On Aug 25, 2:51=A0pm, eug...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Eugene Miya) wrote:
> Hey Ed, the CA Auto Club did a short life list of 3 of their writers
> giving 4 species each of must see animals. =A0Your net.species made the
> cover (Churchill branch of the family, a nice photo).
>
> Polar Bear
Only in the zoo. One day, maybe.
> condor
Web cams.
> elephant seal
Ok, there was some kind of critter swimming along in the Pacific
when I visited San Diego. But it was about 100 meters away,
mostly down, and in the ocean, so I'm not sure exactly what
it was. It seemed to be about 3 meters long, and it sure looked
like the critters in the San Diego zoo.
> moose
Any day now. My hiking of the Bruce Trail has me in moose
country. It helps keeps me alert.
> gray whale
Some day, maybe.
> roosevelt elk
I've seen elk, but I'm not sure what species they were. They were
on the roadside in Banff. Whatever they were, I called them
road elk, because they were at the same spot every day for
a week, getting handouts from stupid tourists.
> sandhill crane
Not even sure I've seen these in the zoo. I have seen wild crane
a couple times, just no sure what kind they were.
> gray wolf
I've seen wild wolves, from quite a distance.
> bald eagle
Only on web cams and at the zoo.
> grizzly bear
Momma griz and her two cubs were about 1000 feet further
down the mountain. With a fairly vertical cliff between us
and them. It was fine with me that they were that far away.
Even at that distance they looked hungry.
> orca
Someday maybe.
> bighorn sheep
Closest I've seen to that are these critters that hang around
near Banff. They look like mouflon, but I'm not sure what their
correct name is. I called them road goats, again because
they hung out on the same patch of roadside for days, waiting
for handouts from tourists.
Missing from the list:
- Various other species of deer and similar critters. White tales,
those miniature deer from the Florida keys, reindeer. I've come
face-to-face with white tales a few times. Always a thrill.
- Big cats: mountain lions, lynx, cougar, etc. Met a lynx on the
trail one day. He looked at me, I looked at him, we both froze
for about 3 seconds. Then he went into the brush at warp 90.
- Foxes, coyotes, and various other not-quite-so-big dog-like
hunting critters. I've met foxes on the trail a few times.
- Coy dogs and other half breeds like wolf-shepherd crosses.
Met a couple coy dogs in New Mexico. Took me a minute
to work out what I was looking at, and why it was so shy
but unafraid at the same time. Coy dog is the ideal name.
- Various reptiles: From diamondbacks and sidewinders, to
corn s****s and garter s****s, to lizards, to chameleons,
to crocs and gators. Met rattle s****s on the trail a few times.
Always a thrill.
- ****cupine. Takes a bit to realize what this odd looking critter is.
- Really big lake/river fish, like a monster Mississipi catfish.
- Skunk, though hope that it's a friendly encounter. There's a
skunk who comes into my yard fairly frequently. Very pretty.
- Owls of various kinds. Woke up about 3AM one moring.
Looked out the window to try to figure out what the noise was.
Came face to face with a great horned owl who was perched
on the very tip-top of the cedar tree growing in the yard.
He was about 5 meters away.
And this basically does not even get me out of North America.
Going a little afield, other critters I'd like to see:
- Dingo dogs.
- Kangaroos.
- Kiwis.
- Koalas.
- Platypus.
- Pandas.
- Lions.
- Tigers.
- Elephants.
- A really big annaconda. A really big cobra.
This is a good game. I know there's lots I've missed.
Socks
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