Hello everyone. I am a brand new user of iNaturalist. I saw a Twitter thread recently that inspired me to get started using iNaturalist while I am out walking in New York City. So far, I have not recorded any observations because I am not sure what the etiquette/proper use is for a city. Obviously, …

No, but I’m sure someone could try it and see if it sticks like maligning pigeons did. Then again, rats are already reviled, for hundreds of years if not longer, across multiple cultures, so it’s not likely that “scuttling pigeons” would fill any linguistic role as a nickname for them.

Happy Equinox! And welcome to the NYC Naturalists community. There are lots of urban naturalists here in NYC. Whether you’re a generalist, a specialist, or somewhere else along that continuum, there’s lots to see. There are so many great responses above already. I’ll share some of my favorite ways …

[image] andresvila: around the house, around front porch lights More for you, @windowfan Meet Your Nature Neighbors Never Home Alone: The Wildlife of Homes Project PorchLight

There must be in excess of 400 species of wild plants/weeds growing in the urban landscape of New York, and hundreds more in the marsh and beach landscape surrounding the city. Just grab your phone and start recording what you see.

Over 3K plants - in an earlier comment.

In total, 828,953 observations of 10,291 species by 27,849 observers. New York City Observations · iNaturalist

Hi, @windowfan , and welcome! I can’t add a whole lot to the already excellent advice that you’ve already gotten; just encouragement. I do a lot of my iNatting in an urban area as well (Denver / Boulder). It’s been amazing how much more aware of potential habitat areas I’ve become just from a few m…

Something I was just thinking of the other day - if you have a porch or a balcony or something, you could just sit a plant pot with nothing but soil out there, and see what decides to grow in it with help from the wind and birds!

My word! More species observed than Yellowstone and Kruger National Parks combined

[image] pisum: even if a tree is planted, there are usually lots of other organisms that it’ll support Our campus trees have lots of lichens and mosses growing on their bark. I also often find tiny creatures on those once I start investigating like springtails or well-camouflaged spiders etc.…

iNaturalist in New York City - What to do? - #47 by system - General

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