היומן של arboretum_amy

Hello everyone! How did your first day go? Of course there are still 3.25 hours left in Day One--does anyone have mothing plans tonight?--but I'd like to highlight a few of today's cool observations.

How about this Spiny Sand Star (Astropecten armatus) seen by @alanarama3? The species only has 137 observations on iNaturalist!

While we're seeing stars, here's a Bat Star (Patiria miniata) seen by @noisylittlescientists

This Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianusa) is making bird photography look easy for @nathantaxel

I'm excited to see what you all find over the weekend! Happy iNatting everyone.

We have about 3 hours left in the observation period. It's dark now, so probably most of you are done taking photos. Remember, if you have taken photos, but not uploaded them yet, you still have until May 9th to upload.

Here are some highlights from the past few days:

This beautiful Cellophane Bee seen by @bugornot

This very artistic photo of a dolphin seen by brand-new user @tereza_bellodi --Welcome to iNaturalist Tereza!

This eye-catching leaf gall (Diplolepis polita) seen by @mooseandsquirrel

An opossum stand-off captured by @mcow1

A Wavy Turban sea snail (Megastraea undosa) found by @ari10

Not to play favorites here, but I'm calling on @bugornot again for this incredibly shiny wasp that seems to be in genus Chrysis

We botanists are excited about this extremely rare daisy found by @silversea_starsong

My personal favorite species of jumping spider was seen by @kim03 ...yes even a plant person like me has a favorite species of spider

And last but not least, Gray Flycatcher by @bettina-eastman

I hope everyone had a great time! Up next is the identification period, in which we will try to tally how many species were spotted. You can try your hand at identification here. We have many observations with no ID at all--aka "unknowns"--so even if you have no expertise, help us out by giving these photos basic identifications such as "Plantae" (plants), "Aves" (birds), "Insecta" (insects), and so on. It will help the database search filters pick up the images and show them to experienced identifiers.

This is it--the last day to identify observations or upload your backdated photos. Right now we have 3,269 observations of about 968 species, contributed by 313 observers. These numbers may go up slightly, but more than likely they are very close to our final standings. Of course this year, due to COVID-19 we are promoting more of a collaborative atmosphere than a competition, but it is still cool to look at the other teams for perspective. In terms of observation numbers, we are between Hamilton (near Toronto, Canada) and Geelong (near Melbourne, Australia.) Worldwide, the City Nature Challenge has gathered over 1.2 million observations of almost exactly 45,000 species, contributed by not quite 60,000 observers.

Here are some highlights from the observations uploaded since Monday:

This Southern Pacific Rattlesnake seen by @peter536

This up close and personal shot of a Stripe-eyed Lagoon Fly by @silversea_starsong

This Bernardino Blue buttefly seen by @bedgell

One of our common spring wildflowers, a Parry's Phacelia, captured by @lunazhang

And finally, the perfect observation for Mother's Day, a mother Canada Goose, photographed by @naturesmase

Thank you everyone for participating and we hope to see you next year!

Hi everyone. The Silverado Fire Followers project is competing in the Fire Poppy Cup bracket challenge. In order for us to win this week, we are trying for a maximum number of observers, identifiers, and faves. I know it's hard to make observations because a lot of the burn area is not for public access, but if you have a minute, you can help out by adding identifications or faves. Just look through these observations, add at least one ID (even if the observation is RG already) and then hit "favorite" (or press F) on the ones you like especially.

Thanks!

If you have forgotten which categories you signed up for, here they are:

BEGINNER'S CHALLENGE
cloudsmile,davidclarance,fseichter,glyptostrob0ides,Mirts,Wendy663,wildnettl

CONSISTENCY
als93,AntrozousAmelia,Artemis,artemis224,beetle_mch,blastcat,bouteloua,cloudsmile,davidclarance,dbarber,driftlessroots,Ellendale,fluffyinca, fseichter,fuzzyspider,glyptostrob0ides,haemocyanin11,harshith-nambiar,Hedgehog111,heidi_eaton,ianmanning,jasonhernandez74,jbecky,jennywest1,joaolemoslima,juan_sphex,kitbeard, leahfulton1,lera,liamhutcheson,liamthornebirderboy,liesvanrompaey,liquidambar,lisa_bennett,lynnharper,madisong,mathieu_h, matthewvosper,melissadilara,michaelbakkerpaiva,michaelpirrello,Mirts,mmmmbugs,muddytortoise,mydadguyfieri,naturalist_aditya, naturejeanne,navaneethsinigeorge,ncb1221,norwichtim,ocean_beach_goth,oliverc29,pinkspoonbill,RangerMyles,richyfourtytwo,roshan2010, squirrelbait,srall,teratornis,Wendy663,wildnettle,xpda,zdanko,zneedham1

