Early this month, one of my Sunday Stills challenges featured creepy insects and the like. You thought you were done gazing at bees, butterflies, and other pretty bugs.
However, this week’s challenge is “Oddballs, Wild, and Weird.”
Oddball: Something strange or bizarre; a strange or eccentric person.
This may translate into seeing a few more insects and other wild creatures, as well as strange, oddball, and weird things. Of course, these adjectives are subjective, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I’ll let you be the judge.
This whole world is wild at heart and weird on top.” – David Lynch
Reptiles and Insects—Wild or Weird?
Has anyone blogged long enough to remember the WordPress Photography 101 course? When I began blogging consistently in the Autumn of 2014, I took this course to learn more about photography. I learned a lot and was hooked. I imagine this course could have been the origin of the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge that so many of us enjoyed until it was discontinued in May 2018.
One of the challenges asked us to share a photo that demonstrated “solitude.” What do you think?
I discovered this poor lizard skeleton perfectly preserved on my friend’s roof in La Ventana, Baja Sur, Mexico, taken in 2010. According to my friend, the poor thing wandered out to sun itself and got stuck in the fresh paint!
While walking on our street, I saw this beautiful bull snake (aka gopher snake) seeking warmth on the asphalt.
The bullsnake’s coloration provides it with excellent camouflage in its habitat. The bullsnake is non-venomous and kills its prey by strangulation. However, it can inflict a painful bite. When threatened, a bullsnake can mimic a venomous rattlesnake by puffing up its body, shaking its tail, and hissing. Source
He slithered away into the grass as I approached, then coiled and wanted to let me know who was boss.
But not before I got a zoomed close-up.
Have you ever seen a “pregnant” praying mantis? Gravid is the better term for egg-laying creatures.
Mantis are incredible insects and quite beautiful, in my opinion, but a gravid one will bite if you try to move it out of harm’s way like I did.
In August, Hubby found this giant caterpillar attached to our small apple tree branch. It is likely the larval form of a sphinx moth or hummingbird moth. This caterpillar was at least 6 inches long and about an inch thick! Big!!
I used the WordPress AI generator to show you a hummingbird moth. Neighbors have seen them around the area. There are similar caterpillars that can be destructive to gardens, but these morph into pollinators for your garden.
I couldn’t resist sharing this molting dragonfly I saw years ago. It’s oddball, wild, and weird all in one special image!
“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” — Confucius
Seeking Autumn on the Centennial Trail
Last Friday was a great day to walk on the local Centennial Trail, seeking Autumn colors. While the Autumn colors were still mostly absent, I managed to find some unexpected oddball views.
The Centennial Trail has several alternate small rustic trails to explore. What caught my eye was this oddball bench crafted out of a tree stump. Behind it (peeking through the trees in the first image) was an oddly placed, rustic outhouse that looked like it was still in use. Nope.
In a land long ago and far away, Autumn showed its beautiful self in mid-November in Sacramento, California.
Nature’s Oddities
Nature has her own set of oddities in the shapes of clouds like these…
…Or the shapes of autumn gourds. This is my final entry for Becky B’s fabulous Seven for September challenge! Thank you for hosting squares again!
Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders
The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.
- Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
- Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
- Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
- Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
- Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
- I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.
Sharing for Becky B’s Seven for September, Dawn’s Festival of Leaves, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: Finding Beauty
October themes are ready to view on my Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Page, updated monthly.
I can’t wait to see how you interpret this week’s WILD, WEIRD & ODDBALL theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore “Leaves and Trees.”
“It’s weird not to be weird.” – John Lennon
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