The only one I’ve ever been able to catch had some kind of injury that kept it from flying.
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The only I have been able to get close to and touch was a one that had been slightly chewed by a cat.
I held the cat back and it got better and flew away. (I had to touch it to make sure it was alive).
The observation is at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/309286342.
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Oh man, just spent the most joyous hour and a half going through this thread. Will probably return to it again later and trawl even further back than I made it in this sitting lol.
I have a few favorite photos, of my observations:
This bobcat was a super unique opportunity where I saw it pop into this culvert, waited with the camera set up for it to come out the other side, then decided to see if it would be visible inside when it never emerged. Yes, yes it sure was! (Don’t worry, I was a good distance from the culvert mouth and have a 400m lens, which is why it looks so (relatively) unbothered lol.) Honestly from a photography perspective there are a few things I wish were better in the final images from this encounter (my poor 2016 camera struggles and gets quite grainy quickly with low light images, and this concrete tube certainly falls in that category), but for such a once-in-a-lifetime shot, I’m not gonna complain!
We were visiting relatives in southern California in February days after the fires, and the air was still smokey enough that the sunset on the beach on the first evening was the most stunning one I’ve ever seen out there. Hard to pick favorites from that whole reel.
Prairie rattlesnakes are more than a little intimidating, but it was still neat to catch this pair “cuddling.” I believe the one is protecting the other who’s just about to shed (and couldn’t see that well) if the reddit snake forum folks are to be believed haha. Extremely neat behavior to witness.
I got a bunch of completely normal photos of this mule deer stag, but this first one I took while I was trying to figure out the right shutter speed came out DELIGHTFULLY HAUNTING.
Corresponding observation links for each:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/274340345
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/261222423
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Some might call this editing, I call it a low ISO.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/315397701
Great Egrets are so white, sometimes this is the only way to preserve their feather details.
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One of my all time favorite photos. One of many moments in this nature watching hobby where I felt like the luckiest person on the plant for having been in that moment.
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This North Queensland jumping spider is a new favourite of mine! It’s so shiny! I’m glad I was able to get a decent photo on my phone, and I’m especially happy that I could capture the blue shine, since in most angles the iridescent parts look more white.
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I mostly view my photography from “alright, that’s as good as it gets I suppose” perspective, but I recently encountered a super pretty mantis lass and spent 20 minutes in pure admiration of her elegant form.
Look at her. I dare you to tell me that’s not the most drop dead gorgeous woman you have ever seen.
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She looks like she is posing for a photo shoot (Which I guess is exactly what is happening!)
If anyone’s interested there has been a poll started for your best photos of the week, where you can vote on your favorites: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/your-best-photos-of-the-week/64394/458
As for me, this is probably one of my better hummingbird moments: inaturalist.org/observations/314592840 
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OK. Done.
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Who is more gorgeous??
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Nooooo don’t make me choose between two beautiful women!!! 
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I have a few best shots worthy to add to this large thread. Probably the most unique one is of the white raven. Was a big deal here in Anchorage. It even has its own facebook page.
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I was considering putting this one in the Black, Gray and White topic but then decided it is one of my favorites. I love how it looks like a photo taken in Black and White but it wasn’t. The subjects are just in their non-breeding Black and White plumage on a dreary day making it look like a Black and White photograph.
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https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/320928244
I think she was upset that I interrupted her mushroom breakfast. 
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Was the second photo taken before or after the disruption? 
Also, she kind of reminds me of some super villain from a graphic novel in the first one, with that angry, distorted face
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Before.
Put her down in the same spot, came back an hour later, her and most of the mushrooms were gone.
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I think this obs is a lot of fun.
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What a rude ant!
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