iNat at the Olympics (Winter 2026)

General
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Edited to add a clarifying note about this thread

In 2024 I became curious about what kinds of observations would be made in Paris during the summer Olympics. I created a project and “reported” the “events”. Watching what observations come in during the Olympics in the Olympic region is a fun way to take an international event and give it an iNat spin.

To be clear, neither the Paris nor this Milan iNat Olympic event is an official iNat event. Rather it is a way to enjoy the Olympics from a different perspective. Adding the “competitive” element of winners gives the sense of being at the Olympics even if all we are doing is watching observation tallies.

*Do I expect that the people of Northern Italy and Olympic games visitors turn out to make observations to win the iNat Olympics? No! That’s what makes it even more fun. I would guess that 99% of the people who will make observations have no idea that their observation will end up in an Olympic project. *

I like to report on the competition that is not really a competition using the style of sportscasters which is exaggerated and overly excited. It makes me laugh to use such language to talk about Mallards medaling in an event.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and feel free to root for your favorite species! (Cue the Olympic theme song).

While the world watches skating, skiing, curling, sledding and more, we iNatters will have our eyes on the observations made during the Olympics in the three regions of Northern Italy hosting the games: Veneto, Lombardia and Trentino-Alto Adige. The games are unusually dispersed which may be frustrating for those attending but good for us who are looking for lots of observations.

Who will take home the Gold in the Species race? Perennial favorite Honey Bee is an unlikely medaler (Dang that ecotothermic metabolism). But Mallard has a grudge and a fan base. You cannot count out Mallard.

The Tree of Life competition favors the Birds as Insects and Plants are dormant. Will this be the breakout year for Fungi? Will Mammals have a chance? Watching the recent observations in the region says the Birds will own it but this is the Olympics and anything can happen.

New to the competition this year: Research Grade! Recognizing that teamwork makes the dream work, this category can’t be won without a group effort. The winner is the Species with the most research grade observations. If you have ever wanted to participate in an Olympic (adjacent) competition, this is your chance.*

Stay tuned because exciting days ahead are ahead in Northern Italy as iNat goes to the Olympics!

*ETA: iNat “rules” apply. No agreeing/disagreeing without reason. Identifier should be able to give rationale for opinion with about 80% certainty.

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What a fabulous idea! I’ll not be taking part as watching the Olympics and winter sports in general bring me out in an allergic skin rash :roll_eyes:, but I’ll be fascinated to see the results.

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Apperently my english skills aren’t enough to interpret what you are saying.
Do you want someone participating in something or are you trying to inform us that Italy needs more attention during the olympics?
All I understand is that you will need some identifiers looking at italy but I am not sure who this post is adressing. The people in italy?

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I wasn’t around during previous Olympic Games–this sounds like fun! How does it work?

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If you see a wild organism at the Olympics while watching it on TV, you can count it. If you’re there at the Olympics your observation opportunities will likely be better.

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Thanks for the sports-journalist-style post! It was fun to read.

Is there a specific project that compiles all Olympic observations?

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Humour does not translate easily. This is just for fun. (My sister likes to watch cycle races on TV - not for the cycling but for the scenery) So - ignore the Olympics as such … what is that bug on her shoulder ?? etc. I don’t watch so I am out ;~)

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Yeah! There was so much ‘reading between the lines’ in that short paragraph, it could’ve meant so many different things to me :D

I have one more confusion left, though. How would one report an olympics-animal seen on TV :thinking: As far as I understood the guidelines (or rules?), those observations would only be valid if you were there observing in person, right?
I do remember something about cycle races from last year with the same “problematic”.

Thanks for the clarification! :)

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Correct, please don’t post images from TV.

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So do you just post a casual obs without a photo? Obviously location would be very general and time would be inexact. Is there a special project set up for this?

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I suspect this is similar to the Paris Olympics thread and is more about seeing which observations are being made in the area of the Olympics during the Olympics. But I don’t see much context or specifics in the original post, so I can’t say for sure. To be clear, this isn’t an official iNat thing. Either way, please don’t make observations for things you see on TV. Observations are about your personal encounters with nature.

