnies. I love our woodland friends.

[-]

Interesting_Yak8052@reddit

Saw an alligator swimming past the house this morning and a sandhill crane walking through the yard. There are many manatees and dolphins in our area as well. Rural life in Florida. When I am traveling and see a moose in the wild I am truly fascinated.

[-]

Tim-oBedlam@reddit

Bald eagles. I live 3 blocks from the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities, and we literally have an eagle nest in a tall cottonwood tree across the street from my house. I see bald eagles all the time. Other raptors are also common: Cooper's hawks, Red-tailed Hawks, and peregrine falcons are all regularly seen in the area.

We have the usual array of urban wildlife: raccoons, blue jays, squirrels, crows, foxes, occasional coyote sightings.

[-]

qu33nof5pad35@reddit

Just squirrels and raccoons. The tourists stop in the middle of a walkway to try and feed them. I always thought they were your basic tree/woods animals.

I haven’t come across any that have been exciting though.

[-]

Norseman103@reddit

Well, we do have moose, bison and bears in Minnesota. The buffalo do not roam, but there are people and state parks that have them. We also have fisher, lynx and loons.

[-]

Quirky-Invite7664@reddit

I wasn’t expecting to see roosters everywhere when I moved to Hawaii (from the east coast).

[-]

inafishbowl17@reddit

Seeing an Armadillo in Florida was a pleasant surprise. I thought they were more out west.

[-]

unrepentantlibboomer@reddit

I live in bear country but am still excited when I see one. Same with moose and wolves. Bison, elk, whitetail deer, mule deer & antelope are pretty common. So are smaller animals like gopher, marmots, cottontail, raccoons & skunks. I get excited if I see a fox or bobcat. At a rest stop in Kentucky there were Cardinals and multiple varieties of squirrels which I thought was pretty cool. Not so cool was the amazing varieties of spiders in Eastern PA farm country.

[-]

Guilty_Objective4602@reddit

Armadillos, alligators, sharks, cranes, iguanas, and pythons are some of the regional animals people are interested to see when they come to Florida. I was fascinated by red squirrels in Alaska and black squirrels in New York, as well as moose, wolves, mountain goats, Dall sheep, elk, marmots, caribou, and whales in some of the places I’ve visited in the continental U.S. I found the mongooses in Hawaii interesting. And I love snorkeling to see tropical fish, sea turtles, and other ocean creatures anytime I visit an island anywhere.

[-]

ladytal@reddit

My Aussie friends always get super excited about squirrels.

[-]

SabineLavine@reddit

Deer are all over the place where I live. It's nothing to see them in neighborhoods all over the city. Last year a mama had twin babies in my neighbor's yard.

[-]

DNSGeek@reddit

I was really surprised to see deer in a zoo in the Philippines.

[-]

kaizenkitten@reddit

I taught English at elementary schools in rural Japan, and the 3rd grader's science textbook had a section on North American wildlife. I could always tell when they hit the section because my students were suddenly MAD about beavers. I was totally baffled by their obsession because there were monkeys! real life monkeys! out in the forest behind the school. How could you care about boring beavers when they're MONKEYS out there?

Also almost every Japanese person I've met has been wild about squirrels. I still work with Japanese companies now that I'm in the US and when people come over for meetings they'll rave about the squirrels they saw from the hotel window. And on the flip side I would rave about some of the moths - big beautiful luna moths in Japan, that my coworkers thought were disgusting.

[-]

WWGHIAFTC@reddit

Roosevelt Elk for sure.

[-]

Mikedef2001@reddit

I live just north of Austin, and am always shocked by the amount of wild rabbits I see.

[-]

Narrow-Psychology909@reddit

I was raised and live in DC near Rock Creek Park; there are tons of squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, deer, and a plethora of birds and fish/shellfish. As someone not from DC, I think most people would be surprised to see how many foxes and raccoons are roaming around the nation’s capital.

I get excited to see any other kinds of mammals from porcupines and badgers to bears and lynxes, bison and mountain goats to beavers and otters (even though both have been spotted in the Potomac river) recently.

[-]

InfamousSquash1621@reddit

I hate to break it to you but it's absolutely not "common" to see bison in the Dakotas. Here in ND you'll only see them in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (in the very sparsely populated SW corner of the state - most state residents have to drive many hours to get there) or at a few other Preserves or Zoos.

We do, however, have a stable population of moose spread across the northern third of the state. I've also seen herds of antelope. And we get the occasional bear

[-]

_WeSellBlankets_@reddit

Not unique, but we have a lot of wooded area so it's not uncommon to have a black bear in your backyard.

