I hear you. Sometimes I think that cats have nothing on Pygmy Nuthatches when it comes to “look at my butt” photos.
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Hear, hear! And how about the feather thing?!?
I posted a single feather and put it at “Aves” and boop lickety split came the identification: “Melanerpes pygmaeus”.
Those bird people are GOOD.
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Awhile back I saw my first gold-spotted ghost moth (Sthenopis pretiosus) flying around, which is a pretty rarely encountered species since they don’t usually come to lights. As I chased it with my flashlight it landed on a pool of water and instantly got eaten by a frog.
fortunately I found another one a few minutes later
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I like observing weedy plants so I’m way more worried about human nature: when will landscape maintenance remove the weed?
The worst case of this was seeing this hefty Brassica where I planned to take some more photos of the fruit, but it was gone by the time I returned.
There are happy cases too, like this Datura wrightii that has just seeded after ~3 months and is home to sphinx caterpillar.
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I think all my plant observations fall into this category. They are bar none my favorite. I find them graceful, surprising, a little rebellious, and adored by small bees.
There is an archaeological zone here called Mayapan where you can climb the structures, and because it is smaller there usually are not many people there so it is a great outing. But if you head to the right of the structures, and go behind, there is a small open area with an entire tapete, a carpet of wildflowers, tiny blossoms of all colors. It feels like another place because you are bordered by the structures on one side and a pretty woods on the other. And enormous Cracker Butterflies fly back and forth there making their wing sounds. It is one of the most peaceful places, impossible to quite explain. May people always go running up the pyramids instead of walking around the sides.
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I can’t tell you how many rear-end photos I have of birds…
So many that now, when my husband comes in and sees me sorting through my photos for the day, he automatically says, “Deleting butt shots again?”
“Yes, dear. Thank you very much!”
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Did you take Photo/s and post to iNat.?
I only post photos to iNat that contain identifiable species. Or what I hope will be identifiable (turns out some of my plant, mushroom, and even many of the wasps and others were not as identifiable from my photos as I had hoped…).
Most of the time, shots of birdy rear-ends don’t let you identify the bird unless it something with some sort of characteristic that allows identification. An example of what I mean would be a bird like the American Redstart which has a long tail with yellow patches and then a terminal black band. That tail makes the bird fairly recognizable even from such an unflattering angle so I might post those, although I kind of doubt it. I’m really trying to have decent photos to upload.
Identifying species is difficult enough without adding even more challenges!
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Every time there’s a slight breeze while I’m trying to get a macro shot of something on a leaf…
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Ditto. I’m pretty conservative in what I post. If it’s too blurry or obscured or only the butt end of some animal, I’ll refrain. Which means 90+ % of my pics never make it to iNat. I don’t want to add to the unIDable backlog.
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iNatting in Korea during the summertime, when it’s over 90’F with more than 90% humidity …
No breeze while I’m walking, but one immediately starts as soon as I’ve found something interesting to photograph. (And then, invariably, it fades away once I’m done taking pictures or have given up in frustration.)
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the millefiori on medieval tapestries too
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Yes! Been there. Almost as bad as chasing a “new” moth for a long time only to find out later on it’s a common one that was worn or colored slightly differently.
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Absolutely! Same in Texas.
I have a lot of pictures of ducks showing only their rear and a splash–diving as soon as I try to take a picture!
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I love duck butts! Oh man, if there isn’t a project for duck butts, there should be.
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Thwart is a great word that doesn’t get used often enough. I’m routinely thwarted in my photo outings by animals that apparently see me coming from a mile away (maybe I need to wear camo). Or being distracted by an interesting plant when there was an unnoticed animal ready to flee right in front of me. But there’s also the non-nature thwarts like my bad eyesight, a telephoto lens that is slow to autofocus, incorrect settings on my camera, my own impatience and lack of free time, noisy humans who wander into my area, my tendency to tire faster than I used to, my growing reluctance to drive too far … But that’s another thwart topic.
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Day 23:
I remain thwarted. The Leafcutter bees taunt me.
They whip to and away from their beloved Petiveria alliacea, leaving a trail of mayhem in their wake. Sometimes when I bend down to admire its delicate pretty flowers bending in graceful arches, I sense a Megachile and turn just in time to see it flash away, leaving a single leaf bouncing, …smaller.
Once upon a time I caught one in the act, and so I sit patiently, waiting, sweating profusely because the air itself seems to be sweating, for the earth as my witness,
I
shall
catch
another.
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I went to the bathroom today to find a moth just chilling on the counter. I went back to get my camera, and when I tried to get a photo, the moth flew off. It’s probably still in the house somewhere, at least.
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All from personal experience of having taken their own images ;)
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