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I think it’s just for fun without posting anything to iNat.

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That’s again something I didn’t grasp…
Much fun to everyone! :)

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@IDfanatic

I created an iNat project with the dates set for the Olympics. The idea is that we (the iNat we) watch what observations are being made in the region and see which is the most observed species and Tree of Life Taxon. You can see the 2024 Summer Olympics thread here.

My post is written in the style of US sports reporting so it’s meant to be entertaining and not serious. I imagine that the vast majority of people who make observations during this time in those places do not realize they are participating in “iNat Olympics”.

The idea is to have fun and enjoy our own hobby while the rest of the world is watching the Olympics.

Yes, this exactly. This is just to see what observations are made in the Olympics region during the Olympic competition. I’ll edit my original post to clarify that.

Basically, I (or anyone really) comes to this thread and reports on the observations being made in the exaggerated, over excited language of sportscasters. I set up a project that uses the standard places of Northern Italy and that is what I use to talk about the species and Tree of Life Taxon “competition”. If you want to “compete” and you have the necessary expertise, you can add an ID to any species you want to win for the Research Grade “event”. Obvs, don’t ID something you don’t know anything about. (Not that you would but it needs to be said)

It’s a long running observation that in almost any massive mobilization of observers, Mallard and Honey Bee are at the top of the species lists, hence the gag about Mallard having a grudge and a fan base.

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This miscommunication is a reminder: the iNat Forum is a special place on the internet. With a global audience and a focus on biological accuracy, it stays serious and helpful in a way that other social media platforms rarely do.

Every day, I fight the urge to post a playful joke. But in this corner of the internet, these types of posts often get flagged as off-topic.

We do miss out on some fun, but I appreciate it, because it ensures high-quality discussion without the noise.

Does anyone else ever have to suppress joke responses?

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Not so much that but sometimes I have reread a thread or communication sometime later and realize I have misinterpreted humor as seriousness and read something poorly and been unnecessarily snappish, which I regret. :pensive_face:

I think because my life is lived, thought, dreamed in Spanish, sometimes nuances take a moment to catch up, the way international calls used to take a second or two for the voices to travel. I think I want to apologize, to say I understand now, but the moment is lost and the conversation has moved on or stopped.

edit to add: I love the idea of an Olympics project because I am someone who enjoys the armchair travel aspect of iNaturalist, and that will let me imagine I am seeing the Olympics through a Naturalist perspective. I saw someone ask recently why anyone would follow another user, and to me my answer was instantaneous: to see another part of the world. It is my greatest joy to see something new, if only on the screen. It is the feeling of opening the encyclopedia to a random page and diving in. We are an Olympics watching household, so when they mention new locales, I will jot them down to look up. Thank you @anneclewis for setting it up.

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In the interest of not promoting a project per the forum rules, I won’t be posting the link to the project I set up. But I will message it to anyone who asks.

And since it just has the three standard places of Northern Italy: Veneto, Lombardi and Trentino-Alto Adige, anyone can set up their own project pretty easily too if you don’t want to wait for my daily-ish updates.

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So, if I’m understanding this correctly, if you are in Italy at the locations where the Olympics are being held and you post observations on iNat during the two-week period of the events, they go into the project?

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Yep!

Since curling started today, I opened the project.

And Day One of the Olympics is a shocker. European Mole, a mammal, is at the top of the Species board with two observations! No sign of Mallard yet, but it’s early days.

Over at the Tree of Life Field, Fungi are the breakout surprise with four observations. Fungi squeaked by Birds to move into third place and is close on the heels of Plants and Insects which hold the leads. Coming out of nowhere and surprising everyone, Mollusks have made an appearance. Was not expecting that. While not expected to medal, just making a showing is a win for this plucky little Taxa.

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Sounds suspicious. Have the molluscs been drugs tested?

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