I like Prairie dogs.

[-]

Solid_Parsley_@reddit

We get deer and elk around my house all the time. When my friends visit from town, they're always very excited to see them. They're barely an hour away, but it's like a different world out here. They would fall apart if they saw my more rare visitors, coyotes and bobcats.

[-]

christmasshopper0109@reddit

I see bald eagles every single day. Toursists here freak OUT and take pictures and nearly wreck cars trying to get to the side of the road for a pic. I'm in northern Idaho.

[-]

Automatic_Catch_7467@reddit

Peacocks parrots gators rosiette spoonbills sharks dolphins manatees

[-]

Crafty_Lady1961@reddit

In Southern Arizona? Javelinas, road runners (especially if a coyote is chasing them), tarantulas, giant Sonoraran desert toad (toxic)

[-]

handcraftedcandy@reddit

Niagara Falls NY has black squirrels, tourists are always surprised by that. They're a variant of a typical grey squirrel and very common in Ontario, but quite a few have found their way across the border.

[-]

Migraine_Megan@reddit

Eagles, hawks and osprey were common in Eastern WA. I didn't know seeing an eagle was a big deal until I moved to FL. We also had bighorn sheep. Being from the East side I am always very excited to see marine life like whales, dolphins, and the different birds. WA has a lot of variety

[-]

bcece@reddit

While the animals themselves aren't really unique the fact they are in the "inner city" proper is. It isn't uncommon to see turkey, deer, ducks, geese, rabbits, fox, coyote cross the road. The big pine tree in my yard has an opossum family that I have caught more than once trying to raid my "winter extra freezer" (aka a cooler in the snow.) If I forget to remove the last item or two before the spring thaw. My city has an extensive award winning park system so lots of green space means lots of animals that usually avoid urban areas. A Mountain Lion was even spotted on people's Ring Cameras (and then unfortunately hit by a driver on the highway the next night.)

[-]

leilani238@reddit

Somebody from the Southwest was really excited to see banana slugs. The Pacific Northwest is banana slug paradise. They're everywhere. I've found them almost a foot long.

[-]

humble-meercat@reddit

Big Horn Sheep, Elk, Bears.

[-]

gratusin@reddit

Whenever we have a bad snow year, like this past one, I’m guaranteed to get bears coming through my neighborhood pretty much every damn night.

[-]

HoselRockit@reddit

meep meep

[-]

I_Am_Mandark_Hahaha@reddit

I saw a pair of dolphins in Mission Bay while kayaking. I'm sure that's unusual in Nebraska.

[-]

JamesMarM@reddit

We have huge Wild Turkeys all over in my major midwest city, on the street, in parks, on everyone's lawn. They are even in industrial areas.

[-]

Tacokolache@reddit

Had a road runner in my yard yesterday. So that was kinda cool. With a lizard in its mouth

[-]

Murderhornet212@reddit

Bears I guess?

[-]

Enough-Secretary-996@reddit

I'm from Kansas. We have deer, coyotes (although I don't think I've ever SEEN one around here I've definitely heard them), foxes I think, lots of different kinds of birds.

I got really excited when I visited Colorado last fall and saw a Steller's jay for the first time because they look pretty similar to the Pokémon Corvisquire.

No matter where I am I'm always excited to see a squirrel.

[-]

Kyauphie@reddit

Maryland has Peacocks, and our Ravens are visually alarming when compared to Crows.

[-]

madfrog768@reddit

I've never seen a firefly in real life and thought they were mythical creatures until high school, so that's the animal I'd suggest for places that have them

[-]

PossumJenkinsSoles@reddit

To be honest, even if they’re common here I get a little excited to see all animals. Like I can count on one hand the amount of alligators I’ve seen here so I would be excited to see one too. And try to talk to me the same week I’ve seen a Roseate Spoonbill, I won’t talk about much else. The first and only time I saw a nutria is pretty burned into my brain, as well.

[-]

Teri-k@reddit

Bald eagles and Golden eagles. I love to watch them, too, but they're not hard to spot here.

[-]

AndrewRyanMcC@reddit

Armadillos

[-]

ThrowawayMod1989@reddit

I’m two blocks from the waterfront. A pod of dolphins comes through once a day at least. Always cool to see but the tourists freak out. There’s also wild horses on the island across the way, I see them daily on my walks but tourists will camp by a camera all day for a few shots of them.

[-]

Mongomayhem@reddit

Caracaras. I see them pretty regularly.

[-]

Limited_turkey@reddit

Colorado Mountains, we have bear, deer, elk, the occasional moose, I’ve seen one bighorn sheep in the area, mountain lions, bobcat, turkeys, Abert squirrels.

