sambiology's Journal

Curious... I was looking through the relatively recent papers that use iNaturalist data (https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/published-papers-that-use-inaturalist-data-wiki/2859), and I'm wondering if anyone has published a paper on a state/county/country record based JUST on iNaturalist observations... I think most publications use physical vouchers as well as photovouchers, but I'm not sure if there's been one with JUST photovouchers. Anyone know?

Traditionally with plants and bugs, I think a physical voucher is usually required for publication... I guess it would depend on the journal, but I'm not finding any papers that use solely photovouchers.

Would love any input! :)

We had it on the books for about a year... I was hoping to see folks from all around gathering together in the Texas Panhandle for our annual spring iNat TX gathering/bioblitz. Alas, a global pandemic is a curve ball that I didn't really expect, and the gathering was a bit more 'socially distant' (hugs were officially outlawed!)... Nonetheless, a good group of naturalists gathered at Matador and Gene Howe Wildlife Management Areas and documented a whole slew of organisms. It really was wonderful -- these things make me tremendously happy.

About 17 folks got together on May 29th at Matador WMA. We literally had 28,000 acres to explore, almost just to ourselves! Several folks got there a bit earlier than I did (I arrived at around 3:30) to do some exploring beforehand. That evening, we did some blacklighting close to headquarters area. Lots of stuff showed up to the lights! We also had around 8 stations, so we could stay a bit apart while we mothed. I got to do a little camping as well (which, I need to do this more often...).
We explored Matador again on May 30th -- most of the exploration was solo. This was a bit different than some of the gatherings of the past where we went out as small groups or so. We gathered again at noon at the campsite for some lunch and conversation.
In the evening, we cooked up some hot dogs (tradition, I suppose) and conversed about the afternoon findings. We blacklighted closer to the river this night to see if some different insects would show up.

In the morning, some of us went up to Gene Howe WMA. This was a relatively unexplored spot on iNaturalist, so it'll be nice to see some observations get added here! We 'gathered' at noon and then again in the evening to do some blacklighting close to headquarters. The panhandle has a bit of wind during the day, but it really does die down after sunset. So many cool insects showed up at the blacklights.

I hope that one of the big products that this trip accomplishes is some digital vouchers for the biodiversity at these spots. I hope that others recognize that these wildlife management areas are refuges for countless species -- the management practices there provide just the habitat that all of these organisms need. Through this bioblitz/gathering, we'll help with the ever growing species guide to the specific areas. We've got loads to still upload, but it's impressive so far:
Species at Matador WMA
Species at Gene Howe WMA
Hopefully we'll all get our observations up in a few weeks... hint hint. ;)

Throughout this whole time, I so enjoyed engaging with both nature and with my fellow naturalists. I think that's exactly what iNaturalist does to us. We learn more about nature, we seek it out, we document it, find new stuff, etc... but we also engage with each other. Sometimes, as in this case, it was a physical engagement with each other (except at a little bit of a distance), but it also happens online when we see what nature others see. That's a wonderful thing, and man, does it make me happy. :) We greatly missed those of you that weren't able to join us, but please know that you were there in spirit!

Next early spring, let's think about west TX!!! :) We had some fun discussion about Elephant Mountain WMA and Big Bend Ranch State Park, and there are some really nice Nature Conservancy spots there too. If we do West TX, we'd probably gather around mid April (dates TBD, of course).

iNaturalist is a tool of engagement! :)

Hey folks,

So, it'll be a much smaller 'gathering' this upcoming weekend at the two WMA's. Aaaaaand, it looks like the weather may be a bit rainy. Shucks. No worries -- we'll still find a way to observe some nature. :)

Do me a favor -- save my phone #'s - personal (Verizon): 817 771 8793, and work (AT&T) 214 215 5605. May not have ANY reception there

Most of the weekend we'll play it by ear on exact locations to meet up and where to blacklight or explore.

Fortunately @oddfitz knows every square inch of Matador WMA, so he can point out some nice areas to explore too.

I'll be able to be at Matador WMA at around 4 or 5 PM on Friday, but if you get there earlier, that's ok. The headquarters spot is where we can 'gather' -- although, please keep in mind that I'm going to try to keep some distance from everyone. It's just a good practice... Apologies for the lack of handshakes or hugs this time around. :(

Here's the location:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/34%C2%B007'03.5%22N+100%C2%B020'41.6%22W/@34.1176321,-100.3454372,230m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m13!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0xb788f1366514acdb!2sMatador+Wildlife+Management+Area!8m2!3d34.1173374!4d-100.3442995!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d34.1176305!4d-100.3448904

The tentative game plan is to stay at Matador on Friday and Saturday, and then head up north to Gene Howe on Sunday and Monday. Two nights of blacklighting at Matador and one night of blacklighting at Gene Howe.

