sambiology's Journal

Hey friends!

A funny message that a friend of mine told me at the Tandy Hills BioBlitz... "Hey Sam, I was worried about you. I noticed that you hadn't ID'ed the plant observations I made a while back. Is everything ok?" Haha! :)

I hadn't been ID'ing as many of the general observations from TX/rest of world -- I had been focusing most of my energy to ID'ing stuff from that particular bioblitz (Tandy Hills BioBlitz: http://www.inaturalist.org/projects/tandy-hills-natural-area-stratford-park).

Anywho, it does bring up a good point -- on bioblitzes/outings with others that you iNat with, I think it's a super important thing to give some feedback on observations. And heck, it feels great when someone looks at your observation and adds in an ID or verifies it! It essentially validates your observations, and that's a cool feeling. It engages the participant and he/she is much more likely to add more observations. I don't have any hard data on that, but I betcha it's true!

Also, something else, to anyone reading this... Please tag! Tag tag tag! You tag with an @ sign and then the screen name. Tag those folks that you consider experts. I'm not much of an expert, but please tag me if you want me to look at your observations or of observations of your friends. Tag away! Even if I can't ID it, I bet I can give a touch of guidance and even tag someone that I think may know.

If I've pestered you to death with my tagging, sorry! But consider it a compliment! :)

ID'ing is a blast, and I've learned so much from ID'ing. I may lots and lots of mistakes, but I dare someone to go into any collection and not find any mistakes. It's ok to mis-ID, although, I think it may be more wise to add broad ID's and encourage the observer to look at particular species. For instance, a genus or family ID for a plant is totally ok -- it engages the observer and hopefully inspires him/her/them to dig a bit for a good ID. Ooooor, it pops up on someone else's dashboard on the taxa they follow.

Anywho, ID'ing is fun and ID'ing is crucial -- that's the point of this journal post. :)

So, this week is the Tandy Hills BioBlitz, and I'm pretty excited about this Thursday - Saturday (21 - 23 April)... I'm setting a personal mission to observe as many different critters, fungi, and plants as my camera will allow -- so be forewarned of a clogged up dashboard of my pictures! :)

Also, an invitation -- whomever wants to come and join me in this observation craziness is totally welcome! :) On Thursday evening, I'll be out at Tandy Hills with a few moth lights from 8 until... Maybe midnight. On Friday, I'll be out at Tandy Hills most of the day and will do another night of mothing from 8 until I get worn out. Then alllll day Saturday, I'll be out rolling around in the flowers with the public. Want to come and join???

@dfwuw @aguilita @happynaturalist @brentano @kimberlietx @suz @cgritz @zooga1961 @itmndeborah @donaldhapp @andyk @bob777 @annikaml @bogslogger @brenledbetter @cari @charley @griff @janeaskew @jblinde @karinsaucedo @krstldwn @magatr0n @mustardlypig @naturemom @naturenut @ninamarieb @ntc @picklepastures @postoak @prairiepoint @rehb @ryan3 @sbetzen @troutlily57 @txlorax

Probably several others that I'm missing out -- but I sincerely hope you are all able to come and join in the festivities of observing EVERYTHING. :) It'll be a blast. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. BioBlitztastic! :)

I'm super excited. Well, more excited than normal. :)

As part of the NPS centennial celebration, a national park in TX has signed up! Props to @forester93 and @carrieseltzer for this wonderful idea of exploring these national parks and uploading our observations to iNaturalist. Hopefully it inspires the public even more to recognize what treasures we have and how important they are to preserve and protect.

I'm also quite excited to mention a Texas/southern US/wherever-you're-from get together at none other than the Big Thicket on October 14 - 16. Sure, it's six months away, but that's plenty of time to move other stuff around in your calendar so you can come to this! I've messaged a few folks and I'm quite excited that several people can come. If you want to come, and want to know some more of the details, send me an email or message here on iNat, and I'll add you to the list. I'll send out a bulk message sooner before later addressing some locations in the Big Thicket that we can explore together.

We'll likely get together on at least a couple of the evenings to enjoy camaraderie among naturalists and discuss our favorite observations.

So, if I haven't messaged you and you want to come, send me a message and I'll add you to the list.

Yippee!

Had a great day yesterday of exploring -- spotted lots and lots and lots of critters and plants. Again, apologies for spamming up the dashboard, but I just couldn't contain my excitement (and camera finger!).

http://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/sambiology/2016/3/12

I had the pleasure of going to the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society conference last week in San Antonio -- I listened to some great research and got to meet some really incredible people! I was extremely lucky to meet several iNatters in person -- I was able to thank them first hand for sharing their expertise on iNaturalist. Especially enjoyed meeting/seeing again @connor22 @jonahevans @russellm08 @andygluesenkamp @cullen @mdwarriner @griff @rdenkhaus @ryan3 @marshamay @markklym and probably several others that I can't recall off hand... It was great to talk iNat with these folks too!

I did hear one thing over and over from folks that I was trying to introduce iNat to and from folks that have tried using it before: "Oh, it sounds like that takes up a lot of time..." With a smile and a wink, I said, "Yep, time well spent!" :)

It makes me think of something I remember reading about bugguide -- that experts were getting worn out from the repeated "what is this?" question... especially one accompanied with a cruddy image and/or not great location data... I wonder how much expert fatigue has already been going on in this network too.

