Related: Trash talking: Strangest Things?
For me, it’s this one Avacado (Persea americana) growing in the midst of a (protected?) national forest. The suburban environment nearby didn’t make it any less odd.
For me, it was finding Drosera in the middle of a very popular park, over 10 miles away from the nearest location.
Hearing this https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/118024434
Skinless goosehead, likely a dog treat, but had me thinking a little bit, have photo of it somewhere.
I think slime molds are ridiculous and strange creatures. This one https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/124041181 popped up in my front yard after a week of rain. The ground below it is a couple inches of duff (mostly Desert willow leaves) over 4-6 inches of gravel “mulch”, but I guess that’s sufficient substrate.
I don’t know if it would count as strange, but I’ve seen wild Russian Olive trees ( Elaeagnus angustifolia) kilometres away from where they were originally planted. Birds and seeds?
I’ve seen a Malcosoma disstria larva hanging off a leaf, likely dead from a virus (https://inaturalist.ca/observations/6649243). Not really strange, but not common.
During a fern conference field trip, I once saw a Panax quinquefolius trailside in a suburban Virginia park! Had me and another American naturalist gaping…
Could you clarify, is skinless goosehead the severed head of a Goose (Anatidae), with feathers plucked, or a common name for something? For example: Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)
First, it was a full head of domestic goose (well, or maybe a hybrid with domestic swan goose, but I don’t remember).
Robins love the olives in New Mexico and the seeds stay viable for an absurd number of years as they disperse
I’ve told this story before, so I’ll keep it short.
When I was young, this massive raccoon came out of our backyard shed and approached me and my sister. Our Mother told us to run inside. She would then drive the raccoon off with a rake or broom (don’t exactly remember). The raccoon continued to live in our shed for years.
In 2020, we decided that we wanted to use our shed again so with caution (and with a bit of excitement) my father went towards the shed with a pool net. The raccoon was there, but it had died long ago and only its bones remained. I and my sister continued to fish out bones throughout the week. We also found a dead rat and the raccoon’s nest(?).
Now the bones just lay around in the backyard.
Observation here:
https://inaturalist.ca/observations/121509785
I am currently reading “Entangled Life” by Merlin Sheldrake. Fungi, in general, are amazing. One researcher puts mycelium and slime molds in a maze. They find the most efficient way through.
Robins have really done well since people moved into North America from Europe. They love our lawns, introduced earthworms and introduced ornamental fruiting trees. They nest all over our structures. And, they are pretty much ignored. So, they don’t feel threated.
I knew someone with different trees in their yard near a swimming pool. I was helping empty the pool baskets and discovered some sort of mesh netting/matrix mat had formed between something (seeds? pollen?) dropped from the trees. Here’s one of the pics I took:
Ever go for a walk and find curb-corn and think “yes, I will take this home for the rabbits”? I did. When I got home, I found out that rabbits can’t even digest corn, so I just put it in the compost. Now there’s some random corn in my house. Cool!
Good ol’ corn-on-the-curb, did you mark it as wild or captive in the observation?
Definitely wild. Though it doesn’t belong to a feral population, it’s clear that it escaped someone’s grocery bag for night out on the town.
C - Coming
O - Over
R - Right
N - Now
They’ve got a mind of their own, y’know. Watch your back for curb corn.
I wonder how that will go? I had a worm bin. The worms only ate the pulp in the center, leaving the cob as a hollow tube. There were plenty of other decomposing insects in the bin who also left that cob alone.
https://www.pbs.org/show/nova/
This program opened my eyes to slime molds. They are amazing. I have seen very large slime mold throughout a receding flooded area in a wetland/ forest area. Weird and Wonderful!
Link to the show:
https://www.pbs.org/video/brainless-slime-molds-navigate-mazes-and-make-decisions-ehxw/
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