It has always amused me that the tourists to the US that I’ve spoken to are often very excited to see raccoons, and disappointed if they don’t see them before they leave.
Some others I’ve noticed on the east coast of the US are blue jays and cardinals. Boy, do people get excited about those if they’ve never seen them before! Very pretty birds of course, just very easy to get used to and see as uninteresting as well.
We dont have much in the way of animals but we have birds. The Tui is common in suburban gardens here, but they are beautiful and even as a local I still like seeing them. Pukekos are everywhere but for those from the UK/ Europe/ USA they’re prett exotic. Down South, Wekas are absolutely everywhere outside the cities and will walk right into people’s homes - I once experienced coitus interruptus when a Weka jumped up on the bed I was in with a guy.
When I was in South Africa I was super excited to see baboons, locally considered something of a nuisance. And in Queensland, Australia, the first time I saw an Australian white ibis, locally known as a bin chicken, the locals must have been very amused to see me chasing it with a camera getting photos
Canadian here and yeah, when we first saw them we got super excited to get close enough to one a good photo. A week later we realized they are everywhere and everyone hates them.
Same thing happened when I went to Alaska and saw my first bald eagle.