Some people try to care and bring their dog somewhere secluded to do their business. The bad news? That secluded spot is an absolute paradise teeming with birds, and I’m looking up, not down…
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This area is my biggest problem, that’s where most of dog owners if not go directly, then pass through, and dogs don’t wait for long, so you can’t look anywhere, but at where you step, it’s much better in a big forest, and this little area has a lot of life somehow surviving so many N and other chemicals. So it’s like even when I try my hardest to not include the poop in my shots, it gets there.
most cixioideans except dendrokara monstrosa (and if possible, torva), I only look at planthoppers all the time…
It’s in another superfamily, so you’re free to not look at all cixioids.)
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Not to mention they (and feral hog) decimate a lot of the herps I like
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True. People in my village seem to think that the moment they are out into the veld with their dogs, they don’t have to pick up the poop any more.
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I never knew I don’t want to see them until I did see them, but Lipoptena cervi I certainly could do without. They’re basically winged ticks (who dispose of their wings once they attach).
But I think in truth my least favorite taxa are just few taxa. When I walk for two hours and don’t see a single species I hadn’t already seen in the first 5 minutes I get very depressed and just start thinking about the loss of biodiversity (it usually only happens when I inadvertently picked a trail too close to agriculture).
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It amazes me how much the dog poop issue is cultural, too. Where I live in the south of the UK, I can go on a three-hour walk along rural footpaths frequented regularly by many dog walkers, and yet maybe only see one offending deposit in the entire time. This fact hit me during some recent trips to France, where in many parks you can barely walk ten paces on the grass without encountering multiple vile heaps of canine scat. But the weirdest part of all is that the situation is the reverse for trash. Those same places in the UK have a disappointingly high amount of litter – wrappers, plastic bags, other garbage blowing around – yet I was so impressed by the near absence of litter in France. It’s only when you go somewhere different that you realise what you’ve become normalised to.
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Because after all, it’s always about them, isn’t it?
At first I thought the question was about what taxa we hate to see while on iNat, identifying, for instance. If that was the question, it would be: yet another grass skipper photographed at exactly the wrong angle to see any of the wing markings.
But if we’re talking out in the field observing, I resent that poison ivy likes to cover the ground and act as a barrier to getting where I want to go. I wouldn’t mind it if it would stay climbing trees like it’s supposed to. You don’t see the other woody vines behaving so badly.
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Quercus nigra - water oak. I love oak trees, but I’d like to see something new. A chinkapin oak would be nice.
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The very first time I ever saw a deer fly I didn’t know what it was and got very close to it to get a photo. You can imagine my surprise when I realized what I nearly went toe to toe with!
That happened to me with a horse fly several years ago. Except it was on my leg and it got super painful.
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I don’t know… I see a lot of misbehaving Lonicera japonica in my area (and it is also one of my least favorite things to see, though I don’t mind smelling it).
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Poison Oak. Humans can be next – I’m always wary around them, but most turn out to be nice. That dog shit issue can be bad, as it was at a popular trailhead in my area. The excited, house broken dogs didn’t poop in the car but when let out, I swear every single one of them pooped within 50 feet. I find ticks disgusting, but fortunately don’t see them often.
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Wild grapevine. Invasive in my area, but also a bugger to pull down. It has a bad habit of trying to destroy fences and pull down anything it can grab
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Dogs.
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Grass. It’s been sooo cultivated and encouraged to use to the point of being a nuisance.
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I would have done the same, it’s so pretty.
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If you’re lucky, it’s only comparable in size to human poop!
I have a friend with a large dog, and I swear the dog produces piles comparable to a small pony (fortunately, his owners always pick up after him)
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