What creatures that have regularly been observed in your county/state/country (depending on border size) have you had or still have bad luck at finding?
I live (and always have) in Sri Lanka, so the observations will be listed in that region.
For me, it was
The Common Kingfisher. This was until a pond called Andamkulam had partially filled up, creating a perfect shoreline environment for these birds to move in. They had been my target since I started birdwatching last August, and now I see them whenever I go there :)
The Painted Stork. They are extremely commonly observed in Sri Lankan iNat, but I have only seen it twice in the aforementioned pond. Now that the pond is flooded, they will probably return in the dry season.
The Sri Lankan Junglefowl. They are so common in practically all of Sri Lanka yet I have never seen one. Once.
The Indian Pitta, Common Iora, and Brahminy Starling. Saw them recently.
The Changeable Hawk Eagle. I have never seen one, provided that I havenāt been mistaking them for Honey Buzzards
I spent all year searching for native bees and parasitic genera like Nomada, Stelis, Neolarra, Holcopasites and Brachynomada evaded me. Widespread if not highly observed, but I consider it bad luck.
From those I care about (out of 16 078 not seen by me in Russia)
Birds:
Stock Dove - doesnāt like humans, Iām not lucky
Snow Bunting, Horned Lark, White-throated Dipper - Iām rarely in right place and right time
Azure Tit - lazy to travel to spot where theyāre apperently found
Marsh Sandpiper - have no idea why, no luck
Plants:
Wild garlic - apparently āgrows everywhereā but not in places I visit
Umbellate Wintergreen - grows in habitats I canāt visit because of circumstances
Snowdrop Anemone - rare one, but found in many places on iNat, but not by me
Floating Fern - want to find for many years
Honestly, probably most water birds. Not the really common ones like ducks, but the slightly more difficult ones like loons, grebes, scoters, etc. I think I just havenāt seen them yet because I live on land.
Our current nemesis bird is Bohemian Waxwing. They are not uncommon but seem to be hit or miss at winter fruit trees in northern parts of our cold-weather state. We try to observe them when we are in their range but not with any successā¦yet!
I was about to grumble that in my small country I have observed all the most commonly observed species, but no - goat moth (Cossus cossus) is still escaping me, though even at the place where I live, there is a good habitat for them and I saw the caterpillars several years ago before joining iNaturalist. No luck lately, though.
Iāve come up with a list of ānemesis speciesā that Iāve deliberately spent at least 12 field hours and/or four trips looking for.
The top ten or so would be Connecticut Warbler, Dollar Sunfish, Gray Fox, Lilypad Forktail (damselfly), Diana Fritillary (butterfly), Eastern Mud Turtle, Ornate Box Turtle, and Slender Glass Lizard. Iāve lived near or in the range of those species for over a year at a time and tried to find them. https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/3025158-Nemesis-Species
I also keep a list of former nemesis species. https://www.inaturalist.org/lists/3087223-Former-Nemesis-Species Thereās a lot on that list, the biggest for me being Kirtlandās Snake and Yellow Ladiesā Slipper orchid (Cypripedium parviflorum), both of which Iād wanted to see since I was a wee little kid and which I finally got to see in 2020, some ten years having elapsed.
Bengal Monitor. I have no confirmed records of them. At all. Despite them being so common.
Common Green Forest Lizard. Guess Iāll need a trip to the wet zone for that :)
Sri Lanka Kangaroo Lizard. Yet another wet zone lizard.
Common Water Monitor. I saw it only confirmedly once: before my first birthday (nice)
Asian Weaver Ant. This was before I ever visited a wet zone, and now I see them even in some dry zone forests and I even saw a single one at home :)
Pied Paddy Skimmer. This dragonfly has no confirmed observations for me.
Crested Serpent Eagle; Until yesterday, at least. I finally spotted one :)
The Sri Lanka Grey Hornbill, Green Imperial Pigeon, Gray-headed Swamphen, Orange-breasted Green-Pigeon, Gray-headed fish eagle and the Tringa sandpipers elude me to this day.
Until yesterday, I had never seen a Yellow-wattled lapwing.
Alopochen aegyptiaca is the most observed species in Germany that I havenāt observed yet. Never even heard about it before tbh. Yet it has more than 18000 observations in Germany.
I pride myself in my ability to locate aquatic turtles. However,when it comes to semi-aquatic and terrestrial turtles such as box turtles, itās like looking for an needle in a haystack. I found them in the Florida panhandle with a little effort, but it took me years to find them in my home star of Texas. It wasnāt until I participated in a survey that made use of radio telemetry recently that I finally found some local box turtles.
Storeria dekayi, Dekayās brownsnake, is allegedly common even in cities and suburbs of my region, yet Iāve never found one. Iāve seen a bunch of the other common reptiles and amphibians of New England, like the common garter and Eastern milksnake, just not the brownsnake.
And every yahoo who thinks itās a baby copperhead can stumble on one.
Blue-winged teal. Of all North American ducks, it is the one whose color patterns most attract me, but somehow I just canāt find it anywhere but on the pages of the field guide.
