Zimbabwe is the 80th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour - we'll stay in Southern Africa in neighboring Zambia tomorrow. The top observer is @i\_c\_riddell, a professional safari guide throughout Zimbabwe. @i\_c\_riddell's observations are centered on the capital of Harare along @florem, the second top observer, who is affiliated with the Department of Crop Science at the University of Zimbabwe in the capital of Harare. Several other top observers such as @markusdeklerk also have observations clustered here. @shirleyhitschmann runs a production company in Mutare in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe along the Mozambique border. @simontonge works in conservation and zoos in the UK but grew up in Zambia and Malawi and makes regular visits to Zimbabwe as part of this conservation work. His observations are clustered around Bulawayo along with other top observers such as @nickypegg. @supergan and @jimsteamer are world travelers based in Spain and the US with many observations from Zimbabwe. There is a cluster of top observers such as @joachim, who leads tours across Africa, in the iconic Hwange National Park in the western tip of the country near the 'four corners' border with Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia (there's also a distinct cluster around Victoria Falls even further north west towards the Zambian border). The 10th top observer, @zimgales, has observations clustered around Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe.

The number of observations per month jumped up in 2017 and has been ramping up since. This is probably due to the arrival of Southern African community members formerly using the iSpot platform (as discussed here).

@alanhorstmann who splits his time between South Africa and Ireland is the top identifiers and leads mammal IDs.
As in many African countries, @jakob, @johnnybirder, and @ldacosta are among the top identifiers. @johnnybirder leads bird IDs, @nicovr leads insect IDs, @alanhorstmann leads mammal IDs, @marcoschmidtffm leads plant IDs, and @calebcam leads herp IDs. Many thanks to @colin25 for lending his Southern African expertise and to all the other top identifiers.

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

@i_c_riddell @florem @shirleyhitschmann @simontonge @supergan @alanhorstmann @jakob @johnnybirder @colin25 @ldacosta

We’ll be back tomorrow in nearby Zambia!

Trinidad and Tobago is the 79th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. @mikegrutherford, the curator of the University of the West Indies Zoology Museum on Trinidad and Tobago, is the top observer. His observations, like most top observers from Trinidad and Tobago are clustered in the northern part of the island of Trinidad not far from the capital of Port of Spain. @drjayf, @rainingrainers, @markhulme, @shanemanchouck, @gumboot99's observations are also clusterd nearby. @gumboot99 is a plant ecologist at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine on Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the top observers on iNaturalist globaly such as @greglasley, @paul\_prior, @paultavares, and @colindjones have visited Trinidad and Tobago and made many observations..

The number of observations per month has been ramping up since mid 2017.

@matthewcock is the top identifier and leads in insect ID. @joshuagsmith leads in bird IDs. @rainingrainers and @gumboot99 (who are also a top observers) leads in herp and plant IDs. @maractwin leads in fish IDs. Many thanks to other top identifiers such as @john8.

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

@mikegrutherford @drjayf @paultavares @colindjones @rainingrainers @markhulme @matthewcock @joshuagsmith @maractwin @john8

We’ll be back tomorrow with Zimbabwe!

Its already Week 12 of the iNaturalist World Tour. This week we'll visit Pakistan in South Asia, Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Sub-Saharan Africa, Albania in Europe and the UAE in the Middle East.

We begin in Pakistan. The top observer is @gilgit2 whose observations are clustered around the capital of Islamabad and in the mountainous far northern regions of Pakistan. There is a cluster of top observers in the area around Islamabad. These include @azazahmad, who has a Masters in Entomology, with observations nearer to Peshwar in the west and @fazlullah with observations clustered a bit to the north and @seemab. The second top observer, @altafhussain, has observations clustered around the town of Sobho Dero which lies to the south of Islamabad. A second cluster of top observers is around the town of Bahawalpur to the south of Multan. These include @ammad1, who also has a Masters in Entomology, and @raowasi. A third cluster of top observers is around the most populous city of Karachi in the south such as @mustafamalik and @kingrexy. @hendricksb, the only top 10 observer who appears to be a visitor rather than Pakistani resident has observations in the far north near the border with China.