IMPROVEMENT
als93,AntrozousAmelia,Artemis,artemis224,astrobirder,blastcat,bouteloua,cloudsmile,davidclarance,dbarber,driftlessroots,Ellendale,fluffyinca, fseichter,fuzzyspider,glyptostrob0ides,harshith-nambiar,Hedgehog111,heidi_eaton,ianmanning,jbecky,juan_sphex,kitbeard, leahfulton1,lera,liamhutcheson,liamthornebirderboy,liesvanrompaey,lynnharper,mathieu_h, matthewvosper,melissadilara,michaelbakkerpaiva,Mirts,mlroush,mmmmbugs,muddytortoise,mydadguyfieri,naturalist_aditya, naturejeanne,navaneethsinigeorge,ncb1221,norwichtim,pinkspoonbill,RangerMyles,Rccarl,richyfourtytwo,roshan2010, srall,teratornis,thegeckogirl,tpollard,xpda,zdanko,zneedham1

MYSTERY
als93,Artemis,artemis224,beetle_mch,blastcat,bouteloua,cloudsmile,davidclarance,dbarber,driftlessroots,Ellendale,fluffyinca, fseichter,fuzzyspider,gillydilly,haemocyanin11,harshith-nambiar,heidi_eaton,ianmanning,jbecky,jennywest1,joaolemoslima,juan_sphex,kitbeard, leahfulton1,lera,liesvanrompaey,liquidambar,lisa_bennett,lynnharper,mathieu_h, matthewvosper,melissadilara,Mirts,mmmmbugs,muddytortoise,naturalist_aditya, navaneethsinigeorge,ncb1221,norwichtim,ocean_beach_goth,oliverc29,pinkspoonbill,pranavchandrabose,RangerMyles,richyfourtytwo,roshan2010, squirrelbait,srall,teratornis,thegeckogirl,Wendy663,wildnettle,xpda,zdanko,zneedham1

OLD
als93,AntrozousAmelia,Artemis,artemis224,astrobirder,avocat,beetle_mch,blastcat,bouteloua,dbarber,driftlessroots,Ellendale,fluffyinca, fuzzyspider,gillydilly,harshith-nambiar,Hedgehog111,ianmanning,jasonhernandez74,jbecky,joaolemoslima,juan_sphex,kitbeard, leahfulton1,lera,liamhutcheson,liesvanrompaey,liquidambar,lisa_bennett,lynnharper,madisong,mathieu_h, matthewvosper,melissadilara,michaelbakkerpaiva,michaelpirrello,mmmmbugs,muddytortoise,mydadguyfieri,naturalist_aditya, naturejeanne,navaneethsinigeorge,ncb1221,pinkspoonbill,Rccarl,richyfourtytwo,sedgequeen,squirrelbait,srall,thegeckogirl,xpda,zdanko,zneedham1

And remember than anyone can participate in clearing unknowns, because there is no way to track your individual performance on that task.

Wow, what a day! We passed 10,000 Unknowns and didn't even stop for breath before passing 12,000 as well! Good job everyone!

You have officially earned your prize and your first prize upgrade. The prize for 10,000 Unknowns is an exclusive photoshoot of Blue’s cat, Baklava. He is typically an indoor cat, but since you've now passed 12,000 Unknowns as well, some of the photos will feature Baklava checking out the world outdoors! Photos will be posted the week after the event. Keep going and maybe you'll earn the chance to see Baklava dressed in a costume!

Our next goal is 15,000 Unknowns, which adds Costa Rica and Czechia to the official URL.
(5760 observations are in this pool right now, including 1320 of those leftover from in the previous pool.)

Preliminary info on winners will be announced at the halfway point of the ID-a-thon - May 26! Congratulations to everyone identifying, even if you aren’t at the top of any categories. You are helping increase the scientific value of observations, teaching others how to identify their own, and learning in the process!

