I first heard about iNat through the podcast Ologies with Alie Ward. In one of the earlier episodes, she had a person talking about how you can record all sorts of organisms all around the world and talked about how actual scientists could record and track species. I think they talked about some newts?
As for actually using it, I think I was trying to identify some bugs I field sketched. The species I looked up came up in the search, checked out the site, remembered “this was the site on Ologies…”, signed up, and have been addicted ever since.
Using UV lights and a sheet to attract nocturnal insects and then photographing them before they go on their way. You can check my profile to see kinda what it looks like
Wrote a post on fieldherpforum back in 2014 following a family trip tp Texas. In one of the responses I was asked to contribute observations to the herpsoftexas project on iNat. Contributed, and since forgot all about it until iNat started showing up in my search results years later.
I was using ALA.org.au to upload a couple of observations from my phone, and in particular to try and get an ID on a beetle I saw, and noticed that ALA was integrating with iNaturalist for observations going forward, so I signed up and away I went!
I learned about iNaturalist from a biologist, who recommended me the app when I told him I’d love to learn more about plants in my area. I was curious about them, but could name only some species. That was exactly what I needed. I’ve been active for almost two years now.
I wish they’d put up similar signage on the shared trails out here. But the mountain bikers would be going too fast to read it. (Can you tell that I’ve been nearly run off of a narrow trail by a fast moving, neon-Spandex-clad object once too often?)
On topic: I found iNat via OdonataCentral. Last year’s Odolympics had directions for crossposting observations. Now I have more observations of dragons and damsels posted here than I do at OdeCentral.
For me, it was in the process of becoming a Virginia Master Naturalist. I’ve come to be most enthusiastic about iNaturalist! Really enjoy that one can get comments/help from fellow-iNaters!
Using the identification guides for California land snails and California odonates. Eventually, I made the connection that the pictures in those guides were observations on the site.
Yeah, one of the positive things about covid for me was I really got into the nature world, spending time in my garden made me love even nature even more.
I always had an interesting in finding interesting organisms, and when one of my teachers mentioned it as a cool app that can be used to ID cool stuff, I was all in. I’m sure this teacher had heard about it from another teacher, who is a prominent iNat user in my area.
I did some citizen science projects for the city, who invited me to City Nature Challenge. I loved having a resource to help me ID things and was hooked. Then COVID happened. My friends mostly binge watched TV shows but I took up binge walking my neighborhood with my camera.
An ecology professor in my undergrad first introduced me to it, but I had a really ancient phone so I never actively used it. When I started my Master’s program a friend/lab mate was really into it and that lead to me re-visiting iNaturalist. Glad I did too!
I actually don’t remember… I’m assuming it was from community college, cuz that’s when I started using it a lot. It’s the best thing ever and my life is infinitely richer since my obsession with iNat began
With apologies to Monty Python, this is a parody of their parody:
Interviewer: Yes. The iNat Problem· This week ‘The World Around Us’ looks at the growing social phenomenon of iNatutalists. What makes a person want to be a naturalist.
(Interviewer, sitting facing a confessor. The confessor is badly lit and is turned away from camera.)
Confessor: (very slowly and painfully) Well it’s not a question of wanting to be a naturalist… it just sort of happens to you. All of a sudden you realize… that’s what you want to be.
Interviewer: And when did you first notice these… shall we say… tendencies?
Confessor: Well… I was about seventeen and some mates and me went to a party, and, er… we had quite a lot to drink… and then some of the fellows there … started handing … macro prints around … and well just out of curiosity I tried to take some with my phone a bit … and well that was that.
Interviewer: And what else did these fellows do?
Confessor: Well some of them started dressing up as naturalists a bit … and then when they’d got the costumes on they started … Observing.
Interviewer: Yes. And was that all?
Confessor: That was all.
Interviewer: And what was your reaction to this?
Confessor: Well I was shocked. But, er… gradually I came to feel that I was more at ease … with other naturalists.
(Can you tell that I’ve been nearly run off of a narrow trail by a fast moving, neon-Spandex-clad object once too often?)
