Weird nature habits?

Whatever is the reverse of the support group is required - more people smelling plants :-)

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Awesome photos!

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Yeah, sometimes they even come to you!

But mostly they’re a photo you wish you had :D

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Whenever I suddenly notice a very well camouflaged frog or lizard that is staying perfectly still, I have a tendency to say “Oh, hi there (little cutie).”

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Oooh no! I always say “ Clearly I cannot see you at all in your lovely camo jammies! “

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Repeated interactions with organisms lead to calling plants individuals and animals getting names.

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If an observation is scat, I offer my ID, then immediately unfollow it; I don’t want to see that. Same if it is a dead animal. Unless the dead animal is dead marine life washed up on the beach; then I don’t mind.

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I’m obsessed with documenting the forest predator alerting system & can’t resist telling anyone around about it. I can’t believe people don’t find it as fascinating as I do haha. The cooperation between different species especially, it’s like uncovering a secret language. Most recently northern flickers entered the chat.

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My favourite movie (and stage) musical. Absolutely brilliant fusion of script and score, beginning to end.

The story itself, even though set in ‘ought-eleven’ is still so relevant. The power of positive delusion…

Plus the fact that I can never look at an Amaryllis anymore without lisping that final syllable in my head.

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Not sure how “weird” some of these are…

I talk to practically every animal I see! Not limited to animals— sometimes I talk to plants and fungi as well. The neighbors I recognize always end up with names. This reminds me that I’ve forgotten to upload an observation of Seymour, the western fence lizard who lived between some wood boards where I’d eat lunch every day a few years ago.

Whenever I see recently dead or dying animals, I say prayers for them. Sometimes I will carve out a soft “bed” in the soil and put the body there, if the body is small enough. Unfortunately I have to do this quite often considering that many small animals get stepped on by the horses or drown in their water buckets at the stables. We have small bowls for them, but it doesn’t stop them from climbing the horses’ buckets.

If I’m far enough from human civilization, I will howl with coyotes. Don’t need humans watching me do that; I’ve had police stop me for less…

Like many of you I like to name taxa off as I spot them, even while I’m in the car. I also enjoy a bit of snacking on fruits and foliage, if not just a lick of sour lemonade berry. Nature’s warheads candy!

When I was younger I’d just allow mosquitoes to drink from me. This was before I learned that blood was only required for reproduction. I thought they’d go hungry without it! I don’t do this anymore of course. Most other animals who crawl on me are welcome to stay though, as long as they aren’t actively biting or stinging or excreting some kind of toxic substance.

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I spend… way too much of my life telling my chickadees in my back yard to stop yelling at me and that I’m not going to hurt them. I am certainly intimately familiar with their alarm calls

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Ever since reading Richard Adams’ Watership Down as a kid, I talk to rabbits using the language invented by Adams for the book.

For example, this Snowshoe Hare caused a literal traffic jam until I got out of the car, looked at him and said “All right, Thlayli, enough is enough. You’ve got hrududil stacked up five deep back here. Even El-ahrairah would say ‘well done’. Time to silflay somwhere else.”

This stubborn bunny, who had ignored people hand-flapping, whistling, and even a couple of honks from the back of the line, looked at me, twitched his ears, and wandered off the road towards the river. Maybe he just decided that I was crazier than all of the other humans …or maybe not. :thinking:

Translation:
Thlayli: “fur-head”, or Bigwig in English; name of one of the main characters
hrududil: plural of hrududu, a motor vehicle. Probably onomatopoeic.
El-ahrairah: “Elil + hrair + rah”, “Enemies Thousand Prince” or “The Prince with a Thousand Enemies”; legendary rabbit folk hero and trickster
silflay: “silf + flay”, “outside food”; to go outside or above ground to eat.

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A part of my regular commute to/from work involves bicycling… which makes me a target of feral pigeons when passing under light poles.

Whenever I see them perching on a light in groups, especially when the area underneath is painted white with droppings, I say aloud “Please don’t poop on me!”

This has been so effective, haven’t had a negative interaction with nature doing this yet!

Bonus: Haven’t thought to say “Please don’t vomit on me!” for these cases.

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Sounds like the hare had gone tharn.

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Naah, I think that he knew exactly what he was about. He ambled out into the road well in front of the car, and was shifting position occasionally to find another tidbit.

Maybe he was a mellower distant cousin to General Woundwort? :laughing:

I talk to invasive shrubs as I’m removing them. I say, “Thank you multiflora rose for feeding and sheltering the white throated sparrows. I will take it from here.”

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@Chipcheck - I agree - tuning into how different organisms are reacting is very interesting.

In Tiger habitat there is a clear link between Langur monkeys, Chital Deer and Indian Peafowl and how noisy / alarmed they become.

On a less dramatic scale Rufous Sibia’s when alarmed almost always indicate a predator of some sort.

I wish I knew more of this secret language too.

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This book and some of his other books like the The Plague Dogs are among my favourite books.

Thanks for reminding me about them.

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That is dramatic wow! Yes, lately here in NW US when there is a hawk nearby a northern flicker starts calling until a chipmunk hears and calls out in a far echoing sound until other birds/squirrels join. Sometimes, if crows are around, they’ll all chase the hawk away. If there’s a raven, it will circle overhead during the commotion making a very curious ringing sound. It’s really something to see.

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I always feel lucky and privileged when a flying insect decides to use me as its landing spot, but I prefer to quickly relocate them because I’m afraid they will fall from me and end up under my shoes while I walk.

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