The Wild Times Project's Journal

Hi folks,

Time for another monthly iNaturalist Journal discussion post! As we get into spring I’m excited to start seeing all sorts of native wildlife around my hometown and close by, including a bunch of different herp species. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about appreciation for native species a lot lately, so my question is this: what are y’all’s favorite backyard species to encounter and observe? It’s easy to appreciate unique species observed at destination locations, but what wildlife do you often encounter that you are always excited to make an observation of? For me I’d say it has to be moths. There are all sorts of native moths in the southeast, and I always get excited to encounter a Luna moth or one of the many other species living close by and snap a few pics for iNaturalist. Can’t wait to hear what y’all have to say!

Always Wild,
Drew

Head over to the Wild Times Forum at brommunity.wildtimes.club to respond to this discussion post, and get involved in some other brostener conversations while you're at it!!

Hey brosteners,

Drew checking back in. Sorry for missing the January discussion post, my semester's off to a crazy start with all manner of field work! This month we have a special discussion post as the Wild Times iNaturalist Project celebrates its first birthday! This project has come such a long way since I created it a year ago. I can't believe how much we've grown and it's been such a joy to interact with brosteners through this platform and see all the biodiversity everyone is seeing. We're almost up to 13,000 species observed, what an accomplishment! I'd like to give a warm thank you to everyone who has signed onto this project, we couldn't have reached this point without y'all!

In the spirit of celebration, I'd love to use this month's discussion post to hear when everyone's birthdays are, and feel free to answer the following question: if you could make an observation of any animal to make your birthday as special as possible, what would it be? I'll go first: I'd celebrate my birthday by observing an Indri lemur in its natural habitat in Madagascar. Indris are the largest-bodied extant lemur species, and I think they are incredibly beautiful. It is my dream to hear them vocalize to eachother in person, and Madagascar is my dream destination because of it! Now let's hear yours! Head over to the Wild Times Forum (brommunity.wildtimes.club) and drop a reply to the forum post matching this journal post. See you there!

Always Wild,
Drew

Happy Holidays brosteners! As we enter the holiday season I know what I’m asking for for Christmas: a 2023 full of fantastic creature finds! Some of you who know me will know that I can’t get enough reptiles and amphibians, also often known as herps (not herpes, looking at you Retep!!). I’ve been blessed to find and research all sorts of species this year and I’m looking forward to more! I’m also proud to say that we’ve already accumulated a crazy diversity of herp observations in the Wild Times Project this year, so this month’s topic is simple: what are your favorite herp observations in the project? Let us know which of your own finds you’ve gotten to log as iNaturalist observations, or feel free to highlight some of your favorite finds from other users that you have seen.

I’ll go first:
I’ve had all sorts of observations this year, but two that stick out to me are my hellbender observation from a research trip to North Carolina and my observations of Black-tailed rattlesnakes from a road cruising trip in Arizona (links at the bottom of this post). Talk about herp diversity!

For those of you reading on the iNaturalist journal page, head over to The Wild Times Forum at https://brommunity.wildtimes.club/ to let us know your favorite herp observations in the discussion thread for this month. Let’s talk herps!!

Always Wild,
Drew

Hellbender: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/111561219
Rattlesnake: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/126312518

What's up brosteners??

It's time for this month's discussion post! For this post I've decided to get into a dicey topic related to invasive species. We're also changing things up a bit with responses: head over to the new Wild Times Forum (link below) to submit your thoughts on this topic!! We've posted a discussion post under the iNaturalist category where brosteners can discuss this topic, and feel free to chat with brosteners on all the other discussion threads while you're there!!

Always Wild,
Drew

Wild Times Forum: https://brommunity.wildtimes.club/t/november-discussion-post-how-do-we-and-should-we-perceive-invasive-species/104

Invasion ecology and invasive species management is arguably the hottest topic in conservation in the 21st century. Countless ecosystems across the world are currently overrun with non-native invaders that pose threats to native biodiversity, and a large portion of conservation efforts and dollars are spent on attempts to limit the spread of these invasive animals and plants. Such attempts often come in the form of culls or other efforts to exterminate these invasive populations, and with these culls come a lot of harsh feelings toward the invasives. We see that people often 'hate' an invader because of its impacts on native species and take great pleasure in killing it for the sake of conservation. A great irony exists here: many folks that pride themselves on loving wildlife will view invasive species very negatively and imprint malicious feelings on them even though these species are mostly introduced because of human activities and are only trying to survive in their new environment. With these ideas in mind, how do you think we should view invasive species? Are they some sort of evil entity or are they also victims of human impacts on wildlife? Feel free to bring in examples of invasive species that you can think of, and if you would prefer not to comment on this issue feel free to simply share an observation you have made of an invasive species.