A few things to bring -- water, food, perhaps some bug spray, umbrella (if everyone brings umbrellas, then perhaps it will reduce the % of rain -- that's how weather works), lots and lots of camera batteries. Oh, bring some cleaning stuff too -- to wash hands frequently.

I'm planning on camping at both locations too. My stench will likely keep others at least 6 feet away from me too. Win win! :)

I hope that a product from this 'gathering' is a good digital record of the biodiversity at these WMA's. WMA's are refuges for so many different critters and plants -- let's show that on iNat! :)

Hey all!

Hope you are all doing well and that you/your families are stay healthy and safe during this unprecedented time. I wanted to ask a huge favor of you, as I know you are some most enthusiastic iNat users out there.

Since this year’s City Nature Challenge is no longer a challenge, our efforts have focused to engage users with their immediate surroundings: outside their front doors, in their yard, or anywhere nature is found which they can safely and responsibly explore while complying with social distancing and stay-at-home orders where they live. It’s also a great opportunity for us to fill some data gaps!

That is why we need YOUR help! The TPWD Conservation Outreach Team is asking for me to reach out to some of our most engaged iNaturalist users in TX and ask them to share their City Nature Challenge experience.

Here are a few asks during and/or leading up to the City Nature Challenge (April 24-27):

• Post a photo/video on Facebook, Instagram, and/or FB/IG stories

• This post should be about how you are engaging with nature close to home during this CNC. You can answer some of the following questions:
  o What are some of your favorite things to observe in your neighborhood?
  o What are some species you never would have thought you’d find there?
  o Where are some of your favorite local places to go? Why?
  o Why do you think neighborhood nature is relevant for all community members?
  o How has neighborhood/backyard nature helped you or your family deal with COVID?

• Use hashtag #yardchallenge; you can also use hashtags #CityNatureChallenge and/or #CNC2020

• Tag the Texas Nature Trackers Program in your post:
  o Facebook/Instagram handle: @texasnaturetrackers

• Tag 3-5 other friends and challenge them to post about their neighborhood nature/CNC experience!
• Feel free to post once, or more than once!

We hope this engagement campaign will encourage others across the state and globe to get out and find what’s been hiding right under their nose all along!

Most importantly, we are stressing that all participants strictly adhere to federal, state, and local public health guidelines as they are updated in real time in response to COVID-19. Please do what you can to make sure you adhere to these guidelines during the event.

Let me know if you’re interested in helping out with this. Can’t wait to see what we all find this year!

Just as an FYI: Next week I’ll be doing some “backyard mothing” – it’ll be a facebook live video with the TPWD DFW page https://www.facebook.com/DFWUrbanWildlife/
Sunday, April 26, 8:30 - 9:30 PM

I'll talk about how to attract moths with lights, why moths are important in the ecosystem, and I will try to ID a few things that show up!

Also, I'll go through a step-by-step process on how I upload a moth observation to iNaturalist -- taking the photos, editing/cropping, and uploading through the website.

Fingers crossed that a few bugs show up! :-D

"Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on."
~Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

Someone sent me that quote, and I thought, "Oh, that's a nice quote" but then I really thought about it more and more and more and more, especially right now. I guess that's the nice thing about quotes -- we are allowed to interpret them however we want to. :)

To me, this quote is so appropriate for what we're going through right now. I will admit, I only know a few people that have COVID19 currently, but my parents are at high risk, and many folks that I know and deeply care about are high risk as well. It's a creepy amount of time that I've been thinking about other folks right now too! Each time I go outside, not only am I looking at the critters and plants, but I'm thinking about the people that have given me guidance on the ID's...or for whatever reason, I just think about these folks...

I'm extremely fortunate to be able to still go outside right now. Of course, I'm staying crazy careful -- I avoid touching anything that other people touch, I'm wearing a little fabric face mask, I go to places where others aren't, and I wash my hands like I've got OCD. So, I'm taking all of the precautions, I think. Yet it's spring, my absolute favorite time of year. The bugs are out, the birds are singing, and every single weed has a bloom on it. For my mental, emotional health and sanity, I just have to be outside. I bring iNat with me each time too -- to share observations with others, but also just to explore. With iNat, I can travel vicariously through other naturalists' observations, and some travel with me too.

I guess that's the kicker -- when I'm out exploring, by myself, I actually bring a lot of naturalists with me. I'm physical distancing, but also figuratively walking alongside lots of folks. And that's a good feeling. :)

Going back to the Mary Oliver quote, this time of quarantine, social fear and anxiety, has reminded me of my place on the planet. I'm here but for a nanosecond geologically, and I'm so freaking lucky to even glimpse at the fellow residents of the ecosystem. To learn their names is one of my absolute favorite things to do.

