Kazakhstan is the 89th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer is @kastani, a medical botany enthusiast, with observations clustered near Semey along the border with Russia. @amirekul has observations clustered near Shymkent on the border with Uzbekistan. There is a large group of top observers clustered around the capital of Almaty including @talgar-t64, @amalgama, @wildchroma, @gancw1, and @amarzee.
@marnika's observations are clustered near the Caspian Sea and @yuriydanilevsky in central Kazakhstan near Baikonur.

The number of observations per month jumped up significantly in 2019.

@kastani is the top identifier in addition to being the top observer and leads in plant, arachnid, and fish IDs. @amirekul, also from Kazakhstan, is the second top identifier and leads in most of the other categories including insects. reptiles, mammals, mollusks, and other animals. @birdnerdnariman, who is from Kazakhstan but lives in Texas, is the third top identifier and leads in bird IDs. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @sethmiller, @mallaliev, and @juhakinnunen

What can we do to get more people in Kazakhstan using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@kastani @talgar-t64 @amirekul @amalgama @wildchroma @yuriydanilevsky @kildor @birdnerdnariman @sethmiller @mallaliev

We’ll be back tomorrow in Martinique!

Mozambique is the 88th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer is @snidge with observations clustered around central Mozambique north of Beira along with other top observers such as @graeme and @judygva. @i\_c\_riddell, a Safari Guide throughout Zimbabwe, has Mozambique observations clustered here but his icon is pulled towards Zimbabwe by his observations there. There's another cluster of top observers to the south along the border with South Africa and near the capital of Maputo including @andrewdeacon (who worked for many years at South African National Parks), @seastung (a marine naturalist from cape town), and @ricky\_taylor (with an interest in coastal ecosystems between the Tugela River and Maputo). A third cluster of observers are located to the north of the country such as @tomaschipiriburuwate, @francescocecere, and @ldacosta.

There's an interesting peak around 2014
which was driven mostly by @snidge, @graeme, @i\_c\_riddell, and @andrewdeacon and then a lull until things started ticking up again in mid 2017. This timing coincides with the arrival of the Southern African community formerly using iSpot.

The top identifier is @jakob who does research across the African continent. @cabintom leads in insect IDs, @johnnybirder leads in bird IDs, and @ricky\_taylor leads in plant IDs. @tonyrebelo and @alanhorstmann, based in South Africa are also top identifiers.

What can we do to get more people in Mozambique using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@snidge @andrewdeacon @graeme @seastung @judygva @jakob @cabintom @johnnybirder @tonyrebelo @alanhorstmann

We’ll be back tomorrow in the Kazakhstan!

Hungary is the 87th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer, @philsansum, has observations clustered in the northeastern part of Hungary along with @beidts, @ahospers, and @deserti around places like Bükki National Park and Hortobágy National Park. The second top observer, @veszt is a biologist and plant breeder from Hungary, his observations are distributed widely across the country. There is a cluster of observers such as @rudynature and @ikomposzt around the capital of Budapest and other users such as @gergely\_katona clustered around Debrecen, Hungary's second largest city after Budapest. @balzs9's observations are clustered on the shores of Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe. @cathyp is currently 10th on the leaderboard but doesn't show up on the map since her observations are mostly from September of this year and the figure was last updated on September 1st.

The number of observations per month jumped up in the summer of 2018 and again in 2019.

In addition to being a top observer, @veszt is the top identifier and leads in plant identifications. @cossus and @ldacosta lead in insect and bird IDs respectively. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @kastani and @cs\_melitta.

What can we do to get more people in Hungary using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@philsansum @veszt @beidts @balzs9 @rudynature @gergely_katona @veszt @kastani @cossus @ldacosta @cs_melitta

We’ll be back tomorrow in the Mozambique!

Belarus is the 86th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer, @leschij, has observations clustered around Navahrudak along with @merav. @lutautami's observations are clustered to the East towards the capital of Minsk where there is a large cluster of users. There are quite a few top observers with observations clusterd north of Minsk such as @alekseyandreyanov near Vitebsk, @ahospers, @siarhej\_21\_07\_19, @optilete, and @max\_hof\_mann. @lst (an account belonging to a couple) has observations clustered to the To the southwest on the border with Poland. There are several top observers with observations clustered around the nearby city of Kamianiuki including @denis\_m and @maxpauel

Its noteworthy that the first observation from Belarus was only added in May of 2015 - later than any of the other countries we've looked at so far - when @lst joined after learning about iNaturalist from National Geographic. Aside from the peak in August 2018 when @ahospers imported his observations from Observation.org, real organic growth in Belarus seems to have begun in earnest this year beginning in April.

