I’m brand-new to iNaturalist, but I’m really invested. I have a colony of paper wasps living on my balcony. I see them literally every day when I go out to water my plants. Since it’s a different date, I know it counts as a different “encounter,” and therefore a separate observation, but I don’t wa…

I wouldn’t submit more than one/day, but other than that it is really up to you. Once a week seems fine. There are some previous threads about this that might be useful including this one: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-often-to-observe-the-exact-same-plant-tree/35570

For the wasps, they’re separate organisms - different than the day before. I wouldn’t see an issue posting more daily :man_shrugging:t3: it’ll probably annoy some people but oh well. It’s not like you’re posting a picture of the hive daily, it’s just whatever organism you’re encountering. If it’s t…

I have the same question and I’ve kind of answered it for myself, in a way? As with many gardens in North America these days, mine is overflowing with BMSBs (Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs). At first, I was fascinated, and made many observations. And I learned all about them, and it was a great learnin…

There’s not really any hard fast rule, photograph it as many times as you want! Personally, once I’ve photographed a species a few times I tend to just ignore it in the field to spend time looking for new species, unless its the only thing around to photograph.

Thanks for posting. I found the same with white-lined sphinx moth. I’m also new to this, and had never seen so many in this area before. I felt the plethora of them was worth noting as I had never even noticed one, let alone so many, before. Cheers & thanks to everyone for sharing knowledge, ins…

I personally consider daily fine tbh; I often do it when some of my favourite species are in season.

We don’t know what researchers will want from us. That really frees us up! Post what you want to. For myself, I avoid photographing one individual more than once in a day, but otherwise I post a lot. I try to produce checklists of what’s in local parks by photographing every species in each park…

Of course, of course, of course, you’re all absolutely right and every observer is free to use iNat in their own particular way. That’s fine. But since I’ve recently started doing a whole lot more IDing, I’ve got a bit obsessive about the speed at which the Needs ID pile mounts up compared to the id…

“shouldn’t there be, couldn’t there be, a way to bypass the identification system so the time and effort of IDers can be focused where it’s badly needed?” I’m good enough at identifying many of the species I post that many of my observations could be allowed to bypass ID by others. I also do a lot…

How often to make observations of local organisms?

General

lgarriga September 26, 2023, 8:12pm 5

Almost my exact experience with the Bow-Shaped Calligrapher!

Topic		Replies	Views
iNat posting etiquette questions General	29	2684	August 23, 2020
How many of the same species do I post if I see it on a regular basis? General	41	4906	September 9, 2019
Should I post multiple observations of same species or possibly same individuals at same location at different hours or days? General question	24	3853	January 3, 2021
Excessive observing? General	85	7801	December 4, 2023
Overzealous observations General	41	4630	September 23, 2019

How often to make observations of local organisms?

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