new to inat and the form made a few observations already i enjoyed nature as a kid and now i can sare my work with the world
but just a question how does this place work and what do i need to get my observations out there
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I checked your observations and you’re doing good but it can be better, try to take pics from different angles, with time you’ll know which parts of what are important for Identification
for starters you can read inat guidelines thoroughly to know what to do and what not to do
I saw a bunch of fungi observations so here you go-
https://inaturalist.ca/journal/smpbiologist-jwilliams/116151-taking-better-fungi-observations
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Welcome to the forum! You could check out iNat’s great pages for beginners: Https://Help.Inaturalist.Org/En/Support/Home
@tiwane I’m sure you could give some advice 
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@nature_demon, people who stick with iNaturalist are those who find it does something they want to do. If you like having a nature log of your hikes, just make observations of things you notice on the trail. If you want to learn more about life in your neighborhood and “meet” local nature lovers, go around posting observations and interact with the comments you get. Use the “explore” feature to see what other people have seen near you. Any time you post an observation it is already "out there,” which is great!
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alright thank you very much for your help and explanation
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Welcome to iNat!
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thank you :)
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Welcome to iNat O Demon of Nature! :)
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thank you thank you :)
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Hi and welcome to iNat! I found that when I first started, I had some trouble IDing my own obs, and needed a better understanding of what I was seeing. I uploaded as many photos as I could, and paid attention to what experts said when they IDed my obs. I compared species, and, when I felt comfortable enough, started ID things for others as well. Just simple stuff, really, like common backyard birds or butterflies. I also started following people around my area so I could get an idea of what there was around me, and kept an eye out for interesting obs that looked similar to mine. I slowly got more comfortable with the animals around me, and soon was following people from around the world as I got to know more and more. When I started with the forum several months later, I really started going quickly as I met others like me, chatted about animals we saw and where to find them, and I got to see more pictures from around the world, familiarizing me with even more species. I kept IDing, kept taking a look at what the people I followed saw, and started searching observations for my state so I could ID those. I put a filter so that it was only for animals, because I am not at the level to do much of anything else yet, and went through the obs. I IDed what I could, and what I couldn’t, I thought about what made it unique, and when I saw it again, I tried to see if I could ID it.
I would say just start slowly at first, submit some obs, learn the species around your area, and then maybe start doing some IDs, to improve your knowledge. Pay attention to what the experts say; they can offer some useful tips on how to ID organisms in the future. And just keep going from there!
Now I can say that IDing some birds and insects is like a sixth sense–I just know what something is. I can’t always explain it, but it always makes sense. Just getting used to an organism enough that you can ID it yourself is so satisfying; it feels good to look at a load of obs and think: I know half of those!
Even if you’re not there yet, there will definitely be some things you will know and be able to do. It may take a while to leave your comfort zone and join in, but I promise you that you will be flying through in no time!
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this is really helpful thank you this encourages me to go out there and poste as much as possible but idk if i ever will be as good as most experts bc of how many spiecies look like each other i reall dont get how people do this it really amazes me
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welcome to iNat and the forum!
I see that for your own observations, you are not always adding an initial ID yourself. You don’t have to know the genus or species to make an ID. It’s always good to make an ID at some level, even if it’s just “Fungi including lichens”, or “Plants” or “Insects”.
This is because when people are identifying they are often only looking at things that have been identified to their favorite taxon. Things with no ID at all sit around the great big pile of “Unknowns”, where they can stay for a long time.
Also, don’t get discouraged when things go un-identified. Some observations get IDed very quickly, some sit around for months or even years, some never get IDed at all. (It can be a special thrill when something you forgot you posted gets unexpectedly IDed)
All identifiers are volunteers, and many of us are not experts. We just know some things, and we identify those. But plenty of people don’t feel confident enough to ID anything. There’s no requirement that you have to be an identifier as well as an observer.
Just keep up your curiosity and desire to learn, make the best observations you can, and have fun while doing it!
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I joined this year, although had heard of iNat a bit before. When it comes to ID’ing, just start on identifying more characteristic species, and work your way towards harder and harder species. As always, pay attention to what experts have to say, they’ve always been greatly supported and encouraged me, offered useful advice, and corrected me countless times. But even if you only add observations, it will give us identifiers something to ID. ;)
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One of the most helpful things for me when I was new was finding the Taxonomy tab when you go into each ID option. It helped me learn what higher level taxa to use when I wasn’t sure how to ID. For example, I know this is some sort of centipede or millipede but have no idea what species and the taxonomy tabs showed me that they are both myriapods so I could choose that as the initial ID and let the experts refine it. The maps that show the expected range can also be really helpful.
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thank you for the tip i will for mnow on throw in a ID in the future now that im knowing this
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ah i see thank you very much for helping me out a bit
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I’ve learned a lot about identification just from posting anything I don’t recognize and then seeing what they get identified as. If two things that look identical get identified as different species, the identifiers are usually friendly and you can just add a comment asking them to explain!
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Welcome, @nature_demon!
I can’t really improve much on what everyone else has said. I agree that looking at what other people have seen in your area is a good way to start learning local species. IDing for other people helps with learning as well, or at least it does for me, anyway.
Have fun! That’s one of the most important parts.
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thank you and i will cant wait to go out there and find something i havnt posted yet :)
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Here’s how to see what other people are posting around you:
On the website, click on the “Explore” tab (circled) then type in your location (or any place) in the “location” box (circled)
You can see that 52 people (including you) made 242 observations in your town.
You can look at any of them and see the maps - maybe you will find new places to go! You can see which ones have been identified, and learn from them, or maybe there are things you can help identify. You might know more than you think - most of us don’t realize how much we know about the things around us.
You can widen your use of “Explore” to see other places nearby, or other countries. Maybe places that have similar organisms as yours, so you can learn them, or maybe far away places that have totally different organisms, just for fun.
One of my favorite things about the forum is reading about things I would never get to see myself, from people who live on the opposite side of the world from me. Here’s a great topic for that:
https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/what-is-your-favorite-lifer-from-this-week/24219
It’s a very long, popular thread.
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