Connecting observations

General
1

I’ve observed

  • a tuliptree with bare stems and buds, then the same tree with leaves unfolding
  • a black bear (before I joined iNat, so no picture) and bear footprints (probably the same bear) in the same place
  • a redbud in bloom, and later with pods
  • several different plants in a few photos, with the initial obs showing which plant I mean in each.

Is there a better way to connect them than putting links in notes?

2

For different Observations of the exact same thing at different times, such as

there is Similar Observation Set.

Here is a tutorial framed around a discussion of one caterpillar → then pupating → then a butterfly but you can use Similar Observation Set for any one thing you follow over time, and plants in different stages of life would work well.

The bear cannot be definitively proven to be the same bear, so perhaps should not be linked but to be honest I have no bear experience.

I do not know what is meant by this:

3

Maybe a journal post?
Also, I’m curious, why do you want to connect these? Are they from the same trip or something?

4

You can always use tags as well, though the search/data capabilities are more limited than for observation fields.

5

I’ve used Similar Observation Set, especially when there are numerous observations to be linked. For two observations, I simply include a link. (I don’t believe there’s an advantage to using an observation field in the case of two observations but please correct me if I am wrong.)

1 Like
6

You can use the Observation Fields to link the observations over time. Here’s a really good example.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/270596348

7

I do it beginning with the second observation but usually only if it is something I intend to make further Observations of. I have a new plant in my garden I will likely use SDS for the next time I observe it, for example, and in that case I will link it because I think it may be multiple Observations or some small (unknown to me) growth detail for it to be identifiable. (Also, it’s just a cool little plant.)

In the case of the two plants referenced in the original post, the tuliptree and the redbud, there conceivably are different seasons or growth stages.

I click on Similar Data Set anytime I come across it on an Observation set to see what else is included in that particular one, and to see a less familiar or unfamiliar plant at various stages (even if just fall, winter, spring, summer) would be very interesting to me.

8

Here are some examples:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/265676327
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/265676324
These are two observations, of different plants, in the same picture, with the notes (not the initial IDs, which are both dicot) telling which is which.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/263134292
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/263134293
One is a tree; the other is a burl in the tree.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/253262450
This is a cone of a pine tree; higher up in the same tree is a witch’s broom.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247722690

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/252466097 etc.
These are four different plants in the same two pictures.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/250881524
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/250881523
Each of the two photos shows both a fern and a hickory sapling.

9

Okay, here’s the redbud:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/271364080
I think I did it right. If I click on “Same specimen over time” and select “Observaciones con este campo y valor”, I get a list of the two observations.

ETA: in doing that, I noticed it was in the wrong part of Lake Lure. I typed the latitude off by a minute when converting to decimal degrees. Fixed.