What is your "white whale"?

[AdamWargon]

@phma

One species I’ve heard often but not seen is the chuck-will’s-widow.

What is a species that you wanted to see for the longest time, and then you finally saw it? Maybe you heard it, maybe you saw tracks . . . but it was your white whale!

(If you don’t know, the expression “white whale” comes from the book “Moby Dick”. It refers to an obsession or pursuit that is very difficult, or even seemingly unattainable. Basically an obsession that you chase, possibly at great personal cost.

I just learned that it actually comes from a real whale named Mocha Dick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mocha_Dick)

[Thunderhead]

Once I heard a nightjar, sounded like it was right outside the window. No mistaking the call.

[AdamWargon]

A lot of herpers have experienced the “Snuffleupagus Effect”, where a species that they wanted to see for many years, crosses the trail right in front of a random person who knows nothing about snakes . . . 5 minutes before you arrived! Long gone now.

[jnstuart]

The Nene in Hawaii was my white whale. Took until my 5th trip to the islands and then one was sitting almost right in front of me on a golf course.

[liamodo]

Woodcocks! There are 200 observations of them in my city. All my birding friends have seen one, and a few of my non-birding ones have seen one! Most of the observations are even in my neighborhood.

As far as I can tell they don’t exist in the city, I haven’t even seen a window strike yet!

[okbirdman]

When I was younger, I used to go to Rocky Mountain National Park every year. After hearing about the American Three-toed Woodpecker on a ranger-led bird walk, my goal was always to see one. These woodpeckers are uncommon and sporadic because of their preference for recently burned spruce-fir forest. Year after year visiting the park, I had repeated run-ins with people who had just seen one, sometimes missing a sighting by a matter of minutes.

Eight years later, I was backpacking in another part of the Rocky Mountains. After setting up camp near a subalpine lake, I went to find a private spot to discreetly go to the restroom. While taking care of business and taking in the scenery, I heard a quiet flaking sound from above me. I looked up and finally had my first sighting of the Three-toed Woodpecker, only about ten feet away on the trunk of a fir! Unable to move because of my preoccupied state, I just watched for a couple minutes as the woodpecker continued to feed in front of me before flying out of sight.

I’ve had a few ‘nemesis birds’ over the years, but this will probably always be the most special and memorable one for me!

[That_Bug_Guy]

Mine was the American Mink. I saw them over and over again, but the little things were just too fast to photograph. They’d always swim out of sight! Eventually I found footprints and photographed them. I thought that would be the closest I would get to capturing a mink.

But this summer, the luckiest thing happened. I sat at the edge of a river, camera in hand, when a lanky, brown animal came scrabbling out of the woods. It dove into the water, swam to the side of the river I was on, and popped its head out from between the rocks. That’s when I took the photos and they turned out great! You can view them here: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/242760248

[AdamWargon]

@That_Bug_Guy

The photos turned out great! You can view them here: https://inaturalist.ca/observations/242760248

Nice write-up about your mink! Thanks for sharing your story — both here on the forum, and on iNaturalist.

[That_Bug_Guy]

You’re welcome! I love to write and share, so these iNat posts are the best of both worlds!

[screedius]

There are many on my list. Some of them are actually quite uncommon, others are fairly common and just seem to be avoiding me specifically. I really want to find a Sierra Nevada Ensatina (Ensatina eschscholtzii platenensis). They’re absolutely gorgeous little salamanders. There were a few observations in a small area in a State Park that I visit fairly regularly, and I’ve gone to check that specific area of the park almost every time I visit without any luck.

Then there’s the badgers and long-tailed weasels at Point Reyes Nat’l Seashore. I’ve caught short glimpses of the weasels before they bolt back into their holes, but never managed to get a picture. As for the badgers, I’ve seen signs, I’ve seen their burrows, but never spotted the actual animal. As feisty as they are, though, maybe they’ll at least stick around long enough for a photo if I ever actually spot one.

And then theres the California kingsnake. I’ve seen quite a few other snakes, most of them much less common, but still haven’t managed to find a kingsnake. They’re extremely pretty, though. Even higher on the list is the California mountain kingsnake, though my chances of finding that one are significantly lower.

[screedius]

I recently spotted one of those in Glacier Nat’l Park! It’s not a species I know much about, though. What did the rangers say about them that got you interested?

[dominid]

I don’t often get to go to big bodies of freshwater that haven’t been invaded by Dreissena bugensis / Dreissena polymorpha, so seeing some freshwater mussels that were native to my area had been on my bucket list for a while. Well this year I was able to do that when I saw Elliptio complanata in the Adirondacks.

