2017 March--Grateful for iNaturalist

When I discovered eBird.org a few years ago (through BirdLog, the original phone app for eBird), I was really stoked and excited. It was actually the phone app that most excited me, because I could enter my sightings in the field and did not have to go home and re-enter the same information a second time. It was a time-saver for this busy guy with a family. Not only that, but I had 35 years of mostly bird field notes in a storage bin doing no one any good. I was grateful to have the ability to have all my bird data, from that day forward, go directly into a searchable database that I could access, and that by virtue of the platform, I could share with anyone else who was interested. In addition, I contribute photos and bird sounds, and I am slowly adding my historic notes.

Living in Oregon and paying suitable attention to the statewide bird listserv, Oregon Birders On Line (OBOL), I occasionally noticed Mike Patterson (@mikepatterson ) saying something about iNaturalist.org. It sounded interesting, and I looked at it a couple times, but, frankly, my time was limited and I felt fortunate just to be able to contribute my bird notes to a database like eBird. Then I started teaching at Umpqua Community College (UCC)....

Winter 2017 I began teaching some biology labs and was in the process of developing a new course for UCC called Field Methods for Fish and Wildlife Sampling. Among other things, developing this course drew me back into my former naturalist days seeking out and learning about all manner of living things, not just birds. As I began planning for the spring field class, I needed to find some nearby field sampling opportunities and I began to explore the 97 acres or so of the UCC property (2/3 of which is the urban campus). Immediately I began to have observations of various critters and I again didn't want those to disappear into the obscurity of a paper field notebook in a bin in a closet. eBird didn't take observations of non-bird taxa, so I decided to check out iNaturalist again. In doing so I learned there was an iNat app, and I was off and running!

I am only two months into iNaturalist and I am ever so grateful for this tool. It not only serves to store and organize my own observations, it allows for easy sharing of information with others, and there are many ways to learn about all forms of life, from just looking through observations, reading species accounts, looking at maps, and communicating directly with other iNat users who have expertise or at least more experience in identifying particular organisms. The opportunities to interact are wonderful.

I took some time to contribute most of the critter observations for which I had photos. The earliest so far being some Juga snails in Polk County, Oregon, in 2002. I have earlier data and photos I hope to dredge up and contribute as well. I continue to contribute most of my bird observations to eBird, as most of these involve long lists of birds without photos or sound recordings; however, I will continue to contribute occasional individual bird sightings of interest to iNat.

So long as I'm still kickin', I see iNaturalist as a great tool for me to continue learning about living things wherever I am, and a tool for encouraging others to look, learn, and share as well. I can also see great value in conducting BioBlitzes in areas of interest that need more information, attention, and protection. I hope to be able to use this blog/journal feature of iNat to log my most recent and future experiences, observations, and thoughts.

Thank-you to the initial developers and to all who now contribute to the iNaturalist community.

Julkaistu toukokuu 6, 2017 12:34 AP. käyttäjältä umpquamatt