What's up brosteners,

I haven't come on to make a journal post in awhile, so I wanted to start a new monthly tradition! I'll be making a journal entry every month in which I pose a discussion topic that we can discuss in the comments of each post! This will give everyone an opportunity to engage with the community in this project, chat wildlife, think critically about some important topics in the field of biology, learn from one-another, and much more. Let's give it a try and see how it goes! All I ask is that everyone remain respectful of each other's opinions and perspectives if we get into more controversial topics: we are here to appreciate wildlife and learn from each other and this community is no place for negative interactions. Check out this month's discussion topic below:

TOPIC: What is your favorite observation?
Let's start with a simple one: let us know your favorite observation! You may have a favorite because you love a particular species, you may have a cool story attached to a particular observation, etc. I'd love to hear about some of y'all's favorite species observed, and feel free to drop links!

I'll go first:
My favorite observation as of now is probably my observation of a pair of spotted eagle rays in the Florida Keys (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106128848). These rays are incredibly beautiful, and I got to see them multiple times cruising through the canal behind the house we were staying in while on a SCUBA diving trip. Spotted eagle rays are also an endangered species, and this made them even more special to interact with in my opinion. And interact with them I did: at one point I was swimming in the canal with some friends and a startled ray jumped out of the water out of nowhere and slapped me right in the face! That quickly made for a good story, but I'm just glad I was nowhere near its barb...

I'm looking forward to hearing from some of y'all and getting to know some new brosteners. Can't wait to see what y'all have to share!

Always Wild,
Drew

What a week for the Wild Times Project! We've eclipsed two fantastic milestones this week for 10,000 total species count and 300 members, all within only about six months of the project running. We also did it during Shark Week, which is pretty badass if you ask me. When I made this project I had no idea what kind of engagement it would get, but I was sure of one thing: brosteners from all over the world would be ecstatic to share their wildlife finds. The project has been a powerful new tool to bring the wild times community together to appreciate wildlife and contribute to the field of wildlife biology. I am so thankful for each member that has taken the time to share their wild finds, and I can't wait for us to get to 20k+ species and 600+ members! Who knows what diversity of people and species we will have when the project hits its one year anniversary?? I've been stoked to contribute over 50 species during my field research in New Mexico over the past two months, and as my summer wraps up I'm excited to get back to South Carolina and continue to grow my species count throughout my field projects and adventuring. I can't wait to see what y'all have in store going forward, keep the observations coming!!

Always Wild,
Drew

What's up Brosteners!

The first episode of our new segment 'iNat Chat' just premiered alongside the latest episode of the Wild Times Podcast featuring Casual Geographic on Youtube! Myself and co-host Dom Alianelli are beyond excited to be showcasing some of the wildest observations from the Wild Times Project and chatting about some crazy animal facts. Tune in every Friday to learn about three badass species all encountered by fellow brosteners, and keep sharing your finds on the project. You might just get featured on a future episode. Let's gooo!!

Check out the episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7ompjTRzn8

Always Wild,
Drew

Hey brosteners!
Super excited to start my week with a journal entry announcing that the Wild Times Project recently hit 8,000 species logged, damn! I've been so proud to see this project grow in terms of observations and members, but as a budding ecologist the most special metric for me has to be our species count. I could not imagine when starting this project that we would reach 8,000 species in just a few months, and I can't wait for the day that we hit 10,000. I think we should all take pride in this massive diversity of species observed so far, as it represents not only just a snippet of the incredible biodiversity of our planet but the diversity of backgrounds and experiences of our community. I leave for New Mexico in just a few days and cannot wait to start sharing my finds with y'all, and I look forward to seeing what y'all have to share in the coming weeks. Great work everyone and happy observing!!

Always Wild,
Drew

Hey brosteners!

It's been a good bit since my last journal post, but I write today with the exciting news that the project has just surpassed 250 members! I'm so happy to see continued interest in the Wild Times Project and more and more finds as we progress throughout the year. I've reached some milestones myself this year in and outside-of the inaturalist world: I managed to find and observe 50 herp species this semester, and I just graduated college last week! I'm super excited to start grad school and show y'all all of my cool finds as I conduct research en route to a graduate degree. My field work starts with a trip to New Mexico for June and July, and I anticipate some great reptile finds in the desert to share with the project.
On another note, keep an eye on the Wild Times for some exciting updates regarding iNaturalist, we've got some great stuff in the works to share with you all! I can't wait to see what y'all continue to find going forward, happy observing!!

Ever Wild,
Drew

Over the weekend the brosteners collectively reached 50k observations within the Wild Times Project, damn! It's been so cool to see what y'all have been logging recently en route to this milestone, and we're showing no signs of slowing down. I spent a portion of my spring break camping in upstate South Carolina last week and was able to contribute some badass species to our ranks. My highlight species from the trip had to be the timber rattlesnake we found, the second I've ever found and my first in South Carolina! We were getting ready to head home and we discovered the young adult hanging out next to a boulder as the sun waned, likely getting ready for a night of hunting rodents. Such a beautiful creature! I'd love to hear some of y'all's stories of your coolest observations, as I'm sure there are many. Feel free to reply to this post with some of your stories or head over to the Wild Times discord server to discuss your finds. Can't wait to see what observations roll in as we continue to climb!

Have a great week folks,
-Drew