That’s easy to justufy, species don’t sit at one place and waiting for the next observation next month, no, they’re moving, and showing their movements is what iNat can deal well with. Personally I don’t think anyone should look and wait about what community says, I don’t care if it’s useful, I see the species and I document it, that’s how I know how fast steatods at my home grow, when they hatch and when they die, how one female dies and her place is taken y another one. I wouldn’t be able to do it without documenting it at least once a week, I wouldn’t know who is who after all, cause I wouldn’t remember. And wild species, you see different individuals each day. For species that can’t really move, like lichens, I just visit different sites each day, so I won’t need to photograph them each day.
In a sense, I agree. I may photograph crows once per year, but they are not high on my list. Where I do differ is the use of observations for research. Sometimes that involves recording longitudinal data. I tend to go to the same place, at around the same time, so I believe that repetitious photos (mostly once a day) lays a foundation for what species are around at this point. If things change (say a growing presence of Snowy Owls in winter, or even Song Sparrows) could signify that something has changed. These kind of data can only be obtained by repeated measurements.
I sometimes do that because trying to ID I discover a detail I have not taken a pic of is missing and go in the same place the day after and sometimes I’m lucky and manage to track the insect there again. Otherwise I should capture every insect I run into, which is a no-no for me.
Don’t do that, jst copy link with comments or ad “similar observation set” field, better both.
People love adding collages about nests - eggs, chicks, empty nest, and all is under one day! That’s the edge example, but obvious to understand why it should be avoided.
I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with this concept…
I think if it’s an obviously distinguishable organism, a day’s time is sufficient. If you’re not sure if it’s the same one, there’s no harm in posting a new observation for it next time you see it. The only time repeats really annoy me is when it’s obviously several different pics of the same critter in the same spot at the same time with absolutely no change.
Very useful, thanks.
This is only a problem if people are using iNat to estimate abundance, which they should absolutely not be doing for other, more intractable reasons anyway.
Sometimes I get in a discussion with an identifier where one of us asks, “Did it have prickles on the stem?” or some such, and I actually go back and look and take another photo. In that case even if it was the next day I’d add it to the observation where the discussion took place.
In other words, do what makes sense.
Well, common sense, together with one’s preferences are the best mix. There would be no sense in hard guidelines, as some forum members stated before, people use iNat for different things.
Would it make sense to post the same tree once a day? Probably not. What if it undergoes some changes on the bark and you would like to observe how they develop? That could make an interesting observation.
For insects it could make sense to make an observation more often than every 24hours in the same place as they come and go, and you have no guarantee it is the same insect.
For birds, just depends what you want to measure. In many cases, for example, it is worth showing that the bird you are observing is still in the same spot. So document what you want to document as people before me have written.
@forfoxsake @pfau_tarleton I use the Observation Group field as well. It’s very handy. Sometimes to track the same particular individual, sometimes to group obs of certain events together. Two examples:
Migratory Shining cuckoo pair regularly visiting a garden who were staying later in the season than usual: https://inaturalist.org/observations/24499334
If you click on the Observation Group field, then choose ’ [Observations with this field and value], you’ll see I observed the same birds over 6 obs.
Ditto this example where I’m documenting unusual insect damage to different plants of the same species, but adding the Observation Group field means I can view all the obs at once:
https://inaturalist.org/observations/36207045
The Observation Group number link should always be the very first observation.
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