I found a live weevil in a bag of dried popcorn kernels at my house. Would this be a casual observation since I do not have the location from which it originated, or would this be a normal observation since I found it at my house? Im not sure what would be the correct thing to do.
That would be a normal observation. He got there accidentally or under his own power. There’s even a project for tracking observations in houses.
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As mentioned by neylon, this would be a “normal” observation, that means an observation of a wild organism, at your house. I would still recommend to additionally write in the comments and/or observation fields where you found it in (a package of dried popcorn kernels), the origin of the produce (where it was grown, normally it is stated on the package). It may not be possibly, where the insect moved into its new home (at the packaging facility, supermarket or your home), but teh narrow it down a bit the information if you found it just after opening the package would be helpful, too.
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Awesome, thank you both!
The Never Home Alone project.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/never-home-alone-the-wild-life-of-homes
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I agree with the others here, this would not be casual. I often observe beetles in my bird food I just bought, or insects stuck to the grills of cars. Usually, the “hitchhiker” observations end up being the most interesting.
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