15 days, Ile des Chenes 14PA40 and some thoughts on prepping observations

Ile des Chenes 14PA40 is shared between the RMs of Tache and Ritchot. The town of Ile des Chenes is located in its north.The square is divided by mile road grids and drainage ditches with two major drains combining near the center then flowing west towards the Red. Agriculture dominates the land use in this square.

At the time of posting, 17 observations had been uploaded by 7 observers, led by @meghann_81 . Twelve species are represented including 5 plants and 4 birds. The survey for the Breeding Bird Atlas of Manitoba confirmed 6 bird species nesting here, with another 40 species probable or possible. Here's the full list. Lots of scope for discovery here.

Today I thought I would share with you some details of my particular process. Feel free to ask questions or add useful alternatives in the comments.

These days I rarely use my phone to collect observation images - having almost completely switched over to using digital cameras. My workhorse is an Olympus TG6 - which I originally bought because it was waterproof and could take pictures underwater. I have not yet summoned the courage to plunge the the thing into the drink - but it is comforting to know that if we tip while out on the water, it won't turn into a brick. It has a 'microscope' mode for super closeups of moss and lichen. It has a wrist strap so I don't drop it very often. I chose the red body - this is good for me as it is harder to mislay but has the unfortunate consequence of causing pink reflections on some closeup subjects.

This camera also has the ability to collect a GPS log - this feature I use whenever our little band is on the move. I start the log as we leave base and leave it running continuously until we return. I generally also take a few 'sync' images - pictures of known locations during our outings. These prove useful later when when using the software to tag the images with the locations. Logging and taking lots of images means that I often need at least one battery change during the day - so the two spares are very useful. If I am observing at my bases, I don't bother with the GPS log. I have pinned location circles in the upload wizard for my habitual observation localities and use those instead. I figure that 'somewhere in my yard' is probably sufficient location accuracy for people to work with.

I set the camera time on initial setup and then forget it ever after. Some of my digitals auto-switch between daylight savings and regular - others do not. Most of my observations are of plants so unlikely that time is an important data point - the heavy lifting is all done by date. YMMV. I have a few trail cams as well and these vary in their approach - some require that the date and time be reset when the batteries are re-inserted - a pain if one forgets.

Trail cams can be an interesting way to augment your observations - we never guessed that a red fox was wandering through our yard regularly until we put out the trail cam. I did not opt for any wi-fi or cell capability, content just to place the camera, then see what I get when I retrieve it. It takes a bit of experimentation to find the right sensitivity for the kind of organism you would like to record. Too little sensitivity and no photos - too much and many photos of nothing that you wanted. :) Place your trail cam so that it does not face into the sun at any time of the day. You will get less false positives if you choose a relatively sheltered location without nearby grasses or tree branches in the triggering cone. My best results have come from finding places where there is a natural reason for animals to pass by the trail cam and preferably reasonably fresh sign that they are.

All the images get transferred to the computer. I keep them in date folders. This has the interesting side-effect of iNat acting as a searchable index of my images. Next I tag the images that need it with the locations from the GPS log. Here's a tutorial from iNat and a forum discussion on the many solutions. I then use my photo-editing software to adjust exposure if the images is badly over or under exposed - and to ruthlessly crop images to isolate my chosen organism.

Once all the images are ready, I use the web page to upload them - using the drag feature to combine multiple images into single observations where appropriate. I find that I need to keep the number of images added at one time to under 50 as otherwise the whole thing bogs down in lag. I then add the identifications and check for any missing locations or dates that may have slipped though. Once the images have been uploaded, I can add the extra details like tagging dead things as dead.

After the dust is settled, I work through the observations that I did not recognize, using both my stack of field guides, the internet in general and other iNat observations to see if I can come up with more specific ids. Sometimes I just find that I need to make a note to return and get another observation with more details. This I do not regard as a setback. :)

Still working through my backlog...

הועלה ב-אפריל 14, 2021 12:45 אחה"צ על ידי marykrieger marykrieger

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