I did excited when I go someplace else and see possums, armadillos, alligators, manatees, sea lions, seals. Basically anything we don’t have in Colorado.

[-]

latestagepersonhood@reddit

I live in Southern California. a friend moved out from northern Michigan, and didn't believe that roadrunners were a real animal. he thought we fucking with him when I pointed one out and said "sure, and is there a coyote with rocket skates too?"

in his defense he had yelled "shark" while surfing the day before.

[-]

HotCommission7325@reddit

Moose are everywhere here but tourists absolutely love them (to be fair I still love em while living here)

Alligators are probably the most exotic thing I’ve seen in another state

[-]

voltairesalias@reddit

Can't forget musk oxen. Those things are the reason Eskimos don't have rodeos.

[-]

AlphabetizedName@reddit

Bobcats, black bears, tons of salamanders, wild hogs. Nothing super uncommon really

[-]

deadinderry@reddit

I have seen a lot of bald eagles in the wild.

[-]

FenisDembo82@reddit

I live in Western PA and I suppose people who aren't from here would think they are cute. People who live her consider them pests that eat our garden vegetables and did holes under our driveways collapsing the concrete.

[-]

Kind_Way2176@reddit

I was confused when these Germans were dazzled by... squirrels 🐿️

[-]

CalamityKid_@reddit

Hellbenders probably.

[-]

Special-Reindeer-178@reddit

Black squirrels. Theyre everywhere here, but a rarity in my original hometown on the east coast

[-]

washtucna@reddit

We've got marmots all around these here parts! They live in downtown Spokane (the 2nd largest city in Washington)

https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/marmota-flaviventris

[-]

AccountantRadiant351@reddit

When we go back East and see cardinals I lose my mind!

My in-laws think it's wild that we have coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and the occasional bear in my region of Los Angeles.

[-]

LABELyourPHOTOS@reddit

I'm in Mass and we just have some of the highest density of Black bear. My Florida family gets jazzed when they come through the yard.

I saw my first one yesterday. They are out of hibernation.

We have lot sof grey and red fox, a local porcupine, possum, bossy red squirrels, and some really beautiful coyotes. When people see them they think they are wolves.

[-]

fingers@reddit

Porcupines and armadillos are neat to see when I travel.

[-]

Background_Humor5838@reddit

I'm from NY and I've seen pretty much every kind of animal in person besides a moose, a wolf, a scorpion, and a mountain lion. I would love to see all those in person someday. In the tri state area alone I've seen bears, whales, bobcats, turkey vultures, coyote, all the regular small mammals and birds, giant spiders, deer, turkey, cows, horses, etc. I've seen gators in Florida and massive sea lions in San Francisco. I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of other wildlife I just can't think off the top of my head. Let me know what I should see next.

[-]

TheGabyDali@reddit

So we have the alligators and crocodiles.. maybe some people find iguanas interesting? Very rare but we also have panthers. I guess we also have dolphins and things like that. However I'm going to assume the alligators and crocodiles are probably two of the animals that people want to see when they're here.

I moved to Denver for a short time and it was so awesome seeing Elk!

[-]

Dazzling-Estate87@reddit

Grew up in Florida -its a jip, but we did have cool lizards, green ones,brown ones, the white kind that climb on walls, +alligators and crazy water birds that look almost human in the trees, then I moved to northern Illinois and id never seen red cardinals before-they're beautiful!! And groundhogs! Didn't know such a creature even existed.

[-]

BigEd369@reddit

Friend visited the southeastern US for the first time, he’s Australian. You’ve never seen an adult so entranced by squirrels playing in the yard and in the trees. He thinks we’re lucky to have such beautiful creatures as our neighbors :)

[-]

Joyce_Hatto@reddit

Sandhill Cranes in Alaska in the summer.

[-]

Lcky22@reddit

I think wild turkeys might be the most exciting to people that aren’t used to them. Raccoons, porcupines and possums are pretty cool too I think.

I would be really excited to see a monkey just chilling. Idk if that happens in the US, tho. Within the US I’d like to see an armadillo or a large lizard. Seeing large ocean mammals in the wild is also super cool

[-]

ArchonOfErebus@reddit

Had a buddy from out west who was awesome stricken by a kettle of broad winged hawks here in ohio. If that counts lol

[-]

Chay_Charles@reddit

Lower part of central Texas- Two days ago I was excited to see a bald eagle in a tree near the road.