The mysterious @laukines\_pievos is the top identifier and also leads in plants, @borisb leads in insects, and @kastani leads in birds. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @leschij, @jakob, and @sergeygerasimov.

What can we do to get more people in Belarus using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@leschij @ahospers @lst @alekseyandreyanov @lutautami @merav @laukines_pievos @kastani @jakob @sergeygerasimov

We’ll be back tomorrow in the Hungary!

Its Week 13 of the iNaturalist World Tour. This week we'll visit Uganda, Mozambique, and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in Africa, Belarus, and Hungary in Europe, Kazakhstan in Eurasia and Martinique in the Caribbean.

We begin in Uganda. The top observer, @annikaml, has observations clustered around Mweya on the shores of Lake Edward in the west. The second top observer, @wildnothos, has observations clustered around the capital of Kampala on the shores of Lake Victoria to the east. Most of the top observers have observations clustered between these two locals such as @davidbygott, @nikborrow, @mathiasdhaen, @tapaculo99, @hdemann, and @nadyky.

The number of observations per month has been slowly climbing the last few years and jumped up in the most recent two months.

@jakob is the top identifier. @johnnybirder, @cabintom, and @michalsloviak lead in the top three categories of birds, insects and mammals respectively. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @davidbygott and @ldacosta

What can we do to improve iNaturalist in Uganda? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@annikaml @wildnothos @davidbygott @nikborrow @mathiasdhaen @tapaculo99 @jakob @johnnybirder @michalsloviak @ldacosta @jwidness

We’ll be back tomorrow in Belarus!

We end week 12 of the iNaturalist World Tour in the United Arab Emirates. The top observer is @trcarlisle with observations clustered around the most populous city of Dubai. You can read more about @trcarlisle in this Observation of the week post about her Long-tailed Blue butterfly sighting. There are several other top observers with observations clustered around Dubai including @gtonen, @luoycy, @aishathani, and @mattrempel. The other big cluster of top observers is on the eastern edge of the UAE along the Gulf of Oman. Here, the observations of top observers such as @fadiyaghmour, @john\_pereira Ecologist, @ahabib, @jackyjudas, and @sami-majeed are clustered. There is a small cluster of top observers around the second most populous city of Abu Dhabi including @dominik\_melisa and others.

The number of observations per month has a consistent spring peak which was higher in 2019 than previous years.

@sammyboy2059 is the top identifiers and leads in bird IDs. @rajibmaulick leads in insect IDs and @trcarlisle leads in plant IDs. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @sethmiller and @cliygh-and-mia.

What can we do to get more people in the United Arab Emirates using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@trcarlisle @fadiyaghmour @john_pereira @ahabib @jackyjudas @sami-majeed @sammyboy2059 @sethmiller @cliygh-and-mia @rajibmaulick

We’ll be back tomorrow in Uganda!

Our Observation of the Week is this Common Dormouse, seen in Lithuania by @laukinis!

Proving yet again that even if you don’t get a shot of your target species you’ll probably see something great if you’re outside and exploring, bird watcher Kęstutis Jarmalavičius took the above photo after missing a chance at an avian.

“The tracking history of this mouse is pretty unexpected,” he tells me. 

Nearby I saw a squirrel owl (Strix aluco) in a tree. I tried to get closer and take a picture of it, but the bird flew away, unable to take a picture. Suddenly I saw something else watching me from an adjacent tree. That's how this shot was born. The mouse was quite high (about 5 meters). There was a hollow in that tree, perhaps it was coming out of it to look around. I've only seen this species a few times during the day.

Not knowing anything about common dormice, I thought it bizarre that the dormouse Kęstutis observed was up in a tree, but that is actually where these nocturnal rodents spend most of their waking hours. While they often dine on hazelnuts to fatten up before hibernation (hence their other common name, the hazelnut dormouse), dormice eat a variety of arboreal foods, such as flowers, fruit, and insects such as caterpillars. In addition to hibernating through the winter, dormice will also enter a torpor state when the weather is cold or wet. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “dormouse” is “possibly from Anglo-French *dormouse ‘tending to be dormant.’”

