One of the funnest parts of doing for walk in the wilderness is finding something new. This can often be unexpected, especially in places where you’ve visited for years. I frequent Marita Payne Pond often and I’m constantly surprised by what I find. What are your examples of unexpected observations…

Last summer, caught a stoat under my car… and the summer before, a porcupine next to my car… fingers crossed this upcoming summer I’ll find a black bear under there :P.

Come to Boulders beach, and check for penguins, before you drive away. (Hasn’t happened to me, but the warning is there for our embattled penguins)

I actually did go once, when I was just a few years old. Hope to visit again someday!

I somehow managed to photograph this flightless wasp without seeing it. Still not sure how that happened. [IHVHPHHRNHOH5HCHQLPZRL1HIHVH7HEZ7H3H5LPZZL2ZGHHR4H1HRL9ZPHHRGHHRGHVH8HLREHJHMHBH]

Found an Oxybelus wasp in the dairy section of the local grocery store: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15528076 Picked it up carefully and got some photos as it warmed up before flying away. Came across an American bullfrog sitting in front of the entrance to an apartment building: htt…

We were in Duluth last summer and one of the biggest dragonflies I had ever seen flew right up to me and landed right on my arm https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/127537269 Under the sun visor in our car we found a bicolored sallow moth on the ceiling. It was in surprisingly good shape for be…

I’ve got a wandering gull too! This Bonaparte’s Gull , encountered at a local park which usually has Ring-Bills so it was an awesome surprise! This poor juvenile pelican , that probably got blown in from a storm earlier on in the day. And of course, lest I forget… the infamous park Lettuce , which my…

The latest was seeing scolopendra in a hotel lobby.

My biggest surprise is still my “parking lot spiranthes” growing behind our favorite Italian restaurant: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/132074437 The rest of this suburb is just green-lawn-of-death so it is quite unusual that one of the more rare native orchids would have chosen this spot…

This marmot was reported from a high school campus in Albuquerque, where it really shouldn’t be since they are a montane species that get no closer than about 60 miles from the city. I was doubtful of the ID until I actually saw it. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30939257

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