Got any questions about setting up your teams?
Please do so here!!
General procedures.
Getting ready.
Finding exciting areas
* Use the Explore tab, zoom into an area, and click "Redo Search in Map" - and then use the Species tab to see what has been found there (and what is missing). e.g. Die Kelders:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=-34.56&nelng=19.54&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=-34.64&swlng=19.21
* Use the explore tab, and in the filter box add a place e.g. Bontebok:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=69028&subview=map
* (for advanced organizers). If a "place" has a checklist, one can see what is on the checklist (even if not on iNaturalist). e.g. Bontebok:
https://www.inaturalist.org/check_lists/3794307-Plants-of-Bontebok-National-Park
or e.g. Bontebok (with filter set to not seen - i..e in checklist, but not on iNaturalist):
https://www.inaturalist.org/check_lists/3794307-Plants-of-Bontebok-National-Park?q=&view=photo&observed=f&rank=any&commit=Filter
& there is even a tool for more sophisticated comparisons e.g.
compare tool Tygerberg CLICK!
[note: if there are more than 500 species you need to subdivide (e.g. create separate comparisons for dicots or monocots among plants)]
Note: you may want to restrict your lists to species seen in April May - do so in the filters, like so: e.g. Suikerbosrand for April-May
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?month=4,5&place_id=69179&subview=map&verifiable=any&view=species
During the event.
Missing species:
You may want to summarize groups during the event to focus people. For instance, if on Saturday night, there are hardly any bird observations, you may want to contact a birding club and ask them to visit the local sewerage works. Do do this, go to your project page, select observations tab, select search tab, and in the filter click the icon for the group. e.g. 2021 CNC Cape Town spiders.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-city-of-cape-town&subview=map&verifiable=any&view=species&iconic_taxa=Arachnida
Missing areas:
You can look at areas visited by looking at the map e.g. 2021 CNC Durban map:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2021-ethekwini?tab=observations&subtab=map
During Identification Parties:
Links for identification parties to coordinate identification efforts!
Finish one task before moving to the next.
use your own city, click observations tab, click identify tab - further refinements are done in the filter box, or by pasting the code into the url box.
e.g. Durban 2021:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?iconic_taxa=unknown&project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-ethekwini
1. Observations needing identification (select the ? icon in the filters or &iconic_taxa=unknown)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-ethekwini&iconic_taxa=unknown
2. Observations needing identification to family level (select the ? icon in the filters or &lrank=epifamily)
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-ethekwini&lrank=epifamily
3. Observations in a group needing identification to species level (type in the group name in the axon box) e.g. daisies:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-ethekwini&taxon_id=47604
3 a ((you may wish to fast-track those that dont have any IDs at species level, by adding rank low = genus or the url &lrank=genus - the above code will include those that need confirmation, but this will only show those without any resolved species ID)) e..
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-ethekwini&taxon_id=47604&lrank=genus
4. And lastly, if you have the luxury, you might wish to review the species already at research grade. This will only be for a group that you have a specialist/expert/fundi for who can quickly check them all:
e.g. PE Proteas
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch%2Ccasual&project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-nelson-mandela-bay&taxon_id=64517
Note the above examples exclude planted observations: to add them tick "casual" in the filter box when setting up the group (or add into the url quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch%2Ccasual )
How to organize for a competition of observation or photo of the event.
And dont forget to remind everyone to FAVE!! When looking through any page, fave the best observations. Ask the identifiers to FAVE the best observations too. And if you have people who want to help but cannot ID, then why not ask them to look for the 5 or 10 best observations.
Best is up to you, but might include
- stunning photos
- rare species
- difficult to photograph
- unusual behaviour, event, situation
- cute or pretty or shocking.
You can see the faves, by ordering your observations in the filter box. - from your project page, click observations, clich search and filter: sort "by faves". e.g. Cape Town 2021 CNC
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order_by=votes&place_id=any&project_id=city-nature-challenge-2021-city-of-cape-town&verifiable=any
More?
Ask below!