Kęstutis (above), is currently working as a forestry specialist whose interest in nature began in childhood - after first catching and identifying butterflies, he later got into birds, which he says is his current major hobby. He joined iNaturalist a few weeks ago. “First impressions are very good,” he says, “[and] I am delighted with this project that unites nature lovers around the world.”

- by Tony Iwane. Some quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and flow.

- Check out more of Kęstutis's great photo archive, which he's been adding to iNat!

- Dormice are pretty cute, here's some nice footage of them eating.

Albania is the 83rd stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer, @aleksandergolemaj, has observations clustered around the 3rd most populous Albanian city of Vlorë along with other top observers such as @eridanxharahi. Several top observers such as @ariani and @marselmersinaj have observations clustered around the 3rd most populous city of Durrës. Inland from here there is a cluster of observers such as @marko\_thenaturalist around the capital of Tirana. @jakob and @atassin's observations are clustered to the north of Tirana. @herri\_thebufi and @p\_julia's are clustered to the south @gernotkunz's observations are clustered in the southeastern part of the country.

The number of observations per month graph is dominated by May, 2017, July 2018 and Jun 2019.

Top observer @jakob is also the top identifier in Albania. @borisb leads in insect IDs while blue_celery leads in plant IDs. There is an unusually high proportion of mollusk observations in Albania and the mysterious @extraneus leads in IDs of this group. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @lupoli\_roland and @marko\_thenaturalist.

What can we do to get more people in Albania using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@aleksandergolemaj @ariani @jakob @eridanxharahi @gernotkunz @marselmersinaj @borisb @lupoli_roland @extraneus @marko_thenaturalist

We’ll be back tomorrow in the United Arab Emirates!

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the 82nd stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer is @cabintom, an amateur Lepidopterist based in northeastern DRC near Bunia. To the north, there is a cluster of top observers around Garamba National Park including @mathiasdhaen, @congonaturalist, @lindsaymin, and @s_vigliotti. You can read more about @congonaturalist's work as a Nat Geo Explorer here. There's a cluster of top observers around the capital of Kinshasa such as @dianeaustry, @bonobote, and @michael\_mulligan. Several other top observers such as @muir, @violettederozier, @wildnothos, @terathopius, and @richard105 are clustered elsewhere in the country. @muir has done alot of ecology and conservation work across Africa over the years including in DRC. @wildnothos has a website dedicated to the Nothobranchius fishes of Africa.

The number of observations per month jumped up in 2019.

The top identifier is @jakob who leads in insects, mammals, arachnids, mollusks and other animals. @johnnybirder, @calebcam, and @marcoschmidtffm lead in birds, herps, and plants respectively. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @rjq, @ldacosta, @cabintom.

What can we do to get more people in the DRC using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@cabintom @mathiasdhaen @muir @violettederozier @congonaturalist @terathopius @jakob @johnnybirder @rjq @ldacosta

We’ll be back tomorrow in Albania!

We're in Zambia for the 81st stop on the iNaturalist World Tour - just across the Zambezi River from our stop in Zimbabwe yesterday. The top observer is @nicovr with observations clustered around the capital of Lusaka near other top observers such as @william6, @willvanniekerk, and @joachim. The second top observer, @salmonskyview, spent 1/2 year teaching in Zambia. There are clusters around some of Zambia's most famous National Parks such as @kovro near the Luangwa Valley and @pma near Kafue. Other top observers such as @violettederozier, @jakob, and @n\_case\_w have observations elsewhere in the country.

The number of observations per month has been growing since mid 2017. Interestingly, it has ticked down the last two months. Does anyone know why?

@nicovr is the top identifier as well as observer and leads in bird and mammal IDs. @cabintom, an amateur Lepidopterist based in northeastern DRC, leads in inset IDs. @n\_case\_w and @calebcam lead in plant and herp IDs. As with many African countries, @jakob, @ldacosta, and @johnnybirder are among the top identifiers.

What can we do to get more people in Zambia using iNaturalist? Please share your thoughts below or on this forum thread.

@nicovr @salmonskyview @violettederozier @william6 @willvanniekerk @jakob @kovro @cabintom @ldacosta @johnnybirder

We’ll be back tomorrow in the Democratic Republic of Congo!