Animal sightings at The Fort....

[CottontailCurl]

How's this for an animal sighting!
We spotted him in the canal near the group camping area.

Is that another one just above it and to the left? It looks like the shape of a young one, just the head?

We've seen all the critters mentioned, most favorite for my youngest daughter were the many bunnies on Cottontail Curl. She'd leave them baby carrots in the morning and check and see if they'd eaten their food when we got back. I love that bus drivers like to point out deer on the path between WL and FW, that's usually late at night or early in the morning. We were coming home one night and there was a grouping frozen underneath the monorail over where you turn to go to FW (the main entrance). A little girl behind me was like "Are they real?".

We've had peacocks hang out with us on 200, a turkey on 800, the possible raccoon that tore open our pizza box was on the 2000 loop, and my armadillo that I thought was an alligator was on the 1500 loop.

 

[Crazy4Epcot]

We were at the fort in May of this year, and while driving from the campsite to Epcot, a Florida Panther ran across the road. It was near the entrance, where the horse trail crosses the main road. We were shocked. Have never seen a "cat" in the wild before, and probably wont ever again.

 

[Gatordad]

It probably was a bobcat.

 

[Colson39]

Yea, I once was staying at the Riverside hotel and we were walking back to our room around 11 PM at night. About 10 yards in front of us a bobcat ran straight across the path, not the thing you expect to see at that time. They are rather common in central Florida though.

If you saw a panther (not saying you didn't) that would be rather big in Disney, they probably would tag it or relocate it, I doubt they want Panthers roaming near the Fort...lol.

 

[Nickimouse]

Cottontailcurl, I'm not sure if that was another alligator,but here's a picture of a smaller one we saw.

There were 3-4 really small ones we could see just under the water but they were shy. I wanted to know where mom and dad were! I'm not sure if they usually come up on land,but there was a man and his daughter throwing marshmallows to it. The dad took a piece of chicken out of his cooler and threw it in!

 

[Crazy4Epcot]

This cat was solid tan, and had a tail. We looked it up, not a bobcat. We did notify the campground, they were concerned and notified their animal control. We know this was a rare sighting. Go to google images, google "florida panther" and you will see the cat we saw. Anyways, ya gotta love it at the fort.

 

[Colson39]

Yea, I've seen a panther while in the Everglades before, not normally something I want to see while hiking...lol.

And feeding the gators is such a bad thing, that associates food with humans. But hey, it must be funny watching a gator eat a marshmallow...lol

 

[Gatordad]

not as funny as seeing a gator chewing bubble gum.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Funny you should start this thread right after I come back loaded with photos.

So, here's the story on these photos.

The oldest TCD DD turned 16 in June, and this was our first trip to the Fort with her as a licensed drived, and a (legal ) golf cart driver.

I believe it was Friday night, August 3 that the oldest DD takes the cart out for a spin with her two sisters. This was at around dusk. They are back by the group camping area, and they spot a deer. The deer was on the other side of the fence way back where they have the basketball goal and the road dead ends. The DD's state that they saw this deer use its front legs to climb up and over the gate there.

They took these photos:

Well, there you have it- that is definitely either a deer or Big Foot.

Don't you love the TCD kids' photography skills?

Anyway, this experience shook up the youngest DD so much that she didn't want to ride the cart back there at night anymore. She was afraid a deer would climb over the fence and get her.

Also, on both Saturday night and Sunday night, when we were returning to the Fort through the front entrance, there were deer grazing in the grassy area right next to the main parking lot at about 10:30-11:00 pm.

Before this trip, we had only seen deer around the Fort a couple of times, but we saw a lot on this trip.

TCD

 

[Colson39]

That last picture is definitely Big Foot.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Ever since Everest opened, the Yeti has been hanging around FW. Whenever we are there, he keeps showing up at the camper with his refillable mug begging for Kungaloosh. I don't advocate feeding the local wildlife, but this guy just won't leave until he gets one. Even then, some nights you just can't get rid of him - wife and I both yawning, looking at our watches, etc. He just keeps going on and on about some labor dispute he has with Disney. He never lets us get a picture, so I am glad TCD's daughters finally caught him. Maybe now the neighbors will believe me.

