Have you ever noticed a shift in your confidence when identifying species over time? Many of us start with high confidence, only to realize how much we don’t know as we learn more. This is often called the Dunning Kruger effect, whether or not that is correct. It is often associated with a graph sim…

This curve summarizes it fairly well. Except maybe that the increase after the valley is a bit too steep. I’m still always scared that there is some obscure lookalike I haven’t heard of so that I have to review all my IDs of that taxon I have made so far… I’m pretty good at recognizing Harmonia axy…

If I was working with specimens, I could see myself in “This is starting to make sense” for several taxa groups I’ve taken an interest. But since we’re mostly limited to photos, I’m often landing in the trough of knowing very little. For every taxa that I learn how to make a confident ID, there’s …

You’re talking about Sphaeriidae , aren’t you? Because I will be, but it probably applies to most of the bivalve clades I’ve looked at. For myself, I’d have the x-axis be time rather than expertise, as I’m not sure my expertise on any taxon is always increasing. Perhaps if I hadn’t kept looking at…

I agree with the curve and the prior response. I tend to use additional tools in iNat to help in the identification process, like recent observances in the area (especially when travelling) to help narrow the field of possibilities. I feel like the iNat suggestions process is getting better (maybe…

I would always identify any debris-carrying lacewing larva as Leucochrysa pavida until someone noted that the species only carries lichen fragments. Now I’m a lot more careful, but I can generally still spot a true L. pavida.

I disagree with the right tail of the curve. Once we have it drilled into us that half the taxa we find here “cannot be IDed to species from a photograph,” our confidence level will never recover.

My learning curve would start out at rock bottom with no confidence (but curious) from the left and slowly rise higher to the right with my eastern North American cicada IDs. Angles matter: Top, bottom, and wings! Especially in the northeast there is a lot of hybridizing going on.

I’ve spent the last few years observing, learning and identifying local moths and bees. I’ve never never hit the “Wow! This is so easy to identify!” point. For moths, it went from I know nothing about this taxon to “WTF these two moths that look nothing like each other are the same species?” Then WT…

[image] amr_mn: You’re talking about Sphaeriidae , aren’t you? Yup! Sphaeriidae definitely applies here for me. Whether or not there’s another valley ahead of me, I’m not sure, though. The imaginary curve can vary a lot depending on the taxon and the identifier. For some taxa, after the first …

How has your confidence in ID’ing changed over time?

General

pisum July 23, 2024, 5:25pm 3

seems like there are many existing threads on this topic. i don’t know if i can find them all, but here’s one: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/overthinking-plant-identification/18798/4.

Topic		Replies	Views
How much expertise should we have when identifying? General	73	6365	June 25, 2020
A Kind Reminder To Only Identify What You Are Sure Of! General	31	2080	April 8, 2024
Why is it that those of us who get really into our IDs, cringe on the inside when someone misidentifies something that you consider an easy ID sometimes? Nature Talk	35	2104	May 14, 2021
Certainty and uncertainty in identification General	93	3725	March 22, 2023
ID when you don’t know General	22	2655	April 3, 2020

How has your confidence in ID’ing changed over time?

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