This week’s theme for the Lens Artists Photo Challenge is Weird And Wonderful. I don’t often participate in the Lens Artists challenge these days as I am too busy working on a major project, however this theme is right up my alley.

Speaking of alley, here is an alley cat. I’m not a fan of cats. These next two photos aren’t my best photos because it was quite dark and my camera doesn’t like to focus on a moving subject in low light. She was a weird one. She gnashed her terrible teeth and dreamt of small birds.

And then she was gone. Into the distance?

Let’s move on from feline to canine. Well, not really, the next photo is of a case moth, also known as a bagworm. The caterpillar of the case moth builds a casing out of silk and twigs or other materials to create a tough house that it trundles around in. The female will mostly stay in her case for all stages of the life cycle. The male, on the other hand, will exit his case when it is time to mate. He will try to quickly find a female and use the hole in her case to fertilise the female. The female lays larvae in her case, whereupon she dies. The young feed off her dead corpse before leaving their mother’s house to make their own. Gross, eh? Read more about it here. This one does look a bit like the dog, Dougal, out of The Magic Roundabout, or maybe a Hungarian Puli, don’t you think?

Which brings me to birds because everything leads me to birds. The Pied Currawong likes to eat small birds, rodents and reptiles and it also loves fruit, especially the fruit of weeds, such as privet. When they’ve eaten, Pied Currawongs commonly regurgitate. In fact, the Pied Currawong is known as the king of regurgitators, although I understand that the American Robin is also a fan of this practice. Here’s a young Pied Currawong who wandered over to me and practically barfed on my feet. Gee, thanks!

Do we have time for one last photo, my pièce de résistance?

Actually, it’s my True Love’s photo, but you probably guessed that. A two-headed roo. Howzat!

Speaking of barfing, I bought chicken and blue cheese sausages the other day. They were a taste sensation but not a good one. I didn’t throw up. Luckily it was bin night.

Take care, everyone, and definitely avoid the chicken and blue cheese sausages.

Kind Regards.
Tracy.

47 thoughts on “A Couple Of Weirdos”

  2. Well…I’m glad you decided to participate, Tracy – I have been missing you! And what spectacular finds you have…nice photos and great info too. I also learned another two words, barfing and regurgitate. Following the link, I must say the male insect looked wonderfully good!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Ann-Christine. I wish I was organised, or at least my photos were, so that I could participate in a few more challenges. Barf is probably not a word you should use that often. Hee hee.
      Also, lagotto is another dog that comes to mind when I think of case moths. 😄 I’m not doing much photography at the moment due to the project. You will see the outcome eventually.

      Like

  5. OK I think you may win the prize (if there were one) for weirdest entry this week Tracy! The caterpillar/moth story is totally gross and will cause me NEVER to complain about the human life-cycle ever again. And the 2-headed roo is bizarre. was it truly 2-headed or was there a second roo behind the first one? Bizarre!!!

    Like

  6. ‘I’m not a fan of cats.’ I know that was a typo, but I continued reading…. 😂 The roo photo is lovely, but your young Pied Currawong is a good one! You almost caught him in the act. Almost. Thank you for not.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Thanks for this info, Tracey. I saw a couple of those case moth twig homes last year and had no idea what they were.
    I also have a problem identifying Currawongs (which I think I’ve seen 2-3 times).

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Welcome back Tracy! I’ve been missing your posts. This was definitely a weird and wonderful post–humorous too. The Case Moth was definitely weird. And the Pied Currawong looked so angry. Wax the picture taken before or after it barfed?

    Like

    1. Thanks, Ann. Unfortunately I’m not very efficient with the challenges when I am distracted by other priorities. It was nice to join in again though. Thankfully i didn’t have to hunt through my photo archive!
      The Currawong was mid barf. As it regurgitates so frequently, it wasn’t a huge amount. The bird bath is a regular barfing spot so it adds up! 😄

      Like

  16. My goodness! That kitty looks downright sinister!

    And that case moth cocoon is so unusual – I would not have known what I was looking at even if it caught my attention!

    You are so brave to try a sausage with blue cheese in it – even if I ate sausages (mostly vegetarian me), I don’t know if I would have tried it!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That kitty was quite menacing but I think that about every cat. 😄 Australia is not the only country that has case moths, Ju-Lyn, although we might be the only one where the moth caterpillar constructs a case that looks like a shaggy dog. I’ve no idea what form they take elsewhere.
      Your inclination would be the correct one regarding the sausages.

      Like

Comments are now closed.