sometimes i pick a random place in the world and try to identify stuff there just as a challenge, but usually i find that i don’t recognize much at a low level, except for common invasives. so i wondered if there was a better way to find places that i’d be able to be reasonably effective at identifying to a low level?
i’m one of those folks who has learned plants and animals mostly through informal observation, and most of the stuff i can identify i can identify because i’ve observed them. since i’ve observed a lot of stuff my home area (Houston), i’m fairly comfortable identifying plants, birds, and insects here.
but where else are there high numbers of observations of species i’ve observed before? (those would probably be good places for me to try identifying things to a low level.)
for plants, it looks like i could probably be reasonably effective identifying as far east as Baton Rouge, and be somewhat effecitve identifying north to Dallas. looks like if i wanted to naturally extend my identification range, i should work my way up the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to Memphis, or go north from Dallas to Tulsa.
it looks like insects follow pretty much the same geographic pattern as plants.
for birds, it looks like i might have a decent shot at identifying in most of the US east of the 100th Meridian West.
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interestingly, i think these maps also show where i could go visit if i wanted to find species i’ve never observed before.