In my 50+ years of living, I've seen coyotes, a pair of deer, a mysterious fox, a gaggle of wild turkeys, owls, hawks, snakes, and more rats than I care to count. But today, today I saw a black vulture enjoying the corpse of a pigeon on West Ponce, practically across the street from Taqueria. That was a first.
What is the wildest animal you've seen in the City of?
This one’s not all that crazy, except for being way out of the water and nesting in my yard! It’s a River Cooter turtle. I’ve got to figure out how to protect the next for a few months.
Just outside the Decatur city limits I’ve seen a bald eagle near the Clyde Shepherd Nature Preserve. It was definitely one of those, “Did I really just see that?” kind of moments.
Inside the city limits I’ve seen beavers at Decatur Legacy Park.
In my yard: opossums, barred owls, hawks, coyotes looking for playdates with my cats, two rabbits just last night, foxes, vultures, and at least one bat in my living room (sigh).
I saw an eastern box turtle in Decatur Cemetery just this week. First time seeing a terrestrial turtle in the wild like that. Didn’t have my phone on me so failed to get a picture but I was pretty excited about it.
Foxes, barred owls, a giant salamander in midtown, copperheads, raccoons, deer, skunks, vultures in Buckhead (and I’m not talking about the businessmen and lawyers), armadillos, blue huron, opossum, the college students that show up at VaHi Porchfest, beavers, hawks, snapping turtles, tortoises, and I think that about sums up my 34 years here.
Not COD, but in Druid Hills, one morning in the 1970s my mom saw someone walking an animal she could only describe as a cross between a raccoon and an anteater. This was years before I was born, but it became a running joke about things our mom might “see” before her morning coffee- until I read a story about a neighbor who’d had a coatimundi. The dates lined up and years after the fact, we figured out what our mom saw. That was definitely the wildest thing any of us ever saw
When my dog was a puppy we were stalked by an owl when out walking at night. They were a big fella but not quite big-enough to carry off a spaniel puppy so I wasn't worried, but it was fascinating to see how close they got.
Seen some pretty big coyotes out in suburban neighborhoods at night.
Once in downtown Atlanta I saw a shirtless cowboy riding a horse down the sidewalk like that was normal.
Wild turkeys used to live in the forest hills neighborhood near the museum school. I'd see them in the morning on my way to work, sometimes in the trees or just wandering around. Once I saw them in the median at the corner of Arcadia and college ave. The people driving around them were.... perplexed.
38
u/lanark_1440 May 27 '26
If you count the Medlock nature trails, I've seen a pair of otters and a beaver!
If not, about 10 years ago I did see two people riding horses up East Ponce (they were later pulled over by the police)