 

[Tri-circle-D]

The DD's were able to take some decent wildlife photos:

Is that enough duck pictures for everyone?

Did I mention that all of the TCD DD's have digital cameras and like to take duck (and bunny) pictures.

Let me know if you need anymore, I've got plenty.

TCD

 

[Gatordad]

Ever since Everest opened, the Yeti has been hanging around FW. Whenever we are there, he keeps showing up at the camper with his refillable mug begging for Kungaloosh. I don't advocate feeding the local wildlife, but this guy just won't leave until he gets one. Even then, some nights you just can't get rid of him - wife and I both yawning, looking at our watches, etc. He just keeps going on and on about some labor dispute he has with Disney. He never lets us get a picture, so I am glad TCD's daughters finally caught him. Maybe now the neighbors will believe me.

That's no Yeti, that's me

 

[olbear]

We saw some pretty animals while at FW last week.
Here is one of sasquatch:

This is actually a picture of 2 deer, one was looking right at me. We took this at night as we cam through gate at the Fort

These next 2 are shots of one deer we saw on our way to dinner from the Fort to the Poly.
She is oh so pretty!!

Told ya she was pretty!

Blessings,
Winnie

 

[Tri-circle-D]

Great deer photos- although one of those looks like Big Foot or the Yeti as well.

Can you all see the red headed woodpecker in this photo?

He is about 1/3 up the tree on the left side of the tree in the photo?

TCD

 

[des1954]

Thanksgiving of 2001 we were staying in site 1217 & walking to Meadows Trading Post when a bobcat ran out in front of us !!

Also --- we saw ferel kittens at the monorail station behind the MK ticket kiosks. How did they get there???

Weirdest, however, was back in 1997, stayed in site 318 and there were otters in the creek behind our site. That's the only time I've ever seen otters anywhere other than a river.

Oh yeah.... my favorite was the year the Turkey Vultures were stalking the Contemporary Resort!! Disney was actually fined by the State of Florida for shooting the vultures!! People staying at the CR would open their drapes only to find Turkey Vultures on the balcony railing. The vultures would freak out and regurgitate all over the windows!

 

[DznyRulz]

We were at the Fort last week and saw plenty of bunnies, ducks and one little armadillo. Never did see any deer. In fact we have never seen any deer. We must not be in the right spot at the right time. One day while driving on Bonnet Creek towards OKW DW thought she saw something awful gator like in one of the small lakes. There were cars behind us so I couldn't stop. In taking a ride to Saratoga Springs the driver told us that there have been many lynx sightings recently and that one of their panthers had migrated through the property closer to I4 and had been hit and killed. I didn't think to ask if they knew how many panthers were on the property.

 

[zakerdog]

We were at the FWCG the first 15 days of December and saw lots of deer, a Pyliated Wood Pecker and of course lots of squirrels, ducks and geese.

We also had two turkeys that wandered around the campsite on a regular basis.

A pelican just off the dock:

Along the dog walk behind loop 800 a large turtle and an alligator:

 

[FlaFortCampster]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT EVER FEED THE GATORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF YOU SEE SOMEONE FEEDING THEM, ASK THEM NOT TO!!!!!!
Feeding them is what makes them very dangerous. They have a nature fear of man until they equate us with FOOD. Not a good move at all. Just leave them alone and they will leave us and our pets alone.

 

[BradyBz12]

Yup, that's a gator alright! Just confirms why I freaked out and reeled my dog in like I was landing a tuna every time my crazy dog decided to hop in the canal! We were there the same time as you - although didn't use that particular dog walk (we were in 300).

However we did see a coyote on the other side of the 300 dog walk canal one morning. I was walking one of the dogs (my little canal boy, Brady) and we kind of tracked our movement as we were walking towards the end in his direction. Brady totally ignored him (strange, considering he's the one that's not great with strange dogs) and he eventually ran off.