Guys, there is only one way we can beat the mallard. There’s something that can be found in just about every part of the world, is easily photographed because it can’t move, and it can be found in a wider array of temperatures and environments.
Fungus.
… there’s just one problem: there’s no duck-shaped fungus with green heads, and uh
looks at the amount of unIDed fungus observations that have no hope of getting to species
sorry, i got nothing
Asian Lady Beetles? They’re everywhere.
Excellent idea to topple charismatic megafauna!
Lots of pretty good suggestions, but for easy to photograph & easy to ID species with global distribution, how about a house pest?
The basement spider (Pholcus phalangioides) is a good contender. It is present all year round, unlike plenty of the other suggestions. If you want to beat the 28,154 mallards, it is as simple as convincing 542 iNatters to post one image per week (542 * 52 weeks = 28184) of the spiders that live in the basement / barn / gym / school. Seems do-able.
There’re many Pholcus species and they’re often misided, most observers don’t even know there’re multiple species in their location, clear photos are needed for id.
Focus on areas where Mallard is dominating. NC may have 888 Mallards observations last year but Carolina Anole was about 1600. Clearly, NC has figured out that other species abound with 20 species beating Mallard.
Update: After a brief search… Canada could be your problem.
Yes, part of the ‘problem’ is that mallards are just what @tiwane says. It’s hard to compete with a species that is easy for everyone to photograph and recognize. The moth Noctua pronuba could probably give it a run for its money, but they are hard to photograph and identify. And not cute.
They’re very cute imo, but also they’re really crazy.
Personally, I don’t like them. I don’t know why!
Edit: I don’t like mallards…
They’re introduced in NA, so I can understand it, but just as insects I think all big noctuids are very beautiful and their caterpillars too, something common that is hard to appreciate because of it.
I think if it was about Eurasia then Autographa gamma could be used too, it’s active at day, just flies as butterfly over flowers and easy to id.
Have you seen how much fresh water we have up here? Quebec to half of Manitoba looks like a sponge…
I like them, but moths don’t make the top grade. Noctua pronuba has 8,841 records in 2021, vs 77,541 for the mallard. No chance!
I love the sponge analogy, but it’s true! If it’s not permafrost, it’s muskeg. Not to mention that most of our observations are in the South where people and internet are abundant.
Yes, but one person can make a big difference, any abundant tree species (but preferably one of a kind in an area) could work, map them as much as possible and there’ll be much more observations than mallards. Maybe we don’t need something more observed than mallard, but that many things will be observed as much as mallard does.
Today I almost walked by a few mallards because I knew I couldn’t get a decent picture. But then I thought about how the people have spoken: the mallard is clearly the most gorgeous, charismatic, probably smartest, and could very well be the waterfowl that first discovers fire and invents the wheel (albeit, late.) I took a blurry photo and uploaded the observation secure in the knowledge I was helping to keep the (non-butterfly) monarch of the natural world on its wet throne.
I think we should all do everything in our power to have Steller’s Sea-Eagle beat Mallard!
I went to Maine to post my observation 2 days ago, so let’s do this thing!!!
(This is a joke obviously)
Ah yes, I heard it tried to settle in the Gaspe and Acadia but it got chased out by the local badelyng of Colvert
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?locale=en&place_id=6712&preferred_place_id=7085&subview=map&taxon_id=5304
We refer to microspecies as if the matter is settled. As I recall from the thread on it, that is not the case. Having read that thread, I still use Taraxacum officinale. If someone really feels that the microspecies are important, they are welcome to create iNat taxa for them and go for it.
And also not nearly often enough wild. By far the majority of annual bluegrass in the world was seeded in for lawns.
“By far the majority of annual bluegrass in the world was seeded in for lawns.”
Weird. Around here, this is a weed that can be found almost everywhere, including in lawns, where it is most unwelcome. Nobody plants it for lawns because it is annual (though sometimes it lasts over winter in our mild climate). I think the concept of planting Poa annua in lawns on purpose would startle lots of people. (Poa pratensis, now – planting that is a big business, as the grass business goes.)
Poa annua here just lives in every crack.
I’d definitely be up for supporting this! I do observe them occasionally, but they’re not even on my top 100 species (I’ve got 5 obs all time). I’d really much rather observe some Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa), but so far have only managed to observe their mallard hybrids (which I guess aren’t counted in the mallard obs count, at least).
If regional victories are a good start, it’s possitive to see that the mallard is quite far down the list for obs in New Zealand for 2021 at 78th place with only 338 obs. Top stops go to Kererū with 2897 and it’s also beaten by the Paradise Shellduck with 411 obs :)
I could definitely help pushing house sparrows towards the front, as they’re nesting under our balcony and are generally around everywhere (in New Zealand and the world).
Let’s do it! :D