Introducing Lotteryd

Tonight we have a guest post by Unknowns&Life master, @lotteryd, whose self-proclaimed specialty is "general weird stuff." I would like to especially note their use of menus "shortcuts" for taxa names, which means typing a partial name into the "suggest an ID" box and choosing from the resulting drop-down menu. Many of the shortcuts seem strange or non sequitur, but they save a ton of time.

Lotteryd's Tips

Hi folks, Blue asked me to say a few words since I like to ID Unknowns. Unknowns are the ones with no actual label yet, just blank or a placeholder.

To get to a pile of Unknowns, I start with https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?per_page=100&iconic_taxa=unknown&order=asc&without_taxon_id=48460
I can narrow in on a region easily by adding a choice of place, or leave as is for the global experience. Note, the results here are sorted by oldest first (&order=asc) because I like to do that, but that can be changed too. I like 100 per page because I find 30 too small and 200 too large for my taste, but that's adjustable too.
[note from Blue: I prefer to sort by random, since you get a mix of old and new, plus it means you don't run into the many people who prefer to start from one of the other end of the pile]

I also like to go through with the Life ones mixed together with Unknowns, using https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?per_page=100&iconic_taxa=unknown&order=asc&without_taxon_id=67333%2C131236%2C151817 . However, the Life category is different enough from the Unknowns, with its own complexities, that new IDers may want to stick with Unknowns only.

When approaching Unknowns, you'll probably find that most observations fit into Animalia, Plantae or Fungi. You can keep it as simple as using those basic labels if you like, and it will still make a helpful difference. Anything that doesn't fit into those 3--or if you don't know well enough to say whether it fits any of those--can be labeled Life and other folks can take a look later.

Any way you'd like to narrow down those IDs into still-broad categories is a bonus! Common breakdowns I use, with ways to get them in the pulldown in parenthesis:

Plantae (p, 1st choice):

• If it's a land plant that's not a liverwort or moss or such, Tracheophyta (t, 1st choice) includes ferns, conifers and angiosperms
• Anything that's a fern can start at Polypodiopsida (f, 2nd choice); anything conifer can be Pinales (pi, 2nd choice)
• If you can sort Angiospermae (a, 2nd choice) into Magnoliopsida (d, 1st choice) vs Liliopsida (mo, 1st choice) that's a bonus
• If you can tell Liliopsida down to grass/reed/sedge: (poa, 4th choice Poales broadly, 5th Poaceae if an actual grass) [Blue: alternatively, poal 1st choice for Poales, or g 1st choice for grasses]

Animalia (a, 1st choice):

• Many will be crawling things with legs, which can start at Arthropoda (a, 3rd choice). Of these, some common ones are general flying insects Pterygota (w, 2nd choice), spiders Aranae (aw, 1st choice), ants Formicidae (ii, 1st choice), dragonflies Anisoptera (dr, 1st choice), moths/butterflies Lepidoptera (l, 1st choice)
• Other common ones will be in motion without legs, such as snails/slugs Gastropoda (gas, 1st choice), or segmented worms Annelida [Blue: if the "worm" does not have clear segments, leave it at Animalia.... and if it does, it still isn't L. terrestris...]
• A lot of Vertebrata (v, 1st choice) can be sorted: birds Aves (av, 1st choice), mammals Mammalia (m, 3rd choice), frogs Anura, salamanders Caudata, turtles Testudines, snakes Serpentes, lizards Sauria, fish Actinopterygii (ray, 1st choice)

Fungi (f, 1st choice):

• If it looks like "a mushroom", often Agaricomycetes (Hom, 1st choice- the uppercasse H matters) will work

• If a lichen on a tree, often Lecanoromycetes (co l, 1st choice) [Blue: or, leca 1st choice] is OK
  But, Fungi can be tricky so staying broad is fine.

Life (u, 1st choice- that easy!)

• Use this when stumped or if it seems complicated
• It is still useful to call something weird "Life" if you know it's not just a rock. It really does go where others can see it a little faster than if it stayed "Unknown".

Other bit of advice: New IDers might want to skip anything with a placeholder, since an id should be accompanied by the extra work of pasting the placeholder text into your ID or a comment. If you do accidentally write over a placeholder without preserving it, you can get it back by withdrawing your ID to see it pop back up; or by loading a url for the observation with the string .json added at the end- then look for "species guess" in the results.

