Nature Walks/Observations during COVID-19

Nature Talk
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Hello everyone!
I have recently created my iNat account (after a long period deciding, lol), and then this dawned on me.
Due to COVID-19 and the lockdowns/movement control orders associated with it, I can’t really go much of anywhere, much less be out there for long hours documenting stuff. This may or may not be made worse by the fact I don’t have a garden, haha
It seems a little trivial, but the fact I haven’t had the chance to properly go out and find things is beginning to get to me, and as of now I can only contribute IDs, though I’d love to get out there to look for the life beyond my house!

It makes me wonder, how is everyone dealing with this?
How is the pandemic situation going in your area and does it affect your ability to go out there and find things?
Does the current situation affect the amount of time you get to spend with the natural world?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, and any suggestions on how you deal with it are welcome!

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There’s already a topic with this exact question in it.)
(can’t find it fast on smartphone)

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Oh no! Didn’t know that. Should I delete this post, then?
Thanks!

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This other topic is still open: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-has-covid-19-affected-your-way-of-inatting/14225

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Thank you! I did not know of that earlier.
Should I delete this post, then?

Sorry for the inconveniences!

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If this were my topic, I would leave whether or not to delete up to the moderators. Here’s another topic that’s similar–https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/using-inat-is-bringing-comfort-to-this-new-naturalist-during-covid-lockdown-what-about-you/12549. This one is closed so you can’t add to it, but you might be interested in reading the comments.

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I see, thank you!
Indeed it has been a while since the different posts, but it’ll do.
Thank you and sorry once again.

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Not a problem! Welcome to iNat.

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There isn’t any need to apologize. I don’t think there’s a real pattern as to when a fresh topic should be started or an older, still open one, continued instead.

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I just noticed that this one got a new post a few minutes ago: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/how-has-covid-19-affected-your-way-of-inatting/14225/34.

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https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/best-finds-in-your-garden-or-directly-around-your-residence/11167

This discussion thread is also related.

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Fortunately here in NYC the parks were never closed. And even in the worst part of the pandemic, people were allowed to go out for outdoor exercise each day (walking, running, or cycling,) as well as to the grocery store and the drug store.

We are both in our 70s, and my husband has mild diabetes, so in theory we were both supposed not to go out at all, but I felt that staying indoors for weeks and months on end has to be bad for one’s health and one’s immune system – no exercise, no natural vitamin D.

So every day we would go out for at least a one-hour walk a day, which for my husband was an exercise walk and for me a nature walk.

We were not able to travel by subway, as it was too risky. In the more recent months I have been using buses a little bit though, and also taxis to some extent. I did not get to the beach, because that is tough to do without using the subway.

All in all, I spent a lot of time in my local parks and gardens. Fortunately there are several nice parks and esplanades quite near where I live, with a lot of wildlife in them.

Every time we had a doctor’s apointment, we would go by taxi and I would do some iNatting on those nearby blocks or in any nearby park.

And I have an iNat friend who is able to borrow his neighbor’s car sometimes, so twice he was nice enough to drive me out to very nice nature destinations that I would not have been able to get to by myself.

I also went a few times locally with him to my parks, inatting using social distancing.

As for vacations, in late March, we had to cut short a trip to a Caribbean island, spending only 8 days there instead of 28 days, as the island suddenly went into lockdown. However, I think our December trip to Sanibel, Florida, will go ahead as planned.

So all in all, I have been doing plenty of iNatting, mostly quite local.

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Hi, Cassie glad to have you! I’m thankful that I have a patio garden and also a neighborhood I can walk in. However what I’ve been working on the most during this time is adding observations to the worldwide project I started in February to learn about parasites. https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/passengers-parasites-taking-rides You are welcome to join. The more eyes–the merrier!

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I see, that’s quite interesting!
Thankfully outdoors is still an option there, hope the cases are stable!

Local parks have definitely been a lifesaver for me as well,
wonderful to hear the ones in NYC are still alive with the wild.
Happy iNatting over there!

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Oooh, that sounds interesting! I’ll check it out.

Over here where I live it’s generally quite stable with the pandemic but my family wouldn’t just allow me out! (Yes, I live with my parents, I love them though!)
Unfortunately with no garden nor any physical friends who take interest in nature, it’s been hard to reason with others as to why I want out! Glad to have joined the community though, even though my first forum post here is a giant repost muck up.

Thanks for the reply too, I’ll see if I can figure out joining your project!

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Ahh, darn, now I REALLY feel badfor posting this.
I kinda feel like I’m reposting, copying or otherwise rule breaking! Haha (cries internally)

Of course I’m not deleting anything unless the mods ask me to, but it seriously bothers/worries me now.
Thank you for letting me know though.

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Thanks.
Sorry for messing up like this. Please let me know if this seems post seems too “same” as others and needs to be deleted, thanks once again!

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I wouldn’t worry about it too much, I don’t see any harm done in it. Similar threads are the least of the forum’s worries, and if anything that means more than 1 person has pondered about it and so has a higher probability to merit discussion.

I believe there is a way to link different threads of same/similar topics together so if such a thing arises it would be easy to combine them.

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Oh, honey! Please don’t worry about that — it’s fine, really. :relaxed:
If a moderator thought it was any kind of big deal, they could combine the postings.

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Great! I’ve learned a lot from collaborating with others on projects.
I sympathize that you are stuck inside. If you have a window ledge, perhaps you could attract pollinators like bees and butterflies with fruit slices.
Also check out https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/never-home-alone-the-wild-life-of-homes. Take care!

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