Three On Thursday
I was listening to the Happier podcast yesterday and Gretchen and Elizabeth were talking about visiting new places and being intrigued and excited about things you see there that are everyday mundane things to the people who live in that place. And it got me to thinking about 3 times when I have traveled and been delighted by wildlife that the locals didn’t care about.
- Any time we travel somewhere new I get excited about seeing birds that we don’t see at home. This is mostly because I love to tell my stepson, Brant, about the birds we see, and it was especially true when we went to Iceland in August of 2021 when we saw Black-tailed godwits in the yard and on the roof of the house we were renting. I knew it was a bird I had never seen before and I texted Brant and sent him photos. He said it was the rarest Godwit in North America and the only Godwit he’s never seen. Meanwhile, in Iceland, they were like seeing sparrows in Massachusetts. Definitely not.rare.
- Many years ago, when I visited Margene for the first time, we drove from Salt Lake City, UT to Estes Park, CO for a fiber festival. I had never seen a prairie dog before and I was completed enchanted with them. So cute! And it was pointed out to me by someone on this trip that they were exterminated regularly by the local sewer department. A nuisance to them but a delight to me.
- When we went to Mexico we saw loads of lizards and geckos. I was intrigued by them and how quickly they could move and was very excited every time we saw one. We took a drive one day into a remote part of the biosphere and there were very large lizards sunning themselves in the road. I was taking photos and exclaiming over them and everyone looked at me like I was crazy.
Have you had this happen to you? What things have you seen when traveling somewhere new that impressed you but were every day sightings for the people who live there?
Related Posts
This Post Has 10 Comments
Comments are closed.
We saw lots of anole lizards and huge palmetto bugs when we lived in FL, but the locals weren’t excited about them and neither was I!
Yes, absolutely! I love seeing Bald Eagles, Hawks, Turkey Vultures, and Ospreys on vacation (we see hawks and vultures at home… and an occasional eagle) And if I encounter turkeys on my morning walk… it is just a delight for the day! It feels to me like a peek into something rare… special…
And I’d love to see a Godwit! I have some birder jealousy! XO
When we lived in Austin, I delighted in the armadillos. (Trust me. No one else I met in Austin loved the armadillos. . . )
When I lived in the North Carolina mountains on a huge plot of land, I had rabbit burrows in my back yard. Now, I know that they are considered a nuisance, but it was delightful to enjoy my morning coffee while seeing them hopping around everywhere. And they can jump so high!
I also love to see birds and animals that are unique to a place as well as its various tourist attractions that I’ve not seen before. Even here many of the long standing places to see have changed over the years.
I’m especially keen about birds these days and adding them to my Life List on Merlin!!
And I feel the same way about plants… some of the tropical plants that I struggle to keep alive in a pot are, like, actually planted in the ground and THRIVING (not to mention HUGE) in Mexico, let’s say, or Brazil. That’s their native habitat, but I still remember being shocked at a shoulder-high HEDGE of Crown of Thorns at the botanical garden in Rio!
When I visited Israel and Palestine ( West Bank), I enjoyed seeing camels in the wild (actually in the Bedouin camps) and seeing the 900 year old olive trees in the Garden of Gethesemene. Big bowls of olives were served at every meal!
MOOSE!! in Alaska – it was An Event whenever we saw one and you could just sense the eyerolls from the folks who live there.
I definitely understand this excitement! We don’t have a lot of exciting birds where I live, so anytime I go somewhere else, I’m always interested in the birds I can see that I can’t see at home. Thanks to you, in fact, I was super excited to see a purple gallinule for the first time in Florida!
When in Parksville, Vancouver Island there was an eagle on EVERY telephone pole, I kid you not. My Dad thought the deer in his yard, eating his humongous blackberries a terrible nuisance!