What Animals have you seen on the summit?

[Kevin Rooney]

Along the same lines, saw some chipmunks on top of Devil's Tower, and the easiest (according to my guide book) route up is a 5.7 - I don't think chipmunks can read the guidebook and don't think they would've easily have found that 5.7 offwidth crack, so they possibly took a harder route up. Then again, my 5.7 is Chris Sharma's 5.1 and the chipmunk is probably 3rd classing it. I could see them being great crack climbers, but I'll have to give the face climbing torch to geckos.

This past June, while descending the Mt Whitney trail at around 11,000K, I happened to look to my left, and there watching me, in a crack about 6" wide, was a marmot. The crack ran from the ground straight up, about 15', and this fellow had wedged himself in, pushing out with all fours, about 8' up. I watched him for a minute, and he watched me get my camera out and take a picture of him, and up he went, quick as a flash - much faster than any human could - topped out and took off.

I'm not a rock climber, so I don't know what the name of that friction move is. I described it to my friend Jenn, who told me what's called, but ... I forgot already. Anyway, it was pretty interesting, especially since marmots have such attitude anyway, but as he kept his eye on me you could almost here him saying "Watch this, Dude - you won't see this every day!"

 

[Raymond]

Here’s what comes to my mind right now:

Porcupine on Cedar Swamp in Acadia.

Sea gull on Champlain.

Crow on Jackson.

Mouse looking for a handout on Katahdin.

Snake on Rocky Peak. Not Rocky Peak Ridge, but its lower neighbor, so maybe that doesn’t count as a summit.

 

[w7xman]

Hmmm....

Honestly, the wierdest animal I've seen at a summit was a FROG in the generator building on Mount Washington. I'm still scratching my head.

Otherwise, just the standard...

Alot of these...

A few of these...

And these little fellas!

 

[forestgnome]

Jim, just incredible pics!!!

ravens, hawks, boreal chickadees, Bicknell's Thrush, etc.
red eft - South Twin
chipmunks - Mt. Chocorua
spruce grouse - Mt. Davis
falcon - Square Ledge ( scared the #@*& out of me! )
lynx tracks on Middle Sister ( don't care if you don't beleive it )
moose tracks on Mt. Eisenhower
cow moose with two calves just below Mt. Hight

great thread !

happy trails

 

[blacknblue]

Probably the most unique animal I've seen are the 'wild' ponies near the summit of Mount Rogers, Virginia.

 

[roadtripper]

a fisher cat on the ridge between the tripyramids...and it scared the crap out of me!

 

[wardsgirl]

My son saw a moose on top of M. Carter when he was about 7 years old. I missed it, but he told me he thought it was a donkey! I also saw a moose on top of N. Tripyramid last Mem. Day- I doubt he took the slide though, since I saw him descending Pine Bend Brook Tr!

 

[MattC]

If we're only talking on the summit, then mostly just birds:

Black Cap Chickadees are common
Dark-Eyed Juncos on Phelps and other places
Purple Finch on Wittenburg
One I'm pretty sure of, but not 100% was Cedar Waxwing atop Rusk.
Raptors I've seen wheeling about above or near summits include Turkey Vultures many different places, Red Tailed Hawks near Storm King and a Bald Eagle from Sterling Mt fire tower.
From the Bigelows I saw several beautiful raptors I wasn't sure of-they were white with black markings, so I believe they were either Harriers or Osprey

Non-birds:

Timber Rattlesnakes on Overlook-spent a whole day showing those to people since I was fire tower volunteering.

Some type of non-venomous snake (probably just a garter) on Hale, and also on South Crocker. A little pile of baby snakes once on Windham High Peak.

Snowshoe Hare on Peekamoose and also one on Osceola. The one on Osceola was hilarious. We're sitting on the summit eating lunch and the little guy came boinging up the trail into the summit area, saw us and basically ricocheted off a rock and went bouncing back the way he came. Very cartoon-like.

Possibly the weirdest thing was a huge Luna Moth in a crack in the rock on the very top of Haystack. If not for T-max, I wouldn't have known what that one was.

It's interesting to limit sightings just to summit areas. Must be neat to see the large mammals like bear and moose that high up.

Matt

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

While hiking in the Alps I have seen the Bouquetin (the Ibex) which is a true mountain goat, the Chamois (a mountain antelope) and the Mouflon -- the European long horn sheep and also the Marmotte. Also, in the Pyrenees I also saw a herd of wild horses that roams in that area.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

We saw evidence of Russian Wild Boar on the summit ridge of Croydon Peak, NH Sullivan County's high point (we observed lots of the boar down low, introduced for the Blue Mountain Forest Association hunting preserve, which is surrounded by a 35-mile-long robust fence). If you ever need to have your yard rotor-tillered, I recommend renting some wild boar.

 

[kmac]

Male and Female Moose-Lonesome Lake
Lots of frogs and toads- on the way to the Kinsmans
bear cub-Smuggler's Notch
Foxes-hiking the Bond's traverse spotted 4 in 3 days
Raven's -Lafayette summit (they put quite a show on for us)
Moose-Hermit Lake Shelter
Fox-Hermit Lake Shelter