Lifers! iNaturalist makes traveling more fun. :)

iNaturalist is freaking awesome.

I'm sure that people did bird watching before binoculars, folks gazed up at the stars without a telescope, and people looked close at stuff without magnifying glasses/microscopes. However, because of those tools, the activities were amplified by a tremendous amount!

iNaturalist is a tool that makes traveling so much more fun. I went to Florida last month, and I was blown away by how different it is than Texas -- the wildlife was so unique and amazing. I took photos of a whole slew of things that I had no clue of their identity. However, I knew that when I uploaded them onto iNaturalist, I'd be able to find out the names (or at least get an idea of how to search for them).

I'm extremely grateful to all of the naturalists that spend time going over observations and give ID's. It's such a welcoming act of sharing your knowledge about a taxon or location. It makes the data better, and it is definitely appreciated by the naturalists making the observations! It feels good to know what to call something. :)

I actually like the concept of 'lifers' too -- this is a species that I hadn't seen before (or at least, one that I hadn't documented before). It's likely pretty silly, but I enjoy seeing a critter or plant or fungi for the first time. That organism has existed on the planet for millennia, and I'm fortunate to see it! I'm challenging myself to not just learn the name of a 'lifer,' but to learn a bit more about it -- the stuff it's related to, how it lives, the various adaptations it has, and where all it's found. The name is the first step of the learning process.

Another neat thing about iNaturalist is that one doesn't have to travel far to go exploring! :) Even when I go to a new park, I realize that there's going to be new stuff for me -- even if they're species that I've seen before, I hadn't seen them before in that exact area or that exact time. What fun to explore! :)

So yep, iNaturalist is pretty cool. I'm super lucky to use this tool and be part of this community.

Quote from @scottking 's great new book (https://www.amazon.com/Following-Earth-Around-Scott-King/dp/1545508402/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549862387&sr=8-1&keywords=following+the+earth+around)
"Names introduce species to humanity... All awareness, conservation, and research starts with the question: What species is that?" ~K.D. Dijkstra

הועלה ב-פברואר 11, 2019 05:01 לפנה"צ על ידי sambiology sambiology

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sambiology

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ינואר 25, 2019 12:02 אחה"צ EST

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sambiology

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ינואר 23, 2019

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Sanibel Island is one of the most amazing places I've ever been to in my whole life. :) The shells are tremendous! We collected quite a few, and I've tried to upload photos from most of them. Some of these may be duplicate species, and I may have to separate some observations out too.

If you're able to visit Sanibel, you should! :)

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sambiology

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ינואר 25, 2019 04:59 אחה"צ CST

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We stayed at Okeechobee for the evening and spotted a few birds before the sun set.

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sambiology

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ינואר 25, 2019 09:09 לפנה"צ CST

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Elizabeth and I stopped at LaBelle Nature Park on the way to Okechobee. It's a really nice park with quite a few interpretive signs around the plants. Lots of invasive species - but good information about them!

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sambiology

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ינואר 23, 2019 02:02 אחה"צ CST

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Elizabeth and I did get to see the Manatees at (aptly named) Manatee Park! The water was extremely murky though, so all of my photos are pretty bad. All good though -- we did get to see them! We spotted some other cool stuff here as well.

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sambiology

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ינואר 2019

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Florida, US (Google, OSM)

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Elizabeth and I did get to see the Manatees at (aptly named) Manatee Park! The water was extremely murky though, so all of my photos are pretty bad. All good though -- we did get to see them! We spotted some other cool stuff here as well.

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sambiology

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ינואר 24, 2019 03:33 אחה"צ CST

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Villas, FL, USA (Google, OSM)

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While Elizabeth was in a Tuesday Morning, I explored this little pond!

תגובות

Ditto! Love the rolling manatee!

פורסם על-ידי muir לפני בערך 5 שנים

Another thing I love about iNat is you can use it to go back in time! All the random photos I took of random things when I was in Florida over 10 years ago? I FINALLY know what they are!! It was actually a bit of an issue not knowing what some of the animals I saw were at the time.
These crabs?

I liked them so much I decided to get them tattooed on me before I left (on my hips too, so I can say "I have crabs" while two pairs of little claws poke out of my pants)
I took that photo, so in theory the artist could have referred to it, but this was ten years ago. None of the computers at the tattoo shop could read the card. So I kept trying to look up what crabs that these could possibly be on the shop computer. But I'm from the PNW... we don't HAVE swimming crabs. Part of the reason I wanted the tattoo--this was a direct road trip from Seattle, and these crabs were as distinctly Atlantic as anything I had ever seen in my life. I never got close. The best I could do was to look up just a generic swimming crab and tell him to make it orange with white spots.

Flash forward to present(ish). iNaturalist exists. I upload my admittedly sub-par crab photograph. The absolute top suggestion iNaturalist gives me was correct. Well then!

Glad to hear you had a great time! I can't wait to go back. Last time I was in Florida it was for a conference and OF COURSE I could never get out away from the hotel sigh

פורסם על-ידי nanofishology לפני בערך 5 שנים

One of my mottos: iNat wherever you go!

פורסם על-ידי connlindajo לפני בערך 5 שנים

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