Crazy and strange things I’ve done to get good observations. Or just any at all.
Stand on my tiptoes on top of 2in wide counter near my tv to catch a close up pic of a moth.
Turn the stove off in the middle of cooking and run outside in bare feet to try and catch a pic of the Javelinas walking through.
Go outside to my shed without air conditioning in the middle of summer and wait near a small hole near the floor. Because I heard mice skittering between the walls.
Seriously contemplate leaving crumbs on the floor and setting up a motion sensor camera to be able to post an observation. (We weren’t leaving the house at that time.)
Asking my parents to set up a tent by the chicken coop to figure out what keeps setting off the trap, but never gets caught. (What on earth? Turned out to be a juvenile skunk. We were sprayed.)
Offering to be the one to dispose of the skunk that we shot 'cause it was running off with our chicken in its mouth. Not the best idea. Got good pictures of it but my clothes smelled for weeks.
Go for a few km bushwalk in this weather because you’re only in Kakadu for a week and you’re desperately trying to find a Leichhardt’s grasshopper (that’s 122°F btw)
It’s less iNat observations specifically as it is getting a good look at nature things in general,
but your #2 bullet point was this bobcat. Was visiting my folks and saw it walk by the kitchen window.
Raced downstairs, grabbed my camera, and out onto a mix of sharp gravel and thorns barefoot trying to track down where it went.
Spent about 30 min afterward pulling the major spines out of my feet, and found a few more embedded over the next few days.
Lots of time spent climbing up into trees to get closer looks at things, including porcupines.
Getting too close to nests of Giant Asian Honeybees, etc.
Although I’m fairly new to iNat, nature photography was kind of a side hobby for me already, however I only bothered to take pictures if it was truly worth it. But here are some I have done:
Standing like a weirdo in front of a christian bookstore: The owner smiled at me, he probably thought I was taking a picture of a bible that was there. In fact, there was a Diogmites inside, no clue how it got there. (It was kind of embarassing, so I didn’t spend much time trying to get a good picture) https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37114140
Improvising to catch a Chinese Mantis: I was walking home from school, and suddenly I noticed a Mantis nymph on the sidewalk. I didn’t want people looking at me while I contortionize to get a good angle, so I figured that I would catch the Mantis and set the photoshoot in my backyard. As I didn’t have any containers, I had to use a sandwich bag, the mantis didn’t seem too happy about it and it pounced my hand. In the end I succeeded and my hand was safe and sound. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37023045
Climb a tree during lunch while I was at school: One of my friends came up to me to tell me they had found a juvenile bird on a tree, and without hesitating I climbed up the tree and got some decent, although blurry, pictures of a little swift. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37054080
Chase a frog around: I have to admit most of the work was done by my brother, but it was fun to chase this froggy! My brother finally caught it and through iNat we found out it was an endemic species! https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/37072703
I think passers-by mostly think I’m weird for staring at / taking photos of walls. If someone asks what I’m doing, I always hope I’ll be taking something more well known or socially acceptable, like ladybirds, but it’s usually flies or lichen.
Mine’s the opposite - wandering around at -30C (-22F) with no mitts on trying to track winter birds that will not sit still. That’s the only time I care about wind chill. Never had frost bite, though.
Returning to an area that is the worst I know of locally for biting bugs (mosquitoes, black flies and deer flies in abundance) for a chance for a Subarctic Bluet based on the conifer bog habitat. I damaged my chest waders by snagging them on a stick in a rush to get out of the area (got a soaker as a result too) after the sighting. https://inaturalist.ca/observations/9698767
My friend is studying orthoptera and was asking me to get some specimens every time I go to Crimea, and it was right when I started iNatting. Saw this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/19996551 when was at the hotel pool, called my husband “we need it!”, it appeared that the window was much higher outside than inside, so we couldn’t get the insect with bare hands, so had to throw the jacket trying to get it with it, succed at it, it was all good and traveled ok to Moscow, appeared to be male and died much, much later, now in a collection for students.
I pretty regularly go out in the gravel driveway in front of my apartment or even behind it and just start flipping over pieces of wood, stone, etc. trying to find “cool bugs” for observation. It’s all I can do sometimes, especially since quarantine has started. I’ve had people walk past me, look at me, and keep going. I can only imagine what’s on their minds!
They are thinking you lost your housekey. Or maybe a burglar trying to find the housekey, lol. Probably what they’d think of me, I’m always wearing hoodies, even in the summer.
lifers