Are past sightings of creatures worth posting ab observation for if you didn’t take pictures?
My predicament:
I remember seeing a Right Whale in Newfoundland a few years back but there are no pictures and no observations anywhere near Newfoundland.
I’ve posted a few no-photo observations on iNat from the past that I wanted to have a record of, mainly for my own use. There’s no prohibition against doing this.
How precisely can you pinpoint the time and place, and are you sure it’s a right whale?
A few years ago I saw a black bear when I arrived at a job site. I didn’t have my camera with me and hadn’t heard of iNat yet. The next year, I saw black bear footprints at the same site, took pictures, and posted an observation. I also posted the observation of the bear himself, figuring out the date by the fact that I was in a rental car, my pickup having been totaled.
Your obs will be Casual - since no one else can confirm without evidence.
The record would be for you.
Whether it was a Right Whale or a wrong whale, since the obs stays as Casual it will remain questionable. But if other sightings/photos from there are posted in the future, then there will also be your unconfirmed but more likely Right record from the past.
I probably wouldn’t for one reason.
Observations · iNaturalist is your missing species lifelist(change yayemaster to your username.) A Casual-grade observation will prevent you from knowing if you are missing a species.
For this reason I deleted all my observations without photo/audio. However if you would like to upload your records you definitely can, just know that it will affect your lifelist for verifiable observations.