The chart of observations per month is dominated by a singe month, May of 2018, when @gilgit2 added over 4,200 observations in a single month. Since that spike, observations have been hovering around 150-200 a month.

Aside from the mysterious @shahnawal, the top five identifiers (@rajibmaulick, @johnascher, @jeremybarker, and@sethmiller) are based in India, Singapore, Germany, and Bangladesh respectively. @rajibmaulick leads in bird IDs, @johnascher in insect IDs and @kastani in plant IDs.

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

@gilgit2 @altafhussain @azazahmad @ammad1 @fazlullah @rajibmaulick @johnascher @shahnawal @jeremybarker @sethmiller

We’ll be back tomorrow with Trinidad and Tobago!

We end Week 11 of the iNaturalist World Tour in Guatemala. The top observer is @juanitoescamilla, a palentologist, with observations clustered around the capital of Guatemala City. Several other top observers such as @calvarezgua have observations clustered around this city. Following the mountains to the northwest from Guatemala City, there is a cluster of top observers, mostly visitors, with observations clustered around the Lake Atitlán region such as @josh\_vandermeulen, @microm, @matthias55, @driley, @flowerbeast, and @jasondombroskie. @dennis\_medina is based in Parque Nacional Laguna Lachuá to the north and @tato in the town of Jalapa to the east. @jaico, from Mexico, has been posting most recently from Guatemala and is now 6th on the leaderboard but isn't yet showing up on the map (which was last updated September 1st). There is another cluster of top observers such as @marinegardener around the ancient city of Tikal in the Maya Biosphere Reserve.

El observador principal es @juanitoescamilla, un palentólogo, con observaciones agrupadas alrededor de la capital de la Ciudad de Guatemala. Varios otros observadores importantes como @calvarezgua tienen observaciones agrupadas alrededor de esta ciudad. Siguiendo las montañas hacia el noroeste desde la ciudad de Guatemala, hay un grupo de observadores superiores, en su mayoría visitantes, con observaciones agrupadas alrededor de la región del lago de Atitlán, como @josh\_vandermeulen, @microm, @matthias55, @driley, @flowerbeast y @jasondombroskie. @dennis\_medina tiene su sede en el Parque Nacional Laguna Lachuá al norte y @tato en la ciudad de Jalapa al este. @jaico, de México, ha estado publicando más recientemente desde Guatemala y ahora ocupa el sexto lugar en la tabla de clasificación, pero aún no aparece en el mapa (que se actualizó por última vez el 1 de septiembre). Hay otro grupo de observadores destacados como @marinegardener alrededor de la antigua ciudad de Tikal en la Reserva de la Biosfera Maya.

The number of observations per month has been increasing steadily since 2017.

El número de observaciones por mes ha aumentado constantemente desde 2017.

The top identifier is @ronytrujillo, a biologist based in Guatemala, who also leads in plants, spiders, and 'other animal' identifications. @friel, the Director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History, is the second top identifier and leads in insect and fish identifications. @d\_kluza, an American scientist living in New Zealand, is the third top identifier and leads in bird identifications. @arnoldorm, based in El Salvador, leads in herp identifications. @tato and @dennis\_medina are resident top identifiers based in Guatemala. Thanks to all the other top identifiers!

El identificador principal es @ronytrujillo, un biólogo con sede en Guatemala, que también lidera las identificaciones de plantas, arañas y 'otros animales'. @friel, el Director del Museo de Historia Natural de Alabama, es el segundo identificador principal y lidera las identificaciones de insectos y peces. @d\_kluza, un científico estadounidense que vive en Nueva Zelanda, es el tercer identificador principal y lidera las identificaciones de aves. @arnoldorm, con sede en El Salvador, lidera las identificaciones de herpes. @tato y @dennis\_medina son los principales identificadores residentes con sede en Guatemala. ¡Gracias a todos los demás identificadores principales!

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

¿Qué podemos hacer para que más personas en Guatemala utilicen iNaturalist? Comparta sus pensamientos a continuación o en este hilo del foro.

