iNatting during storm season

Nature Talk
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Hi :)
This week in Miami, FL over a foot of rainwater has fallen and there is more expected to come. Our streets and parks are mostly flooded, and I cant come up with any interesting inatting opportunities during or after strong rains!
Where could be good places to explore for interesting species and organisms during or after significant rain events?
Ideas appreciated
Thanks

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Mushrooms might get a nice kick-start from rain! I like exploring woodlands for fungi the day after (or even hours after) some good rainfall.

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There’s also stuff in your house https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/never-home-alone-the-wild-life-of-homes

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at home I am very familiar with what I can find, but I am mostly curious at to ideas for exploring habitats such as maybe beaches or woodlands that may change or become exposed from significant rains

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and therefore create specific opportunities for inatting specifically during or around rainstorms

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I suspect that many animals have been displaced by floodwater and may be holing up under available cover wherever there is high ground. Years ago I found quite a few reptiles under cover along the shore of a rising reservoir (newly filled).

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Do you have a kayak or canoe? :laughing: I’ve thought about a kayak for getting into the deeper parts of local wetlands, but with all the flooding there may be new navigable areas. And it’s a good way to endanger yourself and any first responders. (for real, stay safe and use a life vest, etc.)

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One thing to try out is to look for ground-dwelling insects that get flushed into water streams and ditches. By collecting floating debris in these streams, wherever it accumulates (kitchen sieve works well), you could find insects that are usually difficult to find. Let the debris drain and dry out a bit and watch for anything that moves.

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One thing that I’ve heard from folks who live down in the south is that events like this are great for finding Branchiopods like fairy shrimp, Triops, etc in vernal pools and puddles. I’m not sure what the best way to go about doing that is, but I used to follow someone who studied them in Florida who would go out and collect hundreds after heavy rains.

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I do think that beaches may have some interesting things wash up after rainstorm events. I have found that to be true.

This would be true of sea beaches, but is also true of small “beaches” that have formed on rivers, etc.

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A couple of years back this story was news:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/22/horrific-swarms-of-spiders-flee-into-homes-and-up-legs-to-escape-nsw-floods
Millions of spiders (and other creatures) climbing anything they could to avoid flood waters, making for easy observation opportunities of creatures normally hidden underground.

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I’ve collected fairy and tadpole shrimp after summer rains in the Southwest US. Once a dry basin fills with rainwater it might take a few days to a week or more before you can find mature shrimp. Didn’t know you could find these in Florida rain ponds.

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(moved this to Nature Talk because it’s not specifically about iNat)

Best of luck, @andresvila!

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If you don’t get out there and do some mushrooming you’re missing out. Its about to be Mushroom Heaven down in Florida.

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You can look for things that have been physically moved by the water -

  • Snakes increase of snakebite after floods
  • Locally there was a tortoise in the road after a massive storm washed it out
  • Also, a load of tadpoles got washed down into some small ponds they were previously absent from
  • Pioneer plant species colonising eroded ground on steeper slopes
  • Herons and egrets and others fishing in the flood waters (I saw Ardea cinerea fishing from a park bench before!)

If you got some gumboots or some kind of floating device, go have a look about! Just take a ziplock or something for your phone/camera gear.

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We saw a cormorant fishing from vineyard supports - vineyard laid out optimistically in the flood plain of the Berg River.

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Just be sure to do so before the authorities close the park for being ankle-deep underwater.

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Tree branches can get knocked down in storms, making it easier to see lichens, shelf fungi, epiphytes, or fruit or flowers that otherwise would have been high overhead.

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@andresvila Looks like you saw some of my observations from yesterday in the Everglades and there definitely were some interesting things to find (notably frogs, like, a lot of frogs) especially in flooded areas, as a lot of the aquatic diversity found its way out in the open. I didn’t want to soak my camera though so I only spent a few minutes in the rain. Another notable thing was that the sheer number of young toads on the road was insane, all the way from Florida City to deeper in the park (at least at night).

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If the landscape has lots of swamps, you may find crayfish crossing the road on a rainy night.

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