[F.S]

I already found both of them, Salamandrina terdigitata and Bombina pachypus, two endangered amphibians endemic to the italian peninsula.

The list of animals and plants I would be excited to encounter will never end though.

[dinofelis]

I’ve wanted so badly to see otters - which in my local area happens to be the Cape Clawless Otter - for the longest time. In the beginning of September this year, in the birders’ WhatsApp group I’m part of, there was a discussion about the large reserve that protects the southern part of the peninsula, and someone mentioned that they had seen an otter at one of the beaches down there. I replied and said that I had seen much footage of the local population but had never seen one.

It was frankly rather frustrating for me that other people would see otters when I never got to, and I was envious, since I had been going to the various places where I knew otters had been sighted - at the coast by the city park near the stadium, in that small wetland reserve by the shopping mall in the northern part of the city, and in the wetlands just to the north of the sewerage works which is itself famous for birding - yet still never saw them!

One of the ladies in the group ( a fellow birder who I’d met several times on birding outings) replied to me that otters were wont to turn up when you least expect them!

You can guess where this tale is headed. About a month later, I drove down the peninsula on the False Bay side above the nature reserve, where the coastal towns and villages are located, since I wanted to see whales (specifically Humpback Whales, as I had always seen only Southern Rights in the town famous for whale watching - Hermanus - so I was in the mood for something new, and I wanted to judge for myself how good the whale watching was in comparison.

I had stopped by one of the beaches, and was walking down, scanning the sea and the horizon. By the rock pool, I paused to take in the surroundings better, and do some brief people watching, when for some reason, a shape jumped out at me just beyond the pool. There, perched on a rock - was the distinct contour of something instantly recognisable: the sinuous, low-slung unmistakable brown-and-white of an otter, very nonchalantly having its brunch!

I could not believe my eyes, and was simultaneously in shock and elation as I immediately starting aiming my camera and clicking away, as I knew this opportunity would not last long.

The otter seemed completely unperturbed by the noise of people in the pool not a few metres away, and no one else except me seemed to be aware that it was there. The otter enjoyed its fishy meal for a few minutes, even holding the fish in its little hands while it chewed, before licking its chops, giving a look around, and then slipping back into the water.

I had to laugh to myself afterwards, since this was something I had wanted so badly to see for the longest time - and it indeed turned up when I was looking for something else entirely!

See my otter observation.

And yes, I also did see humpback whales - several, in fact. I missed the single time one breached while I was down there, but oh well - more reason to go back again!

[okbirdman]

The main bird walk I would do was in a beautiful area with some trees heavily affected by bark beetles. Almost every ranger who led the walk talked about the bark beetles and their ecology, including their predators, the Three-toed Woodpeckers. They talked about the way they feed (flaking off bark instead of drumming) and how they fluctuate in local abundance according to fire and beetle infestation. For me they became the big target species for every outing when we came to the grove of infested trees.

There were also a couple of wildlife photographers and rangers I met on these walks who were very kind and helped initiate my interest in birding. A couple of the photographers showed me their photo series of the woodpeckers feeding and attending nests that furthered my desire to see them.

[Vermfly]

I find this one very hard to narrow down. Probably my top most looked for thing is one of the less common migrating, day-roosting bats like a hoary or red bat. I spend a fair amount of time out birding in decent habitat and I’m amazed I haven’t come across one.
Ringtail is another species that would be like a white whale for me. I spend tons of time birding in the proper habitat and I haven’t even caught a glimpse of one let alone a picture.

[zee_z]

I spent all of winter last year dissecting Ponderosa Pinecones to find evidence of Megastigmus albifrons, didn’t find a single live one, nor a single seed damaged by one.

Well, in the middle of a hike when I was sitting down to rest, I always reach for things like plants or pinecones to examine or fiddle with. The one I picked up happened to have damaged seeds that match up perfectly to M. albifrons damage.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/232547267

Granted, this is still a tentative ID, but the holes are way larger than the Cydia piperana fake-out I was hit with before.

Another one that I wasn’t able to get photos of, is at the tail end of another hike (right when my phone died) I found a bald-faced hornet drinking from a lake. Absolutely gorgeous species and I’m happy I was able to see it, even if I wasn’t able to upload it.

[forest_beans]

mine isnt a specific species, but is some sort of owl that i know lives near my house- i keep hearing it at night, and under the same tree theres pellets and rodent bones- but i cant find the owl itself

[danly]

My white whale is actually a whale. Any whale will do, doesn’t have to be white…

[Vermfly]

From where you are, I’d suggest getting down to Boston when the humpbacks congregate offshore. You can take a whalewatching boat out to Stellwagen Bank. I went years ago and saw like 5 humpbacks.