@juanitoescamilla @josh_vandermeulen @dennis_medina @microm @matthias55 @jaico @ronytrujillo @friel @d_kluza @tato

We’ll be back tomorrow with the Pakistan!

¡Volveremos mañana con el Pakistán !

Our Observation of the Week is this Leptocentrus taurus treehopper, seen in India by @adit!

A student in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Adit Jeyan tells me that “nature and wildlife have always fascinated me ever since I was a child.” About a year ago, he started photographing birds, as well as other wildlife, such as the bug seen above.  

“There's a place near the beach where I live that has a lot of small trees and shrubs,” he explains. 

It's usually quite crowded as people come with their families to enjoy the place. I go there often because it has a rich variety of insects and arachnids and also birds during the migratory season. I stumbled upon this during one of those trips to the place. He was just around 1 cm in length.

The bug he photographed, Leptocentrus taurus, is a member of the family Membracidae, or typical treehoppers. Like all bugs in the order Hemiptera, treehoppers have mouthparts used for piercing and sucking. Some bugs, like the assassin bugs, use this for predation, but most bugs, including the treehoppers, feed on plant liquids. The pronotums, or front three sections of the thorax, are often large and elaborate, as can be seen in Adit’s photo. Some resemble plant thorns, and others mimic ants - excellent for camouflage. And yes, they “hop” with the aid of their wings.

Adit (above), says “I started using iNat in the beginning for identifying the species I photographed…

[it] has taught me about a lot of species of wildlife and I've learned how to identify wildlife in the field thanks to iNat. I had never known that such a rich diversity of wildlife could be found around in the city where I live.

I am still in school but I want to become an Environmentalist when I grow up.

- by Tony Iwane.

- Check out all 10k+ treehopper observations on iNat, ranked by favorites!

- Tree hoppers use vibrations to communicate with each other, as discussed in this video.

Fiji is the 76th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer in Fiji is @maractwin who among his many interests is an avid scuba diver. Many of the top observers in Fiji are keen scuba divers including @davidr, @johnsear, @richardling, @depamine. This is to be expected since Fiji is a global destination for divers. @obinfiji is a resident of Fiji yearround where he works for BirdLife International. @leonperrie is a botanist from nearby New Zealand while @petdoc, @dagendresen, and @desertnaturalist are visitors from further away.

The number of observations per month in Fiji is fairly flat and spikey which indicates that its largely driven by a few visitors rather than a large community of residents.

Fish is the top observation category on Fiji which again is to be expected because of all the scuba diving. @maractwin is the top identifier in addition to the top observer and leads in every category except plants (@leonperrie) and mammals (@jakob). Most of the other top identiifers (e.g. @sascha\_schulz, @davidr, @kemper, @anthonygill) focus on Fish IDs

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

@maractwin, @davidr, @obinfiji, @johnsear, @leonperrie, @petdoc, @richardling, @sascha_schulz, @kemper, @anthonygill

We’ll be back tomorrow with the Guatemala!

Armenia is the 75th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. The top observer is @ahospers, a visitor to the Armenia from the Netherlands. There are several other visitors (e.g. @julie\_sf, @sdrovetski, @sindic) among the top 10 observers. The second top observer @scops, has observations clustered around the capital of Yerevan. This is the case with most of the top observers in Armenia including @artem, @tigran82, @ttadevosyan, and @vahemart. An exception is @transcaucasiantrail whose observations are clustered to the southeast.

The spike in August of 2018 results from the top observer, @ahospers, adding his observations. But beside that spike, the number of observations per month haven't been growing much. This may partially be because there was some relatively early activty on iNaturalist from Armenia such as @ttadevosyan's Armenian Citizen Herpetologists Atlas and @vahemart's Flora of Armenia projects both started back in 2012. While its unclear why this early activity didn't spur much growth, it does flatten the slope a bit comparing recent activity.

The top identifier @sammyboy2059 is based in the UAE and also leads in bird IDs. @kastani from Kazakstan leads in plant IDs and @kharkovbut based in Ukraine leads in insect IDs. @ttadevosyan and @artem are local top identifiers from Armenia and lead in herp and 'other animal' IDs respectively. Thanks to other top identifiers such as @cliygh-and-mia.

