This is a story I’ve been itching to tell, but have never had the place to do so. No observations, but natural change over time.
I walk along the Red River bank on ‘monkey trails’ when they are dry. 7 or 8 years ago, a tree either got broken by wind, or was hit by lightning. It fell over, leaving a triangular ‘bridge’ over the trail. Since it was not rotten, it showed no signs of breaking off, so I walked underneath it for a few years. A couple of years ago we had an odd late fall river flood (not normal). The former top of the tree was under water until the river began to freeze, and it became encased in ice. Over the winter the river water fell, and eventually the ice moved as well. A lot of trees along the bank had big ice rings to mark where the ice had formed, then sank down. Well, the receding ice pulled the top of that tree off the tree remnants. Come the spring, there was a rise in the river, but not a flood. The ice enclosed top was pulled by the current, and is gone somewhere. The 2m high stump of the tree remains, though. I find it an interesting observation of how the natural environment changes over time. None of this involved human interaction. I’ve got some photos from that winter, but it’s not really an iNat observation!
Some time in 2020. I was in the living room watching TV when my Dad came down to get his coffee and breakfast.
Suddenly I hear Dad’s voice, slightly alarmed: “Bird!”
I’m still working on my own first cuppa, a bit groggy. Did he say “bird”?
Dad’s voice from the kitchen: “Bird!”
I am standing up. “Did you say ‘bird’?”
Dad: “Bird in the kitchen!!!”
I reach the kitchen. Dad is standing at the far end, near the sink, coffee cup in hand. Directly in front of me is a starling. Just standing there.
I take a step toward the bird, hoping it will flee toward the door. It doesn’t. There is an empty cardboard box on the floor. (I hope my brother doesn’t want to return whatever came in that box…) I pick up the box, open the flaps and–after a few attempts–coax the bird into the box, then close the flaps. Out the side door to the front yard, gently drop the box on the grass from about a foot above the ground, and watch the bird fly away as the box flaps open.
By the time I got back indoors Dad was sitting at the dining table drinking his coffee.
I still regret that I didn’t get a photo of that bird for iNat.
I uploaded the snail eating poop observation, enjoy!
It is aptly named.
Last week I saw an observation for a River Limpet in the UK. I was amazed by this as I’ve never even heard of a fresh water limpet and I thought I was quite knowledgeable in that kind of habitat. I love finding out about things I never knew existed so did a load of reading, looked at every one of the 22 recorded observations in the UK and started to plan where I could go to find one. The next day I’d planned a nature ramble and as I crossed a small stream I thought I’d just check under a few rocks just in case, and found one under the second stone I turned over. 
They’re either more common than I thought or I’m very lucky. I will be checking a lot more streams though to find out.
Just a few days ago I grabbed my phone to take a photo of what I thought was a tiny moth, only to realize a few moments later I had just scrambled for a picture of a piece of lint… Oops. 
I snuck up on a piece of pine cone scale on a bracken, thinking it was a moth! Had several good photos proving me wrong!
Here’s an additional story: I live in Delaware, where on a warm spring evening I found a lovely rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda) on a tree. Weeks later, I showed the picture to my 8-year-old niece in northern Pennsylvania who insisted she wanted to see one and was determined to look for one at our porch light. They are common, but I had never seen one there, and I cautioned her that moths don’t arrive on command. The next night, perched neatly under the porch light, sat a rosy maple moth for my niece to see. It has been 3 years, and I have yet to see another there. Perhaps nature sometimes accommodates its believers. :)
I’ve stalked birds very carefully only to find they were bits of trees. I generally get some sort of clue, as birds rarely sit still for long!
Nooooo that’s horrible to imagine hahaha!
Done that. Also I’ve road-cruised for snakes at night and been fooled many times by sticks or stains on the road. Once I drove by an object in the road I IDed as a Desert Kingsnake. I was 100% convinced of my ID and told my companion as much until I backed up and saw that it was a bungee cord, banded in same colors as a kingsnake. Guess I should’ve photo’d the bungee. Nowadays I don’t trust my night vision at all.
iNat has the power to control human brains…
Great owl story. Barn Owls can definitely produce some weird encounters, whether it’s their scream in the middle of the night or sudden ghostly (and absolutely silent) appearances. Once I was camped in my truck in an abandoned oil field and I’d parked up close to a series of oil tanks to block the wind. About 3 AM I crawled out of the back of the truck to relieve myself and while standing there, with a full moon shining over the tanks off to my right side, I saw a movement in my peripheral vision. A Barn Owl had silently flown in and perched on a pipe atop one of the tanks. It was completely silhouetted by the full moon, but I could tell it was looking at me. Unfortunately my camera was nowhere near me, so I just experienced the moment. We stared at each other for almost a minute and then it silently took wing and was gone.
Sometime later as I was dozing in my sleeping bag I heard in the near-distance an ungodly shriek above the sound of the wind and I knew my owl friend was still keeping my company.
When I was working in Pakistan I had to go up onto the roof of a building to install a communications antenna. Before I started my climb to the roof one of the local guys, a bit of a joker, warned me to ‘watch out for those flying things’. Since it was kite flying season for the local kids and I suspected he was setting me up for a joke I asked if he meant kites. He laughed and said, “Yes, kites. Very Dangerous now”. I laughed in return.
While I was setting up the antenna something hit me in the head so hard I thought someone had punched me from behind. It left a six inch gash in my scalp and sent me reeling. When I recovered my senses enough to look around to identify my assailant all I could see to explain the incident was a large angry bird next to a nest in a tree across the street. It was indeed a kite. A black kite (Milvus migrans ).
Set up, payoff.
A moth flew into my house and I think it’s taunting me. It’s pretty cute and It doesn’t look like one I’ve observed before, but it’s sitting so high up on the wall (almost the ceiling) that I can’t get a clear photo of it!
Update: Guess who decided to come down and say hello! I was able to put him/her back outside too.
HELLO!
That’s one of the coolest moths ever.
Yeah it was pretty cute! :)
About 15 years ago I was riding home after a night shift at the hospital. Going over a bridge across the Red River (which was flooding) I saw what looked like a dead dog at the far end of the path. I slowed down and approached it. It turned out to be a massive beaver! Since there were walls on both sides of it, I directed it to the staircase that went from the bridge down to the river. The water was 2/3 of the way up the stairs, which is likely how it got up on the bridge. Good deed done, I rode home.
By the way, just to let everyone know, I got fooled again by one of the bird looking bits of log yesterday. Second time for the same one! When it dries up, I’m going down there to saw the thing off!