For me, it all started when I was a kid growing up in southern Ontario (a beautiful province in Canada). One day, my dad caught a huge garter snake and put it in an empty gallon (4-litre) jug of vinegar. We carefully placed a Kleenex on top, held with a rubber band, so that the snake could breathe.…

The first one that comes to mind was walking through the woods with my father and he stopped and pointed to a spot near his foot. It took a while to pick it out, but there was an American Woodcock all but invisible in the leaf litter.

@awarg — Mine also involved a garter snake, probably same species as yours, in western New York State. It was a newborn we found under a stone along a creek in the northern Appalachians. My parents were not 100% sure it wasn’t venomous and I was too young to fully convince them it wasn’t, but we br…

I was on a field trip in second grade and heard a woodpecker drumming. Magic.

First memory of recognizing and pointing out the call of the mourning dove. Rainy spring day when I was three. Same age I was taught how to water the garden by the neighbor. I think it’s inborn.

[image] DriftlessRoots: American Woodcock [image] anneclewis: Woodpecker drumming [image] Thunderhead: The call of the mourning dove [image] Why do you think birds are so popular? Birds often evoke something in people [image] Why do you think birds are so popular? I thi…

Jim Corbett and my Maternal Uncle Our family has always been very large, still is. I had four maternal uncles, four aunts, other uncles/aunts (very close may be related a bit distantly), so many brothers and sisters of almost same age group. In our school life we all got one month winter vacation…

A few things, if that’s allowed: Hearing and getting close to geese in my childhood sparked my interest in waterfowl and waterbirds (which expanded to all birds eventually). A massive flock of gulls surrounding me on the beach one time in New Jersey. Hearing the katydids and crickets outside my ho…

For me it was going to an uncle’s vacation home in the countryside of the Dominican Republic, my home country. There was a butterfly garden which was a tiny little grove if trees and plants that you could step into that was full of butterflies, they were everywhere. From that moment on I decided one…

For me, it is probably just growing up in a woodsy area and then reading My Side of the Mountain. From then on, my fate was sealed.

What unforgettable childhood moment made you a wildlife lover?

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What unforgettable childhood moment made you a wildlife lover?

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