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

@ahospers, @scops, @artem, @julie_sf, @transcaucasiantrail, @tigran82, @sammyboy2059, @kastani, @cliygh-and-mia, @ttadevosyan

We’ll be back tomorrow with the Fiji!

Slovenia is the 74th stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. @spela, the top observer, focused on marine life and has observations clustered around the seaport city of Koper (near Trieste, Italy) along with many other top observers. @maarten22, @alich local and others have observations clustered around the capital of Ljubljana. @irena9 and @ahmedmujcinovic have observations clustered to the southeast. Several of the top observers are visitors such as @c\_michael\_hogan, @drbh2o, @scotty, @trcarlisle, and @jujurenoult

The number of observations per month is very seasonal peaking in the summer moths. The highest peak to date was April of last year.

The top identifier is @ribabo from nearby Croatia. Other top identiifers are from elsewhere in Europe including @jtklein, @zizou, @jakob, and @tiggrx

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

@spela @irena9 @maarten22 @ahmedmujcinovic @c_michael_hogan @ribabo @jtklein @zizou @jakob @tiggrx

We’ll be back tomorrow with the Armenia!

Bulgaria is the 73rd stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. @katya is the top observer. She splits her time between Russia and Bulgaria near the national reserve Ropotamo where her observations are clustered. @exonie's observations are clustered around the town of Botevgrad. @georgipetrov66's observations are clustered in the countryside north of Botevgrad.

Several top observers such as @zmei have many observations near Bulgaria's largest city of Sofia. @mstoyanova and @kennethwoodcock's observations are centered in the area around the second largest city of Plovdiv. While the observers mentioned above appear to be at least partially resident in Bulgaria, there are many top observer visitors as well, such as @nyoni-pete, @paulcools, @cesarpollo5 and @henkwallays2. Don't miss @katya's Observation of the Day of 'kissing' European Hornets along the Ropotamo river or this Observation of the Week post about a busy European Orchard Bee northeast of Sofia spotted by @exonie.

The number of observations per month has been slowly climbing over the last four years and jumped to a new hight this summer.

@borisb is the top identifier and leads in insects, @tiggrx leads in plant IDs and @ldacosta leads in bird IDs. While these three top identifiers are from elsewhere in Europe, @exonie stands out as a local Bulgarian top identifier. Many thanks to @jakob, @kastani and all the other top identifiers helping out with Bulgarian identifications!

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

@katya @exonie @zmei @nyoni-pete @paulcools @mstoyanova @borisb @exonie @jakob @ldacosta @kastani

We’ll be back tomorrow with the Slovenia!

Iceland is the 72nd stop on the iNaturalist World Tour. Of the top observers, most (e.g. @c\_michael\_hogan, @docprt, @milliebasden, @stevendaniel, @nyoni-pete, @theworldofpaolo, @lucapassalacqua) appear to be visitors from elsewhere. Based on their observations, @sbushes, @naturjc, and @kjartanbirgis are the only members of the top 10 observers who appear to possibly be residents of Iceland. @sbushes and @kjartanbirgis's observations are clustered near the capital of Reykjavík

The number of observations per month jumped up in the summer of 2018 and again in 2019. In August of this year, the number of monthly observations passed 1,500 for the first time.

@alexis\_orion, based in Berlin, is the top identifier and also leads in bird IDs. @jmgrinde leads in plant IDs and @johnascher in insect IDs. Its noteworthy that there are more fungi observations(with @jurga\_li as the top identifier) than insect observations in cold and wet Iceland. Its also noteworthy that this is the first country we've visited thats missing a category (no herps in Iceland!). Many thanks to other top identifiers such as @ldacosta, @nannie and @tiggrx.

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

@c_michael_hogan @docprt @milliebasden @sbushes @stevendaniel @alexis_orion @ldacosta @jmgrinde @nannie @tiggrx

We’ll be back tomorrow with the Bulgaria!