No embarrassment but I am somewhat surprised by my top 10.
Nearly 70% of my observations are of insects and yet only 2 have made it into the top 10.
I can figure out the BOBO, SAVS, and GRSP, as my job is to survey grassland birds. The frog is there simply because a job one spring had me surveying the area to identify where chorus frogs can be found.
8 Likes
Thats great to have you.) Gulls are my favourites among birds, they’re easier to id here, but their numbers on my list are linked to last two years where I spend some weeks on my dacha looking at birds full day, and even though I try not to photograph everything, there’re hundreds of gulls passing by each day.
2 Likes
Since I observe in my little garden, I tend to see the same things over and over. Thankfully I have learned the names of the “dailies”.
My favorite thing, though I am not embarrassed by it, rather in awe of it, is how many different types of bees (currently at 19) and butterflies (currently at 57) live in or visit my wee green space. I even know there are some I have yet to photograph because they have come through when I am not outside, or fly much too fast, or only visit the topmost flowers on the Solanum erianthum or Hamelia patens which both now tower above the wall.
10 Likes
I haven’t been on iNaturalist for long so I don’t have a lot of observations and none yet that I am really embarrassed about liking (although I do like spiders and mallards and other critters that some folks may find odd). Pretty mundane observations really, I’m afraid.
9 Likes
I really like domestic ducks and geese. There’s so much variety and many offer an interesting ID challenge. I really like the Crested and Hookbill breeds, even if they’re severely deformed. Mule Ducks are also interesting.
3 Likes
Very cute, though. :-)
1 Like
One of the hybrid species of Boechera (plants, Brassicaceae) I worked with in grad school looks intermediate between the two parents something like 80-90% of the time, and the remaining 10-20% of the time it’s indistinguishable from one of its parents unless you put some pollen under a microscope or get genetic data.
Morphology isn’t always reliable in either direction… and I agree, a lot of the time putatively intermediate morphology is just something a little out of the usual for a species. People can see “funny-looking” and then try to assign some of the unusual features to another species whether it really makes sense or not.
With regard to the original question, I haven’t a single endotherm in my top 1000 species, so I’ve nothing to be embarrassed about.
(OK, I didn’t actually check, but I think that’s accurate.)
[Edit: Drat. I realized there is an easy way to check, and now I see Turdus migratorius and Toxostoma curvirostre at 858 and 859. If iNaturalist didn’t put the endotherms at the start of each observation count category, I’d probably have been safe…]
I like the pine savannas in the southeastern US and it really shows
The Blanchard’s cricket frog does make me laugh though. If there’s so much as a puddle there’s liable to be thousands of them
6 Likes
A year-by-year journal of personal obsessions. Append &year=20xx for each year on iNaturalist.
2017: First year - a berry nice start
2018: Bee obsession begins - Such charming metallic sweat bees!
2019: A year on the wilderness trail - Broom crowberry abounds
2020: Bugs taking over my brain - Springtail fever!
2021: The alder I get, the more I love bugs of all kinds
2022: Drone fly rules!
16 Likes
American Robins and Dark-eyed Juncos continuously vie for the top spot in my species list. (The robin is ahead for now, but it’s a close game.) No other species have come anywhere near their numbers for at least a year, and probably never will again. They’re just too common around here.
The highest species that isn’t a bird is Mule Deer, in 27th place with 34 observations - I think that says enough about my observing habits. Another 15 species down is Douglas’ Squirrel, in 42nd place, and after that is Cross Orbweaver in 49th. So, 47 out of my top 50 species are birds. For the top hundred, it’s 71 birds, 13 plants, 6 mammals, 3 crustaceans, 3 insects, 2 amphibians, 1 arachnid, and 1 reptile. Hmm.
I wouldn’t say any of this is embarrassing, per se, but it certainly shows my biases. Common birds for the win!
8 Likes
I still have more Bittercress to post, from a project last spring. The others are taxa one might expect.
5 Likes
I don’t go hunting for the common butterflies, but they can be found wherever I go to find something else. :)
Not surprisingly the same applies to #1 during night.
#11…#15 are included just to show that the first non-Lepidoptera … is the Mallard. :)
3 Likes
oh, the year-by-year format is interesting! I only found out about inat this year, but I uploaded loads of pics I took in 2021 so I can still do one for that year:
2021 - It’s Better Down Where It’s Wetter
2022 - Avian Acquaintances
4 Likes
The year thing is really cool… looks very different for me each year, as I am swapping continents quite frequently. Love to see how it changes
2 Likes
Everything’s hotter under the water!
Were you snorkeling a bunch last year?
Not sure how to call it, there’s a certain unprecedented stability despite changing locations and interests.
2019 and before
2020
2021
2022
3 Likes
Both snorkelling and diving! It also helps that I was not really interested in birds at that point, nor had a camera suitable for photographing them, so fish and corals were up top.
1 Like
