Some of my crazy ventures of observations include: Hanging off the Santa Cruz River Railing upside down to take a photo of a Red-Spotted Toad, waited 30 minutes for a Sonoran Mud Turtle to pop out of the river, and recently have been doing “Snake Patrol” where I go out at night around the river looking for snakes. Currently I have seen no snakes through snake patrol.
It’s off topic but his reminds me of a story the late, legendary Belize guide Sam Tillett told me about the early days of his bird /nature guiding. He had previously been a successful jaguar hunting guide and had noticed that many wives of hunters (who were all male) spent their time birding and sometimes asked if there were guides they could employ (there were none). He bought some books and picked the brains of some birders he knew and started guiding the wives when he had spare time. When the the pressure was on to ban jaguar hunting he started a birding sideline as an experiment and it flourished. He soon had an established business and didn’t miss a beat when the hunting ban happened.
He offered general nature tours and it wasn’t long before a guy who heard about his former business asked for a jaguar watching tour. He told the guy “I can take you somewhere where some jaguars will get good looks at you. You might see one for a few seconds.” The guy decided not to go.
Anyway, some snakes probably got good looks at you. Eventually you’ll see one.
I really like to photograph the insects which have drowned in a swimming pool or rescue those who are drowning.
When I go to a city pool here in NYC they don’t allow you to take your cell phone or camera onto the deck, so instead I take a plastic petri dish with me so I can put dead bugs into it, or partially drowned bugs, take them home to photograph them, and then let them go outside if they revive OK.
Four years ago I wrote a journal post on this topic:
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/susanhewitt/6995-wildlife-and-the-swimming-pool
I get asked so much if I lost something as I wander around roadsides or woods margins and other areas where plants grow. Lots of funny looks for taking picture after picture of (clearly) uninteresting little weeds 
.
I’ve never thought about identifying bugs that drown in my pool. Thanks for the inspiration!
I’ve done a lot of things that look odd to other people who don’t know me.
One is wandering around a bush or tree in a public place, playing a game I call “bird in the bush”. Most often I don’t see the bird, even after circling and searching for twenty minutes.
Two is sitting on the pavement in my front yard messing around with ants and water. (They are an invasive species of ant so I don’t feel bad if I accidentally drown a couple. Besides, it’s for science!) This new hobby of mine has given my the nickname “the ant drowner” among my family.
Three is not about wild creatures. I love raising chickens and keep some exotics such as silkies. If you don’t know what they are, look them up! They look furry but really it is just because their feathers lack the barbs most feathers have. I won’t go into any more detail. Anyways, every once in a while when new people come to my yard I get the reaction, “what is that?”
Lol, neat!
One time, I crawled through a cupel thorn bushes so I could get a recording of a bird call that I didn’t recognize! I got pretty scraped up! :)
Those can be the best locations for Psychodidae!
I was fortunate to be in a place where Jacuzzis and pools might go untended for weeks or months in between their owners’ presence. I never was able to identify those tadpoles, but I got some cool video. Maybe I’ll post some screen captures.
I have been known to put on my mask and snorkel and just lie belly down in a shallow stream watching the fish. With my chin on the bottom, the water comes up to my forehead.