I joined iNaturalist a bit ago because I wanted a place to log the fish I catch and learn to identify them properly. However, I catch a lot of bluegill, sometimes 10+ a trip. I want to log each one to know how many I’ve caught since I joined but I’m concerned I might be spamming the “Identify” tab with all these bluegill.
Is posting multiple observations of the same species (but different organisms) from the same spot still considered good use of the site? Or is it annoying for other users?
For the latter, is there a way I can log observations just for my own use, such as privatizing them?
Thanks for reading :) I’d appreciate any feedback!
It’s perfectly OK to post each fish because iNaturalist observations “should” be the interaction of the observer with one individual organism. Some observers will get tired of IDing a whole lot of bluegill at one time, but they can just skip on to other things. You have a use for the separate observations, so post them that way.
Totally fine. It could be fun to make a project for yourself with all the fish you caught + their locations, over time it may help you get an idea of where on the lakes they hang out. If you’re going to do something like this, I’d probably go so far as to post them in picture with a ruler - someone, at some point, might find the size data useful.
That’s my plan!! I’ve already ordered a ruler as well as a digital hanging scale. I’m also planning a sunfish art project based on their color variety :)
Yes that’s so cool! Also, posting a bunch of different sunfish from the same location could help show their natural variations. Honestly, I’m usually an obscure-everything kind of person (paranoia) but this might be one I wouldn’t bother to obscure (unless you’re worried about protecting your fishing holes). Could be interesting to just select an area of the lake and see what the fish look like.
There’s definitely potential utility for posting multiple observations of the same species, especially in cases like this where it’s different individuals.
Posting images of different individuals separately seems fine, although as an ardent identifier, I can attest to the “Identifier Fatigue” that sets in when one observer posts many many images of the same species, same time, same place. But that’s on me.
One caveat: It often happens in the moth world that folks post all their photos of a single species seen on a sheet in one session and because the moths may move around on the sheet, there are many cases where multiple images of the same exact moth are uploaded from images taken just minutes apart. Unless there is a specific research reason for such a fine-grained effort, I try to coach folks to combine images of the same individual at the same place/time, or just pick the best one to upload.
This is something I’ve been afraid of with my first attempt at setting up a moth light.
Although I should probably read the topic on the way to set that up before too long.
There so far there has only been one species I’ll post the multiple and thats because they all landed and stayed in the same place.
I’m doing my best not to “spam” excessively but also in the end, they are observations right?
