Adding images to observations that have already been submitted

[smithjg1954]

Is there any way to add additional images to an observation that has already been posted? Sometimes I find images I forgot about that might help with ID, or I take additional images of higher quality on a later date of the same individual I’ve temporarily retained.

[teellbee]

Yes, you can use the Edit button to add additional photos. On my device, I usually find that near the upper right corner of the page.

[dianastuder]

But a later date, has to be a separate obs. You can link them with comments.
Flowers at …
Fruit at …

[jnstuart]

I sometimes add an additional image or two of the same organism, taken at the same date/time, if it might help with ID or if it simply shows a different aspect of the organism. Sometimes I’ve done that even after the record has already made Research Grade based on my original single photo. I’ve found with birds especially that the record is often already Research Grade before I’ve finished reviewing my photos and uploading an additional photo to the record. The reviewers can be faster than I am.

If the photo was taken on a different date of the same organism (such as a plant that you can visit again), it should be a separate record.

[fffffffff]

Click on the button or drag+drop the photo there, but only if it’s from the same date as original observation.

[joedziewa]

When adding media to an observation that already has someone else’s ID, I like to leave a comment about the update.

[cthawley]

I agree that this is useful - sometimes I revisit observations and am like “Why did I only ID that to family???” and later realize extra pics were added that allowed better ID.

[matthewvosper]

If you are revisiting the organism in the wild at a later date/stage then yes it should be a separate observation. If you have taken a specimen in order to gather more detailed images (e.g. with a microscope) and it may be a few days before you get round to that, I would still add those to the original observation.

[silaseckhardt]

What about this – I have an Iris pseudacorus observation. I took pictures of it in the wild every day or two as more flowers bloomed. Are the new blooms pictured each day new obs? Note that it is the exact same plant, some of the new blooms are from the same inflorescence too.

[cthawley]

Yep, new observations.

[xris]

@smithjg1954

I take additional images of higher quality on a later date of the same individual I’ve temporarily retained.

As others have noted, evidence - images or sounds - taken on a different date need their own observation, even if it’s just the next day. There’s important information you can gather from multiple observations over time of the same organism.

My garden is the source of most of my observations. It is useful to take observations of the same plants over time, even across the years.

Weeds - spontaneous flora - are wild organisms. They often recur each year in about the same place. I can take photos of them in the Spring, when they’re just germinating or emerging and harder to identify.

I can go back to that same plant or patch later in the year, or even find observations from past years, with better details of the mature leaves, flowers, and fruit to get to a Research Grade observation. I can link all the observations of the same weeds with the Observation Field Associated observation. I can use the later phenology observation to identify the earlier one. Even if there’s not enough evidence in the earlier one to get it to RG, I can still use it to keep track of that plant in my garden as it looks all times of the year.

I mark my own garden plants as Cultivated. Even then, documenting phenology, and how they appear when first emerging, is useful for garden records. It’s also helpful to learn the sequence of bloom in a location, which can aid efforts to observe other, wild, organisms assoicated with that plant, e.g.: insects, diseases.