Anywho, hope everyone is staying safe, staying healthy, washing hands, and if you're able to, going outside just a little to look for a bug or two. :)

So, spring is pretty much here in Dallas/Fort Worth, and the number of observations is growing along with the plants! Despite the quarantine and 'shelter in place' orders, folks are still going outside to get observations. This is a great thing -- getting outside and enjoying nature is crucial to our health, I think. I still try to do it every day!

In the past few months, I've been trying to identify observations from the "Cross Timbers and Blackland Prairies Ecoregion in Texas":

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=128161&subview=grid

But now, I'm going to start to just focus on the DFW metroplex with ID's:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=57484&subview=grid

I wish I had some time and energy to focus on specific taxa, but instead I've decided to focus on an area and all taxa. Nonetheless, please tag me if you'd like for me to look at an observation outside of DFW! :)

Here's the ID page for DFW observations:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/identify?quality_grade=needs_id%2Cresearch&place_id=57484

Also, since lots of folks have been mothing lately, here are the top 500 species documented in DFW:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=57484&subview=grid&taxon_id=47157&view=species&without_taxon_id=47224,47654

Keep on observing! :)

Lately, it seems like I've had a lot of requests for presentations on dealing with 'nuisance' species... Coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, opossums... It's actually a bit of a bummer.

A few weeks ago I gave the most difficult presentation I've ever had to do to an angry group of homeowners that wanted nearby coyotes trapped and removed. I tried my best to stick to the message... Don't feed the wildlife, control trash, and hazing techniques... Alas, these folks didn't want to hear any of it.

Outside of that presentation, there's just been an influx of calls and emails about 'nuisance' species. Not gonna lie -- it's discouraging.

So, I'm curious how other naturalist/nature enthusiasts respond to the "let's get rid of it!" response... I guess I'm just fishing for some novel or convincing lines that you use when talking about the importance/value/appreciation of wildlife.

Oh, and iNat is where I go to get encouraged again. :)

I was very lucky in 2019… I got the chance to observe and appreciate a lot of nature on several trips. Florida, North Carolina, Costa Rica, Oregon, and several spots in Texas – so amazing to see lots of different kinds of nature all around.

Of course, I bring the tool of iNaturalist with me wherever I go – it amplifies my enjoyment of nature immensely! If you’re curious, here are my stats for this year:

https://www.inaturalist.org/stats/2019/sambiology

It’s truly not about numbers – it’s about the enjoyment of nature. It’s been extremely fun to learn the names of so many different species. We share this planet with some incredible biodiversity. Let’s appreciate it!

One of the other amazing things about using iNaturalist is the community of naturalists that I get to interact with. I haven’t yet gotten the chance to meet all of them in person, but it gives me a lot of hope when I see what others are seeing – we are part of a huge and growing community of naturalists. It’s a big deal – and it makes me happy. :)

Not to push too hard, but I’m also a proud financial supporter of iNat. I don’t have a lot of money or ‘disposable income,’ but I’m happy to throw a few bucks at iNat each month. It’s a tool that provides me so much joy and excitement… and LOTS of knowledge. I feel like a better all-around naturalist because of my involvement with iNat. If you do too, check out the donation page:
https://www.inaturalist.org/donate

So happy to be on this journal with all of you, and I hope to meet more naturalists and more species next year! :)

So, I think it was the amazing curator/observer/identifier and all around rockstar @bouteloua that chimed me into the filter "&unobserved_by_user_id=sambiology" -- it's a fun thing to use after doing a search of the species in an area.

I've not really considered myself to be a "lifer" sort of person, but I do like seeing new organisms that I'd not seen before. :) Using this filter is a pretty easy way to see the things you'd not seen before. As iNat grows and grows, more species will be documented from specific areas, so the filters become more and more powerful. I'm using this filter for the species I've not seen in spots.

Try it sometime! Search for a place on the filters as you explore... say a county or specific park (that has a place in iNat already), and then copy/paste the "&unobserved_by_user_id=_" and replace the _ with your username.

You can filter by taxon too -- so I like to see what plants I've not seen in an area. I went down to Tyler County in southeast TX to Watson Rare Plant Preserve, so I explored the plant species (fine-tuning to species level) that have been observed there:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?hrank=species&place_id=2993&subview=grid&taxon_id=47126&view=species

Then I wanted to see the plants that I'd not seen before:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?hrank=species&place_id=2993&subview=grid&taxon_id=47126&view=species&unobserved_by_user_id=sambiology

Neat, huh?!? :)