[-]

JustifiedKnownBetter@reddit

People are often shocked by the number of wild turkeys roaming around the Twin Cities

[-]

planningcalendar@reddit

Moose

[-]

Flimsy_Equal8841@reddit

You can see black bears in the Smokey Mountains but I don't necessarily want to see one.

[-]

poopiebutt505@reddit

Raodrunners and coyotes. Taantula hawks.

[-]

Kyauphie@reddit

Maryland has Peacocks.

[-]

HighMountain85@reddit

Utah mountains here! I see Moose about once a month, beaver a few times a year, and coyote and mountain lions about once a year.

[-]

FarmerDave13@reddit

Sand Hill Cranes. People coming to watch them migrate are a traffic hazard.

[-]

CleverGirlRawr@reddit

Coyotes, bobcats, quail

[-]

Cowlitzking@reddit

Orcas. Live on the Puget sound across the water from Seattle. They are rare to see but unforgettable. Seeing whales anywhere near Seattle is awesome but the orca pod is a sight to see. The orca pod in the puget sound are fish eaters so seeing them is a sign of a good salmon run and healthy ecosystem. Makes me happy when they are visiting.

[-]

Penguin_Life_Now@reddit

We live in south Louisiana so we have several, but at the top of the list is Alligators, while there are not many where we live, they are not unheard of either, one was seen in the creek in the city park about 2 miles from our house last year. Though if you drive 30 or so miles south of where we live and stand by the river you can see them all the time in the warmer months of the year.

[-]

Neat-Ad11@reddit

I have two porcupines who have taken up residence in my yard. They spend the winter climbing trees and eating the bark and pine needles and then take to the ground to eat clover and whatever else all summer. They’re very cute and make cute noises. They seem relatively tame but of course you don’t try to touch them.

I also get the occasional black bear strolling through and then the more common deer, turkeys, turtles, raccoons, fox, etc.

[-]

TrustyParrot232@reddit

Armadillos

[-]

Comfortable-Grand166@reddit

I have longhorns behind my house regularly in Texas

[-]

hollylettuce@reddit

Fireflies

[-]

iridescentnightshade@reddit

I didn't realize that squirrels were so rare until we had an exchange student from Denmark. She was quite taken with them.

[-]

CommercialExotic2038@reddit

Deer (white tail) are legal(?) in our city, they're wandering everywhere, but people block traffic to see them in your yard.

[-]

RHS1959@reddit

I’ve had visitors get excited about spotting a deer 🥱. I’ve seen bears in the wild in PA a few times, so I still consider that unusual and exciting.

[-]

Nice-Block-7266@reddit

I've had guests from Europe and Australia get very excited about our basic brown squirrels that are everywhere.

[-]

itshrimpinabox@reddit

I'm from Oklahoma and we have a lot of raccoons, white tailed deer, and wild turkey. Those don't seem super exciting to me but I'm sure someone would find them cool. I get excited when I go to other states and see any type of bear, moose, or alligator. There's not a lot of large animals like that around here except maybe a buffalo.

[-]

whorlando_bloom@reddit

We get lots of black bears here. Sometimes they come right up to the window. The cubs run around the yard playing and they're adorable. I keep hearing about a moose that comes around town but I haven't seen it yet. I'm dying to see the moose!

[-]

Meattyloaf@reddit

In my part of Kentucky, easy Armidillos. There is also a Bison herd about 30 minutes from me on a conservation.

[-]

TooeyAnn@reddit

All I can think of are roadrunners and javalina.

[-]

sideshow--@reddit

I’m in Chicago. And I can tell you that we have the very rare, highly elusive pigeon.

[-]

YarnSp1nner@reddit

We get cougars every so often, and while it is rare for us to sight them, there are river otters in the river that feeds the lake, so we do see them once or twice a year.

The most common uncommon animals we see are birds. Its a popular migration lake, so we get all sorts of random guys showing up and passing through. Oh! The herons. We get at least one nest a year on the lake.

So glad the Canada geese bailed after the year that loose cat ate all their eggs. (Cat also ate the greebs' eggs though and we were all annoyed by that.)

[-]

More_Programmer5053@reddit

Moose

[-]

Alarmed_Drop7162@reddit

Yellow Billed Magpies. There’s a super slim line of longitude running through our city where the birds fly.

I’ve lived in it my entire life and visiting birders are shocked they are so plentiful.

[-]

But, on the occasional still night, during a neep tide with no wind...we occasionally get Jubilee's. Where many of the fish and crustaceans attempt to crawl out of the bay.

You can walk along the waterline and just pick up flounder and fill up an igloo.

[-]

NMPapillon@reddit

Bears, roadrunners