An inordinate fondness for plants, especially of the nonvascular kind, and invertebrates
(Terrible screenshot quality because I’m on mobile…)
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My top ten observed are 9 moths and 1 plant (Ficus petiolaris palmeri). My top 100 aren’t much different: 84 moths and 16 plants. The prevalence of moths is…because I love moths! And the plants are something I know about. I post certain moths or plants multiple times if they occur in under-surveyed locations (like coastal Sonora, Mexico) or aren’t suggested by the CV (like Agapema anona).
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I’m an ornithologist and birder, but only have one bird in my top ten, because I rarely use iNaturalist for birds. When I do, it’s for roadkill, window collisions, nests and suchlike, that aren’t a good fit for eBird or WikiAves. I mostly don’t make more than one or two observations per species, so these are all exceptions, for varied reasons.
My first is a bamboo that only flowers at intervals of thirty years. I made an effort to document flowering clumps whenever I could as part of an effort to locate birds associated with the bamboo.
I like geckos! I found the first Mourning Geckos, a non-native species, in the Atlantic Forest biome of Brazil, so made many observations to document them. With the Humpback Whales, I posted each individual I photographed as some can be identified individually. With Pereskia (an interesting cactus with leaves that look like those of a “normal” plant) I was again interested in documenting flowering, which happens in a very narrow window each year.
I don’t think these observations are necessarily a good indication of my fondness for these species above others, but it is an eclectic mix, which is about right!
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Have you seen this thread?
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/need-for-more-moth-identifiers/53411/114
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And you don’t know how to rule those out before making the observation? From what I have found online, it seems to have to do with an “M” on the pronotum.
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Yes, and I do some moth identifying. But only where I’m super-familiar with the likely species and difficult genera (e.g. southeast Arizona, USA, where there are already a decent number of identifiers, and a bit in nearby Sonora, Mexico). There are many moth genera with difficult groups or complexes, or undescribed species, or where the taxonomy is still unsorted. I don’t want to make things worse :)
well - a couple of things here.
Firstly, If I am making the effort to get close enough to it to observe it in detail in the first place for identification purposes, then taking the picture to log an observation seems logical. Also I use my camera lens to magnify small things for me.
Secondly, I think recording these as well helps record just how common it has become and how the other native species have declined.
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Bengal Tiger, Satlwater Crocodile (as a representative of all Crocodiles), Gharial, Indian Elephant, Golden (Yellow) Monitor (as a representative of all Monitor Lizards), Indian Leopard, Himalayan Black Bear (as a representative of all Bears), Indian Rhinoceros, Himalayan Red Panda, Blackbuck
No, no- If the matter is regarding inordinate Fondness, then they should also be given a little space here. No argument will be accepted.
If someone protests, I will continue to post more like another top 10, yet another Top 10 and likewise…
I have not even started any discussion about the birds.
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Yes, I dearly wish to see a native species!
Well, that depends on your goal. It wouldn’t necessarily be logical to me.
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Yes! It gives you a good sense of what is common versus rare and how rare among your own observations. I do the same thing, especially with bees. Glad to know I am not the only one.
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There are other species around, but you need to look very carefully!
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I loved seeing this question! I’m not sure how to determine my top observations, so I checked on about 20 that I seem to photograph frequently. I obviously like birds, insects, and marine life. Some of these are families or groups, not species, like my red and brown seaweeds, crabs, butterflies, and bees. Then I got to species for the rest.
I think if Haldane were alive today he would have a very different opinion. Nearly every animal species on earth has at least 2 parasites and even many of the parasites have hyper-parasites which specialize on certain parasites. So that would suggest that 2/3rds of biodiversity of animal life is made up of the parasites, therefore he would have said the maker had an inordinate fondness for parasites. And I am not even counting lawyers and politicians… :)
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[Your Observations] → [Species]
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&user_id=wendy5&verifiable=any&view=species
I’ve seen you post several Pigeon Guillemot observations recently so that was a familiar one in your top 15. 
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Not high counts, but dominated by harvestmen, which makes sense for me in terms of a bias. But otherwise my obs are pretty broad (Though dominated by arthropods).
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Another Opiliones madman!
7 of my 10 are harvestmen…
Maybe because their quiet demeanour makes it easier to take photos, but mostly because I’m in love with them :)
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Absolutely, they are one of the critters I choose my travel around now.
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Someone who knows phytogeography can probably guess where I am from.
Many of my top 10 are plants, relatively common in the region, but for some resaon special (common, but endangered, subendemic, or early flowering).
I have som many pictures of frullania dilatata because I am searching for other species of Frullania, which are al much rarer but have to be checked microscopically…
The winners are the only non-forest plants, Pinguicula alpina, which I just like and observe every time I see it. It is not a rare plant here, in that it occurs in almost all suitable habitats, it just the habitats are not super common and very valuable for conservation,
and Anacamptis morio, a super common orchid of dry grasslands, also an indicator of good grasslands.
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