My wife and I do quite a bit of hiking. In the past, we would maintain a steady pace, maybe stop to enjoy a view or observe something unique. But we would always be within earshot of each other. But now, I am constantly stopping to make observations. Some would only take a minute, but some observations demand great pictures that must be in focus, best angles etc. So those observations may take 3 to 4 minutes! In that time, my wife, tired of waiting for me would keep pushing along on the trail. So then I have to trot to catch up to her… for maybe 50 feet until I spot another unique organism/plant. She is vary patient with me, bless her heart. Do you have any funny iNat behavior changes?
I do what you do when I visit natural area sites and my family is annoyed at me as well lol
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Frank, yes I do!
Every group walk is too fast for me now. Birding walks, botany walks . . . I want to say,
“Hey, we’re missing so many observations! We need to sit on the ground for 10 minutes, see which bugs we can find under leaves, see which tiny plants are growing at our feet, and then move a few metres and do it again! We can’t go racing along at this walking pace! 
”
But I love people, so I keep up with the group! 
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I’ve always been a slow wanderer but iNats now legitimises my slowness 
Instead, I think it has changed the behaviour of those around me - family & friends will say that’s okay, don’t worry, she’s doing observations and she’ll eventually catch up. Also, I do training in the park and my trainer has incorporated my iNatting into the training session 
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I’m getting outside a lot more after finding iNat and my hikes have gotten slower and slower the more I learn what’s out there. Every mushroom now takes me one to five minutes depending on whether there’s anything eating it (or like the other day when I spent one hour with one batch of mushrooms). But, I think the identification side of iNat has also changed how I go about my day. I spend long spurts of time just identifying things on iNat and now spend a good portion of my day (sometimes the whole day) researching the beetle family Erotylidae just to be able to help people on iNat know what species they saw.
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With iNaturalist, you can touch grass and be terminally online at the same time!
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I’ve started noticing spiders, which I didn’t really care about before, and kind of gave me the creepy-crawlies. Now, I get excited when I find a new native spider!
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I take quick cell phone pictures of bugs anywhere I’m staying while traveling now.
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This is pretty much what has happened to me when I started with iNaturalist! In fact, being able to take better pictures of potential observations without having to stop for ages was one of the driving forces behind getting a better camera just after New Year. I also now make a conscious effort to look at the life around me whenever I go anywhere, to see if I can make an observation or several.
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He is out with a hiking group. While my group is botanisers, and the little lives on the plants, and the birds, and the rocks, and the dinkophytes … and tea with a view!
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Before iNaturalist, the only time I was as slow was when I hit a group of warblers. With iNaturalist, going with others, I sneak in whatever observations I can without falling too far behind. When I go by myself, I get a lot more observations, and sometimes uploading them all afterwards can seem endless as I consult my field guides for the initial ID.
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I was fortunate to find iNat after I moved a decade ago. I was disabled and could barely walk a quarter mile. I moved here to disengage the stress and re-able as much as possible.
iNat has helped facilitate my recovery by being a “reason” to walk, look, smell, taste,wonder, heal as nature intended us to do.
Walking and photographer’s yoga to heal the body, iNat to heal the mind and Nature to heal the soul.
Discovering the meaning of the word “abundance” and the feeling of absolute awe hits and fills me for “no reason”.
When I moved here outside my window was a huge “green wall” . iNat has helped me see and name almost everyone out there!
If you want to know the little ways iNat changes us, check out the thread " You know you’re seriously into iNat when…" (warning:that thread is a delightful rabbit hole!)
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I’ve definitely changed my routine.
Morning routine before iNat:
Check weather. Check email. Read newspaper. Go outside and look for stuff. Ignore household chores.
Morning routine after iNat:
Check weather. Check email. Read newspaper. Check iNat notifications. Check iNat Forum. Spend an inordinate amount of time posting responses to new forum topics. Do a few quick IDS. Go outside and look for stuff. Ignore chores…
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my mom and i have adopted a code word for when she’s driving and i’d like her to slow or stop the car so i can take pictures. she only does so, of course, if it’s safe, but bless her for putting up with me. since this originated mostly from birds, especially hawks, i decided on “hawk party” as an adequate phrase.
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I know some birders who have worked things out with their spouses, families and friends because of their birding. I think it’s a balance that must be found with any relationships where interests differ. I have a friend who likes to go hiking, likes birds but isn’t interested in hard-core birding. So, when we go hiking, we both take our binoculars and hike. Binoculars are very good for all sorts of things: insects, mammals, etc. We have a good time. I like going hiking with him so, missing an opportunity to bird isn’t a big deal for me. I have even had times when a rare bird was sighted and I missed it. In summer, I like to look for dragonflies. But, that takes a lot of slow searching. I would never ask my friend to do that. He would be bored. I never take my camera with me when we hike. The friendship is more important to me. Work it out. Come to an agreement. I know my friend enjoys learning about birds and other things in nature that I have discovered. But, he’s just out there to hike. So, that’s what we do.
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I’ve been on iNat for 7 years at this point and over time I kind of developed sort of an eye for identification. Like walking in the woods or a park I’m very keen to notice different species and identify them for myself in my head, if that makes sense.
And of course, when I’m out walking with my family I often have to catch up with them lol
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That definitely makes sense… as does the delightful way once you see and identify one of them, you start seeing a lot of them that you walked by unknowingly before.
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This! I have been an aesthetical photographer mostly… I now do a lot of quick-shots and aweful shots with my shitty mobile to track any observation I find interesting, especially since I moved to Colombia and do not feel comfortable to have my good camera out all of the time… I would not be able to submit anything otherwise
10 or even still 5 years ago I would just not get the photo and move on
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My husband and I go on a bicycle tour every year, and I love using iNat to track all the places I’ve been. I will usually tell my husband before we start our 40 miles for the day what kinds of things I will stop for (snakes, turtles, interesting roadkill, one year it was ladies’ slippers, …). This year, he even stopped us because he saw a dead fox on the road and he knew I’d want a quick photo.
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True love is stopping for roadkill.
(loving all these answers)
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