I must admit, I spend many many hours each day on iNaturalist. Usually, as I lay in bed in the evening, I'm looking through observations and training myself to learn some names of critters. I've given up TV. I'm no longer following any sports. I've ditched facebook for the most part (although, I do use it to promote iNat). I think these are wonderful substitutions, and I genuinely enjoy spending time on iNat (help others and learn at the same time). It really makes me super happy! But it does make me wonder, "how many folks get into this sort of situation and then get worn out?"

I hope it's not occurring too frequently -- an expert logs in, helps out some folks, and then gets off because of the time devotion. I so appreciate all of the people that log in often to help out others and distribute their knowledge in ID'ing stuff (as well as posting some incredible observations!).

What do you think? Do you think iNat has the power to wear people out too? How is this remedied?

Think with me out loud, won't you?!? :)

So, this week was my first week with TPWD, and on my first day, I traveled 9 hours to El Paso! I got to meet some of really incredible people that I will be working with -- it's really exciting (albeit quite overwhelming, in all honesty). I also spent 18+ hours in the truck with my coworker here in DFW too -- it was really great! :)

Stay tuned for some fun observations from El Paso!

So, I have some fairly exciting news -- I got a new job! Not to say that I have been unhappy in the least in my current job as the 'nature guy' for the city of Mansfield, but this new job will hopefully extend a bit of my reach, and that's a good thing. I'll be a Texas Parks and Wildlife Urban Biologist for Dallas/Fort Worth! My job will still be geared towards my life goal: to promote an awareness and appreciation of the flora and fauna in and around DFW. I foresee some really interesting challenges in the new job, and I'm really quite excited. And yes, I'll still be posting observations and cluttering up dashboards here on iNat. :)

If there is one word that I would use to describe the year 2015, it would be “iNaturalist.”

Within me was an explorer, and iNaturalist has brought this out and nourished a genuine curiosity of the natural world. It feels like I’ve devoted more time doing iNat than anything else this past year, and to be quite honest, I feel as though it has all been time well spent! I observed so many amazing organisms and the vast majority of them were found right here in Dallas/Fort Worth. I learned so many names, and from learning the name, I found out more about the organisms themselves. I went out actively looking for the organisms that I hadn’t seen before, and in some cases, found some things I didn’t even expect. It’s been a great year.

Inspired by @jmaughn , I decided to spend every day exploring, if just for a little bit. I’d go outside during lunch or find a new spot during the weekend to flip over rocks, look up for birds, and of course, document every plant that has flowers or fruits. Every single day I interacted with organisms – I wanted to show that through iNaturalist.

It’s been a big year! I added around 9000 observations of almost 1900 species in 2015… Next year… double that! Well… maybe not quite double… but I’ll hopefully still be out exploring every day!

Something else that this year has encouraged for me – relationships! I have developed some amazing friendships with fellow iNatters… Many of these folks I’ve never even met in person, but I consider them close friends. When I went down to the @greglasley ’s Texas iNat gathering, it truly felt like I was going to a family reunion – I was so excited. Silly, I know, but the companions that I’ve met here on iNat are quite meaningful to me. We all share that same explorer instinct, I think. Maybe this is the strongest aspect of iNaturalist… It fosters relationships among people with similar interests.

VERY grateful for this community and network. Excited for 2016.

~Sambiology, naturalist. :)

"ID please?"

One of the big selling points of iNaturalist is the help from the community in identifying organisms that you may not know. I like to tell people that their single act of "learning the name of something" actually adds to the global understanding of that organisms' existence in space and time... So, it's a pretty cool thing.

I must admit, I really enjoy ID'ing organisms for others, but I have been wrong many, many, MANY times. Anytime I've ID'ed one of your observations, I highly suggest that you double check me -- google images can be wrong sometimes, but a simple google search of the species name (not necessarily the common name) can lead to some quite reliable sites.

I also try to use the comment section on observations, although, not nearly as much as I should. In my opinion, it's good to put in an "ID based on _____" and backing up the ID with some website or source that the observer to look at.

I think it's ok that people ID organisms that have already been ID'ed several times before. I have done this and continue to do it -- it helps me learn some of the variations in the organisms. It may clog up the dashboard of the power-users, but this is something we need to get over. :)

Now, a challenge: as soon as you learn a new organism, I dare you to look through iNat at the other observations of that organism! That repetition is great for learning. :)

What do you think of ID'ing?!?

Inspired by @jmaughn , I've been trying to observe organisms each and every day. I do it for a philosophical reason: every day we interact with organisms that we share the planet with! Anyways, the temps are falling and the weather is getting a little more dreary, but I'll still try to find time each day to go out and explore. I'll try my best to stick with my rule of posting plants only with reproductive structures (flowers, or more likely at this time, fruit and seeds). I'll probably post more birds than any other taxa.

Also, I'll try to ID my older observations that are still lacking ID's, and I'll be ID'ing some other folks' observations that still need ID. :) Stay tuned!