Biggest advice: Keep it fun and/or relaxing! If it's not either of those, take a break.

-LD

Hi everyone!

We made it over halfway! How are you doing? Remember, it's better to keep up a slow and steady pace than to try to power through. Doing a few IDs at a time DOES add up. When you get tired, take a break!

First of all, how about those Unknowns? So far we have identified approximately 15,000, plus a few. That's great!

Also, all together, we have made 40,112 identifications (As of 5:03 AM UTC). Wow!
Now, on to the categories.

Improvement:

1st @richyfourtytwo, 3605%
2nd @zdanko, 2880%
3rd @antrozousamelia, 2400%
4th @muddytortoise, 1565%
5th @srall, 1489%
6th @bouteloua, 1305%

10th @mydadguyfieri, 960%
20th @juan_sphex, 435%
30th 225%
40th 120%

Those are some really insane numbers! Holy Cow!

Consistency:

The following users have made identifications every day of the event so far:
@antrozousamelia, @beetle_mch, @bouteloua, @dbarber, @driftlessroots, @ellendale, @fluffyinca, @fuzzyspider, @harshith-nambiar, @heidi_eaton, @jasonhernandez74, @jbecky, @joaolemoslima, @juan_sphex, @kitbeard, @liamhutcheson, @liamthornebirderboy, @lisa_bennett, @lynnharper, @mathieu_h, @matthewvosper, @michaelbakkerpaiva, @mirts, @muddytortoise, @mydadguyfieri, @naturalist_aditya, @naturejeanne, @navaneethsinigeorge, @ncb1221, @norwichtim, @richyfourtytwo, @roshan2010, @squirrelbait, @srall, @teratornis, @wildnettle, @zdanko, @zneedham1

The following users have missed only one day so far:
@blastcat, @fseichter, @glyptostrob0ides, @haemocyanin11, @jennywest1, @mmmmbugs, @oliverc29, @pinkspoonbill, @xpda

Old Observations:

1st @srall, 932
2nd @richyfourtytwo, 317
3rd @beetle_mch, 136
4th @antrozousamelia, 134
5th @ellendale, 98
6th @ncb1221, 72

10th, 27
20th, 1

Beginners' Challenge:

• We would like to congratulate the following users on reaching

Mystery:

We have included rankings, but we have semi-anonymized them. If you can figure out who is who, you get another piece of the puzzle. (Please refer to the rankings sheet to see the usernames replaced by Hebrew letters. I tried to copy them here but the formatting got strange... it's still refusing to make line breaks in the list below. Sorry about that. )

A reminder that the hints are as follows:

• Searching for Blue and Amy
• Some of Our Favorite Things
• The Known Unknowns

Searching for Blue and Amy

1st 96
2nd 51
3rd 42
4th 35
5th 26
6th 15
10th 7
20th 2
30th 1

Some of Our Favorite Things

1st 136
2nd 40
3rd 25
4th 20
5th 12
6th 10

10th 9
20th 3
30th 1

The Known Unknowns

1st 4
2nd 3
3rd (tied)2
4th (tied) 1

Complete rankings

How prizes will work:

There are big, medium, and small prizes. They will be revealed later because, frankly, we still haven't decided what all the options will be.

• At the end, whoever is ranked #1 in each category (Improvement, Old, any Mystery) gets a big prize. #2-3 get medium prizes. #4-6 get small prizes. We are only half way through, so don't get comfortable if you've been doing well so far...
• Beginners who complete at least 2 challenges get a small prize. At least 5, a medium prize. At least 8 (of 9 possible), get a big prize. Right now @fseichter and @mirts are in the lead, having each completed 4 of the challenges.
• Consistency is a bit different, we want to give a group prize. So far 53/64 contestants are still holding on.

We will see you again on Monday May 31 for the final rankings. That update will reveal the mystery categories as well. Keep up the good work!

Say goodbye to 20,000 Unknowns and hello to the newest additional country, Panama! Updated link
This is the homestretch! Only 53.5 hours left to go--just over 2 days.

You've identified just over 23,000 Unknowns so far. There are 24 hours left in the event. Can you hit 25,000? I bet